The above example shows you the complexity of translation activities and the different elements that students need to take into account in order to produce an acceptable text in their target languages. Thus, it is important to adopt a top-down approach, that is, students need to be aware, first of all, of how different text types (recipes, in this case) work in both their source and target cultures. In order to do this, you can use parallel texts, that is, original samples of similar text types written in different languages. For example, a recipe in English and Spanish, a job advert in English and a job advert in French; a curriculum vitae in English and in German etc.

We will choose a recipe as our illustration, and have a look at recipes in different languages to see how parallel texts can prove very useful in the language classroom. In order to make it more consistent, I have chosen a recipe for a similar dish in different languages: French, German, Italian and Spanish. Here I will be focusing on the Spanish text. If you are not familiar with Spanish, please use one of the other texts in the Appendix and apply a similar method.

Translation instructions:
A very popular British chef is preparing a book on traditional recipes from around the world. You have been asked to translate the recipe below. Please make sure that the instructions are clear.

We are going to follow the steps suggested earlier: