Translation as a means and as an end: reassessing the divide

Abstract

The validity of translation in language teaching – often termed pedagogical translation – is currently undergoing a process of reassessment. While there is increasing consensus favouring the use of the first language in the second-language classroom, the role of translation in language learning is still an object of debate and the case for it is not sufficiently supported by empirical data. In contrast, the field of translator training has experienced phenomenal growth in the past few decades. As part of this process, researchers and practitioners in translation studies have tended to highlight the difference between translation as a means and translation as an end in itself. This emphasis on the divide, which has been successful in allowing for a specific pedagogy of translation to develop, has, arguably, stood in the way of a fruitful dialogue between foreign language educationalists and scholars of translation studies. This situation has not helped the development of pedagogical translation. This paper examines the fraught relationship between translation as a means and as an end, questioning the assumptions that underlie their divorce and looking into alternative ways of conceptualising the boundaries that set them apart.