Cover not available

In:Translation and Interpreting Pedagogy in Dialogue with Other Disciplines
Edited by Sonia Colina and Claudia V. Angelelli
[Benjamins Current Topics 90] 2017
► pp. 83–102

Get fulltext from our e-platform
JBE logo with link
PDF logo with download linkDownload Book PDF
authorization required

I know languages, therefore, I can translate?

A comparison between the translation competence of foreign language and Interlingual Mediation students

ORCiD logo with link
Published online: 30 June 2017
DOI logo with link
https://doi.org/10.1075/bct.90.05moe
There is a large presence of translators without formal education in the Slovene market, partly because until the 1990s there were no independent translation programs, but also because of the popular notion that anybody who speaks a foreign language well, or has a degree in it, can translate. In this paper we present a comparison of four B.A. programs at the University of Ljubljana (in three foreign language departments and one department of translation) to shed light on what knowledge and competences are expected at the end of the B.A. studies, and to find out whether these departments actually train people to be translators. The paper also reports the results of a translation quality assessment of third-year students of those departments, who were given the task of translating a text into their L1. The students approached the task in different ways and produced very different results, which indicates that language competences alone are not enough for translation, and that specific additional instruction can give them a considerable advantage at the beginning of their careers.
References (51)
Primary Sources
A Well-locked Closet. The Economist, 27 May 2010. [URL]. Last accessed 13 January 2013.
Menschenrechtsverletzungen: Homophobie in Uganda. Friedrich Naumann Fundation web page, 19 November 2010, [URL]. Last accessed 13 January 2013.
Uganda, ucciso in casa attivista gay. Il suo nome su un giornale omofobo, La Stampa, 27 January 2011. [URL]. Last accessed 13 January 2013.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Secondary Sources
Angelelli, Claudia V., and Christian Degueldre. 2002. “Bridging the Gap between Language for General Purposes and Language for Work: An Intensive Superior-level Language/Skill Course for Teachers, Translators, and Interpreters.” In Developing Professional-Level Language Proficiency, ed. by Betty Lou Leaver, and Boris Shekhtman, 77–95. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Atkinson, David. 1987. “The Mother Tongue in the Classroom: A Neglected Resource?” ELT Journal 41 (4): 241–247. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Baroni, Marco, and Silvia Bernardini. 2006. “A New Approach to the Study of Translationese: Machine Learning the Difference between Original and Translated Texts.” Literary and Linguistic Computing 21 (3): 259–274. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Beeby, Allison. 2000. “Evaluating the Development of Translation Competence.” In Developing Translation Competence, ed. by Christina Schäffner, and Beverly Adab, 185–198. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Bernardini, Silvia. 2004. “The Theory behind the Practice: Translator Training or Translator Education?” In Translation in Undergraduate Degree Programmes, ed. by Kirsten Malmkjær, 17–30. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Bloomfield, Leonard. 1933. Language. New York: Holt and Co.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Butzkamm, Wolfgang. 2003. “We only Learn Language Once. The Role of the Mother Tongue in FL Classrooms: Death of a Dogma.” Language Learning Journal 28: 29–39. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Carreres, Angeles. 2006. “Translation and Language Teaching. The Teaching of Translation into L2 in Modern Languages Degrees; Uses and Limitations.” In Sixth Symposium on Translation, Terminology and Interpretation in Cuba and Canada: December 2006, ed. by Elisabet Ràfols-Sagués. Canadian Translators, Terminologists and Interpreters Council. [URL].
Cook, Guy. 2010. Translation in Language Teaching: An Argument for Reassessment. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Di Sabato, Bruna. 2007. “La traduzione e l’apprendimento/insegnamento delle lingue [Translation and Learning/Teaching Languages].” Studi di Glottodidattica 1: 47–57.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
González Davies, Maria. 2004. Multiple Voices in the Translation Classroom. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Göpferich, Susanne. 2009. “Towards a Model of Translation Competence and its Acquisition: the Longitudinal Study TransComp.” In Behind the Mind. Methods, Models and Results in Translation Process Research, ed. by Susanne Göpferich, Arnt Lykke Jacobsen, and Inger M. Mees, 11–38. Frederiksberg: Samfundslitteratur.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
He, An E. 2012. “Systematic Use of Mother Tongue as Learning/Teaching Resources in Target Language Instruction.” Multilingual Education 2 (1): 1–15. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Hirci, Nataša. 2012. “Electronic Reference Resources for Translators. Implications for Productivity and Translation Quality.” The Interpreter and Translator Trainer 6 (2): 219–235. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Howatt, Anthony P.R. 1984. A History of English Language Teaching. Oxford: Oxford Universty Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Izumi, Kiwamu. 1995. “Translation-aided Approach in Second Language Acquisition.” JALT Journal 17 (2): 225–237.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Källkvist, Marie. 1998. “How Different are the Results of Translation Tasks? A Study of Lexical Errors.” In Translation and Language Teaching. Language Teaching and Translation, ed. by Kirsten Malmkjær, 77–87. Manchester: St. Jerome.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Kiraly, Donald. 1995. Pathways to Translation: Pedagogy and Process. Kent, OH: Kent State University Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Klein-Braley, Christine, and Peter Franklin. 