Textual Competence in the Translation Classroom Alberto Álvarez Lugrís Universidade de Vigo In 1993, Spanish Translation Schools became Faculties. Until that date, translation students were mostly Arts graduates with a more than acceptable command of their two or three main working languages. They had studied Language and Linguistics for at least three years and, what is even more important, they had a habit of reading and uŶdeƌstaŶdiŶg ;oƌ let’s saLJ edžploƌiŶgͿ ǁƌitteŶ tedžts: tǁo oƌ thƌee LJeaƌs of ǀaƌious literatures and language programs were the core of their cultural and linguistic knowledge. This fact was reflected in what we may call a maturity in reading- comprehension. A person with a solid habit of reading and enquiring texts will be able to extract every item of information in any way it is encoded (be it in mere words, in the choice of a word instead of others, in the overall construction of paragraphs and/or texts, in hidden undertones, etc.). When the Schools became Faculties and high school students were allowed to begin directly their translation studies, the average level of language knowledge was loǁeƌed dƌastiĐallLJ. Of Đouƌse, this is Ŷot the studeŶt’s fault: foƌeigŶ laŶguage knowledge standards in high schools are relatively low and the academic system does not require the student to be better prepared for university. But the fact is that first year Translation students are, in general, incapable of confronting a text and seeing ďeLJoŶd its ǁoƌds. TheLJ laĐk a haďit of ƌeadiŶg that peƌŵits theŵ to spot the authoƌ’s strategies in designing a text. And that is a crucial ability for a translator. Besides, first year students have never heard about branches of Linguistics such as Text Linguistics or Comparative Textology, which I think are key tools for any translator. Of course, I do not think that these disciplines should be taught at high school, but the fact is that I have to work with students that have neither a practical nor a theoretical knowledge of texture, of how a text works internally. Therefore, part of the time we should devote to translating and translation teaching, must be invested in teaching the basics of Textual Grammar. And that is the sensible thing to do: as a