Translation in language teaching: insights from professional translator training

Abstract

The past three decades have seen vast changes in attitudes towards translation, both as an academic discipline and as a profession. The insights we have gained in recent years, in particular in the area of professional translator training, call for a reassessment of the role of translation in language teaching. Drawing on research and practices in the field of translation pedagogy and on our own experience in using translation in the language classroom, our article aims to map the interface between translator training and language teaching, with particular reference to a task-based approach in the context of a communicative framework. After a brief account of the controversy surrounding the role of translation in language learning, we begin by setting out the reasons why we believe language teaching can benefit from engaging in dialogue with the discipline of translator training. In the second section, we examine the recent application of a task-based approach to translator training and how this can, in turn, inform our practice in the language classroom. Finally we provide some sample translation-based tasks used in language undergraduate degree classes to illustrate the discussion.