Abstract Objectives: This study contributes to the understanding of the interplay between theory and practice and its role in informing real-world translation problems by investigating the commentaries and strategic decisions of translation students, who received at least three years of formal translation training, and who were trained in light of different translation theories. Methods: The study employs a descriptive analytical approach and relies on 246 translation tasks, at an average of 1000 words, which were undertaken by 20 students. Various text types were considered (legal, promotional, educational, media, general, technical) to ensure that the study yields comprehensive results and covers a wide variety of problems that translators face in different fields within work space environments. By combining qualitative and quantitative data collection methods, the study investigates the role of theoretical approaches in influencing strategic decisions, as reflected in the overall quality of the translation tasks submitted. Regardless of text type, the trainees were allowed up to 4 days, depending on task workload, for each task to translate and comment on their strategy and theory, mentioning the problems they faced and how they overcame them. Results: The results show that translation students tend to overlook the importance of theory (62.19%), which results in the tendency to downplay the importance of culture and context in the act of translation. Conclusions: The study recommends revisiting the current study plans in translation departments for the purpose of aligning translation theory with practice.   Keywords: Translation training, translation theory, strategic decisions, translation competence