Translation has been marginalized and excluded from the language classroom, particularly since the arrival of communicative methods in the 1970s. The main arguments used against translation include:

• It is independent of the four skills (listening, reading, speaking, writing).
• It is radically different from the four skills.
• It takes up valuable time which could be used to teach the four skills.
• It is unnatural.
• It misleads students into thinking that expressions in two languages correspond one-to-one.
• It prevents students from thinking in the foreign language and produces interference.
• It is a bad test of language skills.
• It is only appropriate for training translators.

(Malmkjaer, 1998: 6)

Reflective Task 1

The arguments against translation are based on a very limited, and negative, view of the activity, a view that is commonly associated with the 'grammar translation method'. In this method, students are asked to 'translate' decontextualized, isolated sentences or randomly selected portions of text in order to demonstrate their command of the foreign language. You might have come across this method when learning Latin or Greek, or perhaps even when studying foreign languages at school or university.

The grammar translation method has severe limitations and is not really suitable for teaching foreign languages to students in higher education. However, it is a mistake to associate this particular method with the (professional) activity of translation, with 'real' translation. What students do in grammar-translation classes bears little resemblance to what translators do in real life. As mentioned earlier, the grammar- translation method is based on a restrictive concept of translation, and of communication in general. The very etymology of the word translation (from Latin transferre) highlights the dynamic nature of this activity ('to carry across') whose purpose is to negotiate and overcome linguistic and cultural barriers in order to communicate effectively in a particular context.

Before proceeding any further, we should reflect on our own conception of translation and also on our own experience of translation and translators. This is an important step, since, as shown in Module 1, our own preconceptions play a crucial part in how we view and treat particular learning and teaching activities. In Activities 1 and 2, you reflected on your experience of translation in an academic environment. Now I would like you to think about your experience of translation in the real world, in your everyday life.

Activity 3

Before continuing, click on 'Commentary'.

Translation is thus all around us. Now, considering what you have seen so far, try and answer the questions below:

Reflective Task 2

We will not be offering a definition yet, but in working through the rest of the module it is important that you take your view into account and that you come back to it at the end of the module.