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Productive Bilingualism and Translator Education by Mr. Wanwei Wu Chapter 3. This chapter will focus on challenges and opportunities of translator education after exploring the complexities of translation and translation competence. Complexities of Translation “Before translation became an individual discipline in the second half of the twentieth century, it had been (and is still) used widely in foreign language teaching contexts. The main objectives of using translation tasks in language teaching have been to illustrate and explain grammatical points and drill certain constructions specially designed for this purpose, to help the teacher in controlling whether the students understand properly often contextless linguistic units, and to provide the teacher with a handy means of large-scale testing of a variety of types of knowledge and skills (House,1981)” (Sahin, Mehmet “Assessing Translated Texts in Academe”) In the last few decades, translation theories have witnessed dramatic change in many areas like notions of equivalence, faithfulness, the importance of context and function, the need to adopt appropriate translation strategies for different types of text, cultural interaction and conflict. “translation is now seen as a matter of relativities and concrete negotiations, rather than abstract, all-purpose rules.” (Nott, David “Translation from and into the Foreign Language”) Consequently, translation is considered not only as a linguistic activity, but “an economic activity, an artistic activity, an intercultural communication activity, a power-political activity, and so on” (Mossop, Brian) Similarly, translators are regarded as social animals as well as cultural animals. Their task is to “to create conditions under which the source language author and the target language reader can interact with one another (Lotfipour, 1997).” (Razmjou, Leila “To be a Good Translator”) To produce good translation, “strategic decisions have to be taken about the linguistic features, effect, genre and audience of the source text (ST), and the function and audience of the target text (TT); which of these factors are paramount? Detailed decisions involve: compromise, which should always be the result of a deliberate choice on the part of the translator; compensation for the loss of some feature and its replacement by another; stylistic contrasts between the source language (SL) and the target language (TL)” (Nott, David “Translation from and into the Foreign Language”) “The main premise of translation is to grasp the sense of a cultural message, taking into consideration its uniqueness and its relation to the environment. Whatever is translated, it is neither words nor language but whole texts. Each text lives its own life, has its own identity, exists in a specific reality. By means of attempting to express different phenomena surrounding people, language is constantly changing and being updated. It simply lives and develops as the whole world around it does.” (requoted from Bugalski, Woitek “Translator as Foreign Language Learner”) Translation Competence What is translation competence? A simple definition is “the underlying system of knowledge and skills needed to be able to translate" (PACTE Group, 2000 qtd from Jekat, Susanne J et al “The Puzzle of Translation Skills) It “comprises a number of dynamic sub-competences, each with its own cluster of components, not all of which are believed to inform bilingual language use or be a part of non-translational communication.” (Jekat, Susanne J. et al) Most commonly mentioned are subject and real-world knowledge, research skills, cognitive qualities such as creativity, and problem-solving strategies (Presas 2000: 28), the extra-linguistic, psycho-physiological, instrumental-professional, transfer and strategic competences (Neubert 1997, Neubert 2000, Massey 2001, PACTE 2000) (Jekat, Susanne J et al) A more specific and detailed list of translation competence are made by Kiraly: • learn what tools are available to the translator, why these tools should be used, where and how they can be found, and how they can be employed with maximum efficiency and effectiveness; The six subcompetencies of translation competence are: 1) communicative competence in both languages; 2) extralinguistic competence (e.g. knowledge of the theory of translation); 3) transfer competence; 4) instrumental/professional competence; (knowledge and skills relating to professional translation practice) 5) psychophysiological competence; (the ability to apply psychomotor, cognitive and attitudinal resources) 6) strategic competence; (conscious and subconscious, verbal and non-verbal individual procedures used to solve problems encountered during the translation process) (Melis and Albir p. 280) (qtd from Sahin, Mehmet “Assessing Translated Texts in Academe”) Taking translation as a possible profession for foreign language majors, Royal L Tinsley, Jr interprets translation competence in the background of foreign language education with job-oriented preparedness. The first part of it is TL writing ability. “Aside from the obvious requirement that the translator be able to read and understand the source language, the most important prerequisite is the ability to write