Abstract
In the United States Government (USG), language-test scores in the various skills are defined by reference to the Interagency Language Roundtable (ILR) Skill Level Descriptions (SLDs). The ILR SLDs for Translation Performance state that reading the source language (SL) and writing the target language (TL) are prerequisites for translating but add that there is a prerequisite third skill, termed “congruity judgement”. Since the Language Testing and Assessment Unit (LTAU) of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) uses the ILR as the basis for its translation testing, it has conducted several studies on test results to discover the interconnection, if any, of these requisites.
Highlights
United States Government (USG) agencies often use a measure of reading comprehension in their foreign language to qualify a person for translation work
This practice is based on two assumptions: that as a citizen of the United States, the examinee has a sufficiently strong proficiency in English writing; and that this assumed English proficiency in combination with a measure of reading comprehension in a foreign language constitutes sufficient qualification to perform translation tasks
Because of the time and effort involved in rating TTs and the need to speed up the process, it was suggested that the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) follow the example of other agencies and use the multiple-choice Defence Language Proficiency Test (DLPT) Reading as a predictor of translation performance, thereby delaying or even eliminating the TT
Summary
USG agencies often use a measure of reading comprehension in their foreign language to qualify a person for translation work. This practice is based on two assumptions: that as a citizen of the United States, the examinee has a sufficiently strong proficiency in English writing; and that this assumed English proficiency in combination with a measure of reading comprehension in a foreign language constitutes sufficient qualification to perform translation tasks. The Interagency Language Roundtable (ILR) Skill Level Decriptions (SLDs) for Translation Performance state that reading comprehension of the source language (SL) and the ability to write the TL are prerequisite but not sufficient for translation. The answer to the research question “is reading comprehension a good predictor of translation ability” remains unclear
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