1998. “‘The Foreigner in the Refrigerator.’ Remarks about Teaching Translation to University Students of Foreign Languages.” In Translation and Language Teaching. Language Teaching and Translation, ed. by Kirsten Malmkjær, 53–61. Manchester: St. Jerome.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Kocijančič Pokorn, Nike. 2009. “Natives or Non-natives? That Is the Question …: Teachers of Translation into Language B.” The Interpreter and Translator Trainer 3 (2): 189–208. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Kussmaul, Paul. 1995. Training the Translator. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Lado, Robert. 1964. Language Teaching: A Scientific Approach. New York: McGraw-Hill.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Lang, Margaret F. 1994. “The Problem of Mother Tongue Competence in the Training of Translators.” In Translation Studies. An Interdiscipline, ed. by Mary Snell-Hornby, Franz Pöchhacker, and Klaus Kaindl, 395–400. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Lembersky, Gennadi, Noam Ordan, and Shuly Wintner. 2012. “Language Models for Machine Translation: Original vs. Translated Texts.” Computational Linguistics 38 (4): 799–825. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Leonardi, Vanessa. 2010. The Role of Pedagogical Translation in Second Language Acquisition. From Theory to Practice. Bern: Peter Lang. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Malmkjær, Kirsten (ed). 1998. Translation and Language Teaching. Language Teaching and Translation. Manchester: St. Jerome.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Neubert, Albrecht. 2000. “Competence in Language, in Languages, and in Translation.” In Developing Translation Competence, ed. by Christina Schäffner, and Beverly Adab, 3–18. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Neubert, Albrecht, and Gregory M. Shreve. 1992. Translation as Text. Kent, OH: Kent State University Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Newson, Dennis. 1998. “Translation and Foreign Language Learning.” In Translation and Language Teaching. Language Teaching and Translation, ed. by Kirsten Malmkjær, 63–68. Manchester: St. Jerome.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Orlando, Marc. 2011. “Evaluation of Translations in the Training of Professional Translators. At the Crossroads between Theoretical, Professional and Pedagogical Practices.” The Interpreter and Translator Trainer 5 (2): 293–308. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Orozco, Mariana, and Amparo Hurtado Albir. 2002. “Measuring Translation Competence Acquisition.” Meta 47 (3): 375–402. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
PACTE. 2000. “Acquiring Translation Competence: Hypotheses and Methodological Problems of a Research Project.” In Investigating Translation, ed. by Allison Beeby, Doris Ensinger, and Marisa Presas, 99–116. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Popovic, Radmila. 2001. “The Place of Translation in Language Teaching.” Bridges, the Journal of the Thrace-Macedonia Teachers’ Association 5: 3–8.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Preložníková, Soňa, and Conrad Toft. 2004. “The Role of Translation Studies within the Framework of Linguistic and Literary Studies.” In Translation in Undergraduate Degree Programmes, ed. by Kirsten Malmkjær, 83–96. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Pym, Anthony. 2003. “Redefining Translation Competence in an Electronic Age. In Defence of a Minimalist Approach.” Meta 48 (4): 481–497. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Richards, Jack C., and Theodore S. Rodgers. 1986. Approaches and Methods in Language Teaching. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Robinson, Bryan J., Clara I. López Rodríguez, and María I. Tercedor Sánchez. 2006. “Self-Assessment in Translator Training.” Perspectives: Studies in Translatology 14 (2): 115–138. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Schäffner, Christina, and Beverly Adab. 2000. Developing Translation Competence. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Stibbard, Richard. 1998. “The Principled Use of Translation in Foreign Language Teaching.” In Translation and Language Teaching. Language Teaching and Translation, ed. by Kirsten Malmkjær, 69–76. Manchester: St. Jerome.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Vintar, Špela. 2013. Slovenski prevodi skozi korpusno prizmo. Ljubljana: Znanstvena založba Filozofske fakultete. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Waddington, Christopher. 2001. “Different Methods of Evaluating Student Translations: The Question of Validity.” Meta 46 (2): 331–325. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Williams, Malcolm. 2004. Translation Quality Assessment: An Argumentation-Centred Approach. Ottawa: University of Ottawa Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Witte, Arnd, Theo Harden, and Alessandra Ramos de Oliveira Harden (eds). 2009. Translation in Second Language Learning and Teaching. Bern: Peter Lang. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Zlatnar Moe, Marija, and Nina Grahek Križnar. 2012. “Influence of Students’ Ideological Orientation on Target Language Text Production: Analysis of Summaries and Translations of 3rd Year Students.” The Interpreter and Translator Trainer 6 (1): 71–90. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Cited by (1)

Cited by one other publication

Maadla, Jekaterina
2023. Dialogue interpreting: The point of contact between Translation Studies, Foreign Language Teaching, and Translation for Other Learning Contexts. STRIDON: Journal of Studies in Translation and Interpreting 3:1 ► pp. 71 ff. DOI logo

This list is based on CrossRef data as of 19 november 2025. Please note that it may not be complete. Sources presented here have been supplied by the respective publishers. Any errors therein should be reported to them.

Mobile Menu Logo with link to supplementary files background Layer 1 prag Twitter_Logo_Blue