the target language with far better fluency than the average native speaker. Whereas the native speaker or writer needs to express only his own thoughts in his own language, the translator is expected to render in the target language any idea that anyone can formulate in any of the languages he translates.” (Royal L Tinsley, Jr) Actually, the author here wants to add that the importance of SL writing ability can’t be overestimated as well. Secondly, common sense: “The translator must have enough intelligence to know that if the translation does not make sense, it is wrong.” (Royal L Tinsley, Jr) Thirdly, subject matter: “The best translator for a specific text would be one who is an expert in the subject matter and who knows the source language well enough to know when the foreign text says something other than what the individual's expertise would lead him or her to expect it to say…Most translators must compromise with this ideal by knowing as much as possible about as many things as possible, and by knowing how to find out what they do not yet know.” (Royal L Tinsley, Jr) Fourthly, tools: “they must also learn about the tools of their trade and how to use them. These tools are dictionaries of all kinds, encyclopedias, various types of lists and catalogs, collections of abstracts, bibliographies, and mechanical tools such as typewriters, dictating equipment, and various tools for graphics work. The computer terminal is becoming ever more important for the translator who can consult a terminology bank.” (Royal L Tinsley, Jr) Fifthly, research skills: “Courses that acquaint him or her with the location and use of as many resource materials as possible are very helpful. Familiarity with directories of people, schools, organizations, agencies, etc., and with catalogs of products and trade names, lists of scientific and common names of chemicals, plants, animals, and insects, in addition to the reference materials mentioned above, is extremely valuable.” (Royal L Tinsley, Jr) Last but not least important, business acumen: “From the point of view of a career, the translator should acquire some degree of business acumen…They must negotiate their wages and working conditions with each employer, sometimes for each translation.” (Royal L Tinsley, Jr) Liu Miqing, a translation researcher in China approaches translation competence from the actual steps of translating. Therefore, his five dimensions of translation competence include editing competence. They are: 1) linguistic analysis and manipulation competence; 2) cultural interpretation and representation competence; 3) aesthetic sensitivity and representation competence; 4) code switching free from interference; 5) logical analysis and editing competence. (Liu, 2003, pp.30-34) Christiane Nord, representative of functionalist approach or Skopos theory, thinks that translational text competence consists of meta-competence, text-production competence, text-analytical competence, and contrastive text competence. (Nord, Christiane “Translating as an Text Production Activity”) Textual meta-competence, according to Nord, includes the following: 1) text production as a purposeful, culture-bound activity; 2) texts as means of communication used for specific purposes and addressees; 3) methods of text analysis; 4) the importance of cultural and world knowledge in text reception and text production; 5) strategies and techniques of information retrieval; 6) pragmatic conditions of text production; 7) fundamental aspects of LSP and terminology. Etc. The aim of developing meta-competence is to cultivate students’ sensitivity about the features of their own culture’s communicative behavior, and to provide them with the necessary theoretical and methodological "tools". (Nord, Christiane “Translating as an Text Production Activity”) “Text-production competence includes the ability to use rhetorical devices in order to achieve specific communicative purposes, re-write or re-phrase texts for other audiences, purposes, media, places etc. (= "intralingual translation"), summarize texts or produce abstracts, convert figures, tables, schematic representations into text (or vice versa), produce written texts on the basis of oral information (or vice versa), revise deficient texts (quality management), and the like.” (Nord, Christiane “Translating as an Text Production Activity”) Text-analytical competence is the proficiency in the linguaculture where the source text was produced and/or used for specific communicative purposes. It “provides the basis for decisions about (a) the feasibility of the translation assignment, (b) which source-text units are relevant to a functional translation, and (c) which translation strategy will lead to a target text meeting the requirements of the translation brief.” (Christiane Nord, 2001, p.62) “Contrastive text competence consists of the ability to analyse the culture-specificities of textual and other communicative conventions in both linguacultures, identify (culture-bound) function markers in texts of various text types (with a particular focus on practice-oriented text types, such as business communication, computer manuals, product documentation, contracts, business and market reports, patents, image brochures, etc.), compare parallel texts, analyse and