Applying the common european framework of reference to teaching specialized translation

Abstract

The article analyses descriptors of written mediation proficiency levels and corresponding strategies presented in the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages: Learning, Teaching, Assessment – Companion volume, as well as assesses their applicability to teaching specialized translation to prospective Bachelors of Philology. The B2 – C2 level proficiency descriptors of such types of written mediation as translating a written text in writing (full translation), relaying specific information in writing (fragmentary translation), processing text in writing (summary and abstract translation) can serve a basis for formulating corresponding descriptors of specialized translation proficiency levels for 3d – 4th – year Bachelor’s degree Philology students. These descriptors should be modified with regard to field-specific text genres and supplemented with professional translation skills of applying translation techniques and IT tools. Descriptors of English into Ukrainian and Ukrainian into English translation as well as those of summary and abstract translation should be differentiated. The examined strategies – strategies to explain a new concept (adapting language, breaking down complicated information), strategies to simplify a text (amplifying a dense text, streamlining a text) – which partly correlate with translation techniques and transformations are appropriate for developing sets of tasks and exercises in translation subjects, in particular, Translation and Interpreting Practice. Their choice depends on translation brief requirements: aim, text genre, degree of formality / specialization, degree of target text compression, target audience. Making these modifications is the subject of further research.