Ćwiczenie tłumaczeniowe w dydaktyce przekładu jako element diagnozy początkowej

The article analyzes the results of a translation exercise used as an element of needs analysis to assess translation competences (as defined by EMT programme) of 30 M.A. translation trainees commencing an English-Polish translation course. It analyzes translation samples of selected sentences from a travelogue narrative, with specific translation problems (collocations, passive voice structures, a cleft sentence with a passive gerund) in terms of translation mistakes as defined by Hejwowski. An analysis of the samples shows that a translation exercise, if properly selected, allows to identify translation trainees’ translation competences and translation mistakes, and may be helpful in designinga translation course and as an element of action research approach applied during the course.