compare existing translations with each other and with the corresponding source text, evaluate and revise translations, and the like.” (Nord, Christiane “Translating as an Text Production Activity”) In addition to aforementioned comprehensive version about translation competence, translation researchers may stress some or other particular aspects in relation to their interest or priority. For instance, compared to machine translation or CAT, Gerding-Salas holds “a human translator must make use of his/her cleverness, creativity, curiosity, intuition, ingenuity, reflection, resourcefulness, and much more; a machine, however, no matter how well-fed it is, is unable to discriminate or discern.” ( Gerding-Salas, Constanza) Another example is translator’s cultural competence. Since translation is mostly produced for target readers who come from a culture different from ST readers, i.e. TT should be culturally appropriate. Cultural competence for translators consists of cultural awareness and cultural adaptation. The former means the translator understands what happens when he sends a message from one culture to another, i.e. to understand subtle difference of meanings and connotations between cultures, between subcultures, between situations and contexts; while the later refers to translator’s ability to adapt a text for use in a different culture. If, unfortunately, a translator does not possess such qualities, it is very likely for him to produce an inappropriate text which may lead to misunderstandings, communication breakdown and even conflict. (“Culturally Competent Translators”) Translator’s intuition is stressed like this: “Intuition is not something to be developed in a vacuum; rather, it needs practice and a solid background. It needs both the support of theory and the experience of practice. Language intuition is a must for a competent translator.” (Razmjou, Leila “To be a Good Translator”) In sum, the author reorganizes the aspects of translation competence in the following 5 categories:
Translation Education It is true some complaints are not justified because there is indeed gap between academic translation and professional translation training, and “the most arduous part of the journey [to be successful translators] starts when translation trainees leave their universities.” (Razmjou, Leila “To be a Good Translator”) As translation instructors, we should try to find out what is wrong with the present situation and where improvements can be made in the future. The status quo of translation teaching can be summarized as follows: Translation theory and practice is a required course for English majors with two semesters totaling about 80 hours (for juniors the third year). Related courses like stylistics, western culture are usually offered after translation. Chinese culture and content courses like law, computer science etc are rarely supplied. Students have no translation training whatsoever except some E-C or C-E sentence translating exercises. Their English and Chinese language are both poor especially the writing ability. Translation instructors mostly are former English majors lack of necessary knowledge and training either as a professional translator or in subjects other than English language and literature. The textbook used is either compiled by the instructor himself or chosen to his liking. The teaching method is so called teacher-centered. A typical class is like this: the teacher give student short texts (generally 500-1000 words per week) covering various subject matter to translate, then evaluate them, and finally discuss some in great depth and detail among all the students in class. Translation testing often includes types like idiom dictation, sentence translation, translation improvement, paragraph translation, short answer question, brief comment etc. The striking problems facing translation instructors might be what to be taught, how to teach translation skills and strategies, and how to promote students’ motivation to learn translation. For the first problem, an essay entitled “Training translators” offers at least part of the answer. The author’s main idea includes the following: 1) The speed and accuracy of a professional like quick typing, software and web using should be stressed; 2) Content courses be included, because students’ lack of a thorough education can not be compensated through the translation texts themselves; 3) Students should have their own specialized subject areas based on their backgrounds and interests. 4) There should be sufficient but not too much theory, because “no theory at all will leave translation students without a model to use to unify their knowledge and develop a deeper understanding and appreciation for their work.” 5) The faculty should have professional translation experience and a long-term commitment to their institution and students. 