This paper explores the way in which 10 professional interpreters develop and cultivate
their expert interpreter competence. It draws on semi-structured in-depth interviews and
carries forward the previous process- and experience-based account of interpreter skills
and (sub)competencies based on the same 90,000 word corpus (cf. Albl-Mikasa 2012). The
main points addressed are the requirements that can be learned, the timeline of acquisition
of the various (sub)competences, and the ways in which they are further developed.
These ways include formal continuous professional development, semi-formal assignment-
geared knowledge building, informal off-the-job acquisition of relevant information,
on-the-job learning by doing, and the evolvement of savoir-faire in the course of
professional life.
