THE STATUS OF TRANSLATION IN EFL

Mona ARHIRE, Transilvania University, Brasov

Abstract: This paper attempts at providing answers to some questions related to the role of translation in the current teaching of foreign languages, focusing on EFL. The considerations are based on the contrastive view of classical vs. modern teaching methodology, as well as on an insight into teaching material proper. The outcome relies on the balance between the advantages and drawbacks of using translation in EFL classrooms.

After having been at the core of foreign language learning for thousands of years, translation has been denigrated for a few decades now. Here is an attempt at finding explanations for the reasons why translation activities have lost ground in the teaching methodology of foreign languages in monolingual classes. To this end, the point of discussion is the didactic translation, i.e. translation for the general scope of teaching a foreign language, and the particular one, the teaching of EFL. So, translation is approached only as a tool, among others, ultimately leading to the acquisition of a foreign language, and not as an end in itself. There is a multitude of skills and abilities to be developed in the process of EFL teaching, hence, a large variety of methods can be not only beneficial, but also necessary. However, translation, and other teaching activities alike have been discarded. The weak point of translation among the range of language teaching techniques has been explained in terms such as: boring, time-consuming, wasteful, irrelevant, pointless, not communicative, difficult, not authentic etc. All these adjectives can be perfectly true, taken separately or even cumulatively, but only in classrooms where the translation activities are misused (Atkinson, 1993:54). In evidence of this, there are solutions to avoid letting the negative side of translation show, and, conversely, to make pleasant and effective classroom activities out of translating.

Boring can be any teaching activity if used exclusively and continuously, or if used in a wrong way. The input of some creativity is welcome and can make translation within teaching the least dull activity of all, requiring for interactivity and even spontaneity. Firstly, students should not spend the time for translating proper in classroom as this would be indeed time-consuming. Only advice on techniques should be provided beforehand, and correction afterwards. Secondly, all the students should be involved in discussing translation versions in an interactive way. Indicating that there is not one perfect translation of the same language item, but several can be correct and appropriate, might encourage students to speak out their own versions and check for correctness. During this process, the other students will find out other possible versions for translating the same source text, thus enrich their vocabulary, hear about other possibilities of the foreign target language and learn from the other students mistakes. A translation is too difficult only if it is not well adapted to the competences already acquired by students. At its worst, it is stimulating due to its complexity. Moreover, the fairly wide range of skills required by translation activities enhances a similar wide range of skills developed. The communicative aspect of teaching EFL seems to be the main argument against using translation within the teaching process. To be more precise, it is oral communication mainly referred to. However, there are suggestions of telephone conversation translations. This can be done by means of translating on the spot the latest telephone call over a limited stretch of time, depending on the students language level. They would argue that a written translation of a phone call is not as spontaneous as a conversation in real time. For sure it is not, but the oral communicative condition has been fulfilled, and the awareness of similarities and differences in an every-day life situation has been pointed out. Still less spontaneous than speaking, there is another EFL communicative teaching approach called silent conversation (Campbell & Kryszewska, 1993:82), a method where students are supposed to work in pairs in order to write a full conversation on only one sheet of paper circulating from one student to another. Starting from a first line provided by the teacher in the native language, and completing the conversation in turns either in English or in their native language, the students should obtain a full conversation in the

end. The pairs should then exchange the sheets and write the translations into English where missing. If neither the second pair has succeeded in translating all the replies, the sheet will be passed over to a next pair of students. The teachers displaying the translations on the wall enables the class to check both correctness and accuracy on the one hand, and coherence and cohesion on the other. These latter two attributes of any piece of discourse should be a serious concern of every foreign language teacher, both in oral communication and in the written one. These topics have always appeared to be the most useful constituent of discourse analysis or text linguistics applicable to translation. (Newmark, 1987:295). This is because each language possesses its specific patterns for conveying interrelationships of all kinds. By no means should such peculiarities be ignored within language teaching. (Callow, 1974:30). As far as writing is concerned, translating is a kind of rewriting, as Lefevre points out. Therefore, a translation is a new text, having its own identity and benefiting from the features of discourse as appropriate in the target language. This leads the students way through adjacent processes such as decoding, analyzing, transferring and re-encoding messages in the target language. It is also an exercise of the mind, after all, even if this is not a purpose in itself either. Everybody agrees that, within teaching EFL, translation contributes to developing reading and writing skills . Yet, some criticisms highlight the fact that it is limited to developing only the two linguistic skills despite the fact that focusing on listening and speaking would be more useful. Actually, as shown before, there are translation activities that can be done almost entirely orally, not to mention that discussing translations in class is real conversation or/and debate in the foreign language to be acquired. A further complaint in matter of the didactic translation is that, instead of encouraging the free use of vocabulary, it exerts constraints, limiting the expression to what is provided for transfer. However, the possibility of enriching the students vocabulary cannot be denied, along with the practice of several registers necessary in oral communication as well - and of varied terminology in diverse fields and in texts belonging to different genres and styles. This means that translation is by far not restrictive in matter of lexis, but, on the contrary, it offers students access to other domains and topics than mere