6) Translation training should be professional training principle rather than an academic endeavor like Ph.D. study in linguistics or literature. (“Training Translators”) As for the translation skills and strategies, a good answer is given by Shei Chi-Chiang, a scholar from Taiwan. According to him, translation strategies should be taught in a way that student may “view the trees and the forest at the same time.” (Shei, Chris C-C “Translation Commentary in Translation Curriculum) The student should be trained to identity a translation problem, to analyze the nature and structure of it, and to write translation commentaries accompanying translation assignments as a way of guiding him through the exploration of the translation problem space with the clues like translation methods, translation units, translation equivalents, translation norm, translation purpose, and the readership etc. As Shei puts it, “for trainee translators, the priority is to recognise the context of translation and the various constraints and tools at hand before translation strategies can be effectively used.” (Shei, Chris C-C “Translation Commentary in Translation Curriculum) Student’s motivation is usually a problem upsetting translation instructor. Quite a few students have told me they are fully aware of the importance of translation ability and have strong desire to learn translation well but are very frustrated at the little if ever progress. This is closely connected with the teacher centered translation practice. Just as Razmjou Leila listed, incentives to make student highly motivated includes the following: student centered approach with a focus on task-based activities; friendly and supporting interpersonal environment; fully-equipped self-access learning center; opportunities for publishing translated works; authentic internships in professional settings; middle session L2 proficiency test etc. (Razmjou, Leila “To be a Good Translator”) In the last few decades, great changes have taken place in education philosophy. More and more people come to believe that learning is a life-long endeavor in which learner’s autonomy, cognitive competence like critical thinking ability, affective growth like tolerance and empathy are emphasized. “Today’s students are encouraged to become autonomous, independent, self-sufficient life-long learners within the discipline of their specialization as well as areas parallel to it.” (Goff-Kfouri, Carol Ann “The Training of Translation Instructors: Dilemma or Challenge?”) Naturally enough, various teaching method innovation and new models compete in attracting people’s attention. Don Kiraly’s translator education model is a case in point. In Don Kiraly’s opinion, the conventional teacher centered classroom translation training should be at least supplemented with authentic, practice-oriented work through which students can be equipped with wide range of professional and interpersonal skills, knowledge and competencies which they will need to meet the requirements of an ever more-demanding job market. “Just "translating what’s on the page" is rapidly becoming an insignificant part of the translator’s task.” (Don Kiraly “From teacher-centered to learning-centered classrooms in translator education: control, chaos or collaboration?”) “Essential features of social-constructivist educational experiences will include authentic practice in actual professional activities, a collaborative learning environment including not only interaction among students but also the extensive involvement of the students in every aspect of the teaching/learning process, including syllabus and curriculum design, task selection, sub-task identification and assessment of their own performance and learning, as well as program effectiveness.” (Kiraly, Don “From teacher-centered to learning-centered classrooms in translator education: control, chaos or collaboration?”) Instead of waiting to be fed by teachers, “the students have to construct their own knowledge of the profession, their own understanding of their responsibilities and rights as professionals through experience, by collaboratively participating in the authentic activities of professional translators.” (Kiraly, Don “From teacher-centered to learning-centered classrooms in translator education: control, chaos or collaboration?”) Actually, workshop is a particularly useful form of cooperative learning in translation classroom, although instructors tend to shy away from it for fear of the possible drawbacks like low efficiency, higher noise level, inconclusive assessment etc. If instructors understand the three phases of group work---pre-group, during, and post group, specific task assignment for group members, and procedure training and discussion techniques training, such activities can be conducted effectively. Following Kiraly’s translator education model, students, having participated actively in extensive learning-centered classrooms, will find it natural to work professionally from their experience as experienced semi-professionals. They will become self-confident autonomous learner with a sense of responsibility toward work and “metacognitive strategies” of planning, monitoring and evaluating the success of their own performance. (O’Malley et al 2001, p.44) This will be a sharp contrast to the familiar scene: timid and frustrated green hand who had spent years following teachers’ agendas and meeting teacher’s expectations, prepared to slavishly perform as dictated by their teachers, only to find tasks in the workplace is a matter totally out of their expectation, quite different from what they have learnt in classroom. Related Articles
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