| Summary: | The research investigates the ways in which the needs of a particular translation teaching-situation are provided for. The argument runs against the general practice where a translation model is independently adopted and is thought to provide the teacher with the necessary methodological and pedagogical background. The study demonstrates that active interaction rather than the passive reception from the teacher within the existing models is essential. This is possible in the light of a product-based analysis of actual training in which the identification of a translation problem must precede the development or adoption of a theory of translation. Error analysis offers in this case the appropriate tool to check the students' needs in a particular training situation in terms of the actual text being translated. In the event of an error analysis, three main interdependent processes should be observed: diagnosis of the deficiency, evaluation of its gravity and recommendation of the appropriate translation teaching therapy. On the basis of an analysis of Arabic/English trainees' performance and teachers' evaluation, we have identified a number of problems relating to the students' use of language and translation skills, and teachers' assessment of their trainees' errors. A two-stage translation course is recommended accordingly. The frrst is preparatory; it serves to eliminate the students' language deficiencies and provide the necessary background for teachers to devise the appropriate translation teaching tools. The second emphasises their needs in terms of translation skills, which our results show, are best identified and represented in a text-typological format.
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