What is translation competence?

This article seeks to throw light on the notion of translation competence by way of a comparison with, on the one hand, the notion of linguistic competence and, on the other, competence as a notion operating in social life. I argue for a notion closer to the concept of Linguistic Competence than is customarily presented in the translation studies literature, suggesting that such a notion would go some way towards explaining data derived from studies of young interpreters and would be compatible with findings in the neurolinguistic of bilingualism.