UNIVERSIDAD DE INNOVACIÓN PARA LA EXCELENCIA PROFESIONAL

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UNIVERSIDAD

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Master´s degree English Teaching
CLAVE-07PSU0162R

TRANSLATION AND ENGLISH

LANGUAGE TEACHING.

Authors: • Dr. Marta Dahlgren (Universidad de Vigo)

• Mr. James Sitwell (Universidad de Vigo)

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Chapter 3
TEACHING TRANSLATION

Teaching translation, which is usually done under the auspices of University Translation and
Interpreting degrees, has become increasingly popular in Europe as jobs have been created
for translating and interpreting within the EU. There is also increasing awareness of the
importance of the different modes of translating and interpreting, of which the best known,
literary translation, occupies only a tiny slot. The preparation of future professionals includes
intensive work with languages, which has clear implications for insights into foreign language
teaching and learning.

3.1. TEACHING FUTURE PROFESSIONALS

Translation and Interpreting Degrees have been created recently in many Spanish and Latin
American universities. There is also a large number of Masters courses and other
postgraduate studies offering specialisation to those who have a BA - mostly in Philology or
Applied Linguistics but also in many other fields, including Law, Sociology and Economics
to name but a few. The study of Translation and Interpreting has as its goal the use of
language as a tool in a future professional activity and the component of reflection on
language present in the classical "filología" degree courses is absent from it. Translators
need to focus on the practical aspects of total proficiency in their source language and in
their target language together with the techniques used in translation. For interpreters,
interpreting skills have to be acquired before entering professional activities.

It is true that proficiency in the foreign language is absolutely necessary for translating,
but it is no less true that excellent command of the translator's mother tongue (or first
language) is even more important. One of the problems faced in most university translation
degrees is the deficient command of the students' own language. The Head of the Zurich
School of Translation and Interpreting says:

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Great stress is laid on improving foreign language proficiency, but excellence in the
mother-tongue - the translator's target language - is, quite wrongly, taken for granted.

and she goes on to say:

[Translation] requires intelligence, mental effort and linguistic skill; there can be no
substitute for a close knowledge of the subject matter of the Source Text, and a
careful examination and analysis of its contents. Second... mastery of the Target
Language is a prerequisite.
(Dr. Rommel, as quoted in Hervey & Higgins 1992:1 and 18)

Sociocultural knowledge is extremely important in translating. More than translating

language, the translator is immersed in a kind of cultural transfer, which requires him/her to
be bicultural more than bilingual. Therefore, the absence in the translation-interpreting
degree course curricula of subjects dealing with issues of civilisation, culture, politics and
economy are a drawback for the preparation of future professionals.

These issues are to a very large extent present in foreign language teaching and learning:
when English is introduced as a subject into schools, the young students are supposed to
have a good command of their mother-tongue. It has been noted, however, that when
students finishing secondary school sit their special examination for entry into a Translation
and Interpreting degree course, their command of the foreign language is acceptable as a
basis for further tuition, but the level of practical use of their mother tongue — Spanish - is
in some cases appalling. Their ability to use varied vocabulary and to recognise registers is
limited, punctuation and spelling erratic, collocations are wrongly used or mixed up. The
students do not master, a simple composition of a logical account of events, let alone a line
of logical argumentation. To improve foreign language teaching, this issue has to be tackled
first.

3.2. DIFFICULTIES WHEN TRANSLATING

What then are the major difficulties present in translation into a foreign language? (Note that
translators are supposed to translate into their mother-tongue but this is not the case in real-
life situations.) Here only three are listed, as Unit 4 deals with the language-based pitfalls,
common to language learners and translators alike

1. Lack of proficiency in the target language.

The comparative and descriptive analysis of translation products shows that this is the
source of translation errors that are not readily apparent, as syntax and lexicon are usually
correct and the text makes sense.

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As an example, let's look at Appendix 3.1. This is the booklet you will find on any Iberia
flight in the pocket in front of you. Ronda Iberia is written in Spanish and translated by a
team of native English speakers. As the edition is bilingual we have overt translation,
which puts demands on the translator, who cannot stray too far from the original. Look
closely at the texts and note the following:

a) the rendering of "en el aire" as "in the air" takes up the notion of "something is in
the air" = gossip, but the pun on "en el aire" = "volando" “airborn“ disappears in
translation.

b) as an example of inadequate translation we can take the headlines: “A vueltas

con Marilyn“ has nothing to do with "Marilyn Revisited", which makes a British reader
think of the novel by Evelyn Waugh and BBC film Brideshead Revisited. Also
"Nicolás cachas Cage", where a kind of solution has been found, as "Muscular
Nicholas Cage", keeps the k-k-k alliteration but changes the register for "cachas".
"Por fin" in the sense of "at last" has been translated with "finally".

c) Note the appropriate translation of the snippets: no false word-for-word

"faithfulness" can be traced, fluent and easy-to-read English has been produced.
This is, however, not the case in all the features in Ronda Iberia. Appendix 3.2
reproduces the President's Address to travellers, a thoroughly unreadable piece of
writing in any language.

2. Lack of proficiency in the source language.

The most common example of blatantly inadequate and inappropriate translation are the
tourist folders printed all over the world.

We have a glaring exanfrple of this in Appendix 3.3. This is a leaflet printed in thousands
of copies, translated from Spanish into what is supposed to be English but quite clearly
produced by a non-native speaker. This is what a bad translator can do with a smattering of
English and a dictionary. The more you look at it, the more faults you will find. Only the
headlines will be commented on:

a) "Centro Comercial Compostela" becomes "Compostela Store", not Shopping Mall.

b) 'The Complete Hyper' would certainly be misunderstood by an English speaker,

who connects it with hype.

c) 'Tiendas El Corte Ingles, Number One in Fashion'. Is "tiendas" too difficult to

translate?

d) There is a British flag (are no other nationalities welcome?) at the top, but
"Specialized" is American English spelling.

e) "The Comfort of Our Services". "Comfort" in this environment is an insidious false

friend.

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f) VAT Refund. Correct!

3. Lack of intercultural competence or sensitivity.

A text may show little awareness of the cultural context in which it is meant to be read.
Appendix 3.3 shows a translation of a leaflet for the Corte Inglés (a large Spanish
department store), where the reality of Spain, with its regional differences (in this case
between Galicia and Andalusia), is not carefully handled. In this appendix, apart from the
British flag, there is the offering of Andalusian handicraft, which is to say the least insensitive,
as the department store is located in one of the most emblematic Galician cities.

3.3. APPENDICES
[1] APPENDIX 3.1: "En el sire" in Ronda Iberia, November 1998.

[2] APPENDIX 3.2: "Buen Viaje" in Ronda Iberia, September 1998.

[3] APPENDIX 3.3: El Corte Ingles leaflet.

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