common conversation. Moreover, dealing with several fields helps at activating the students passive vocabulary they have come in contact with during their reading or listening activities as part of their EFL learning process or privately. Another aspect related to vocabulary acquisition is the use of the dictionary, which is strictly linked to the learning of a foreign language. Each learner should make sure to use a relevant bilingual dictionary, and, preferably, a monolingual one, too. In this encounter, it is the teachers task, when teaching EFL through translation, to indicate the way in which dictionaries are to be used. Keeping and continuously updating a glossary can also be useful since writing down words is taking a step to keeping them in mind. Thus, it is an exercise for the memory as well since a good memory is essential to foreign language learning in general. If we add the fact that students can obtain information regarding the correct spelling and pronunciation, as well as some grammatical hints, we can conclude that dictionaries are often undervalued. Since translation represents cultural mediation, a comparison of translations in class facilitates a contrast between two cultures, which allows the students to become familiar with the linguistic elements that are unavoidably connected to culture. Even slang and everyday idioms are beneficial in translation as they characterize a culture and, implicitly a language. In this way, students learn that some words do not exist in the other language simply because the notion itself misses. In this respect, translations of folk songs, tales and poems can be tried out, even if in summary. Nuances among synonyms can also be of a cultural nature, and can be well practiced by means of translation. Moreover, paying attention to fine and subtle semantic differences is another strategy that helps students to understand the real meaning of a particular word in its context and co-text. In such an encounter, students should be also taught that every word may assume different meanings according to the context. This knowledge can be acquired by students when translating materials using the literary language, texts that are authentic and long enough to provide the necessary context for an adequate translation. The not authentic issue stands only when the teacher himself/herself opts for nonauthentic material for translation. However, in certain circumstances, made-up sentences or shorter fragments might well serve purposes of teaching structures. In this encounter, they

represent an alternative to other grammar teaching methods that contain made-up sentences, thus making the classes and grammar itself less boring and more complex and effective. Moreover, the grammar-translation method is a useful device to learn grammar and lexis in both source language and target language. Translation being a two-way device, it is a means of comparing two languages and hence of arising awareness of similarities and differences between them. This cannot be taken as an insensitive approach since acquiring a foreign language conscientiously is advisable especially with adult learners. Furthermore, by starting from grammar, students can reach a higher level of translation abilities and, vice-versa: by translating they acquire better competence in the knowledge of grammatical structures. In their endeavour to learn a foreign language, adult learners often feel the need to find the mother tongue equivalent in order to check their good understanding of a lexical or grammatical item. As far as the translation abilities are concerned, even if translation is not a purpose in itself, people find themselves involved in acts of translation very often in their every-day lives. Besides, the grammar-translation method needs to be neither non-authentic, nor non-communicative, nor dull. Alan Duffs Translation is only an example of a book containing authentic paragraphs meant to practice grammar issues in a systematic and organized way, containing chapters referring to stress and emphasis, word order, articles, compounds, substitution, tense, mood and aspect a.s.o. Here, language teachers are offered a wide range of materials which reflect the most characteristic aspects of the English language, proposed for translation. The short texts are interesting and pleasant, represent customary usage in both written and spoken language - rather general than specialized -, and cover a full range of registers and styles. Adopting this type of grammar practice can prevent students from unwillingly transferring grammatical rules from one language to another by finding out the equivalences at the level of grammar. It is indeed a fact that learners of foreign languages of all ages are tempted to transfer the structures of their native tongue to the language they acquire. From this point of view, translation is a useful means of arising awareness in matter of differences between the two languages and helps at reducing the intrusion of mother tongue features into the foreign

language to be acquired. On the other hand, teachers can better understand the source of some of the students mistakes and intervene to the point for correcting them. As for the balance between grammatical competence and communication abilities, EFL teaching in Romania has suffered a considerable change of priorities. At throwing a comparative look at former and current textbooks used for EFL in Romanian schools, we would notice a rather abrupt shift from competence to performance. The balance has never been standing in equilibrium. The upper hand that communication, i.e. language in use, has gained in recent years is absolutely beneficial, but has been achieved at the expense of correct usage. There is a question worth considering here, a rather rhetoric one: Does correctness not lie at the foundation of effectiveness in communication? Or: Can we really be effective apart from being correct? In fact, the language norms or grammatical rules are the backbone of a language and can by no means be ignored. During translation, as well as by working on parallel texts, it is possible to trace the role played by a grammar rule and how it gets integrated in the overall language system. Hence, translation does have a potential for communicatively applying the rules of grammar, which should be of interest to any EFL teacher. The translation activities in textbooks used between the 60s and the 90s concentrated mainly on fixing grammar rules and 90% of them were made up. But throwing a glance at the more recent textbooks issued in Romania, we can find within the few translation exercises a high percentage of authentic texts. However, their communicative contribution in the sense of modern EFL teaching is feeble. Another point to be observed is in how far the translation activities contained therein concord with the exam requirements. As the baccalaureate subjects in English for this years session have been made public on the internet by the Ministry of Education and Research, we could notice that only bilingual and intensive classes are partly tested by means of translations, which is in conformity with the curriculum. So are the translation activities offered in the textbooks conceived by Romanian authors. The translation exercises proposed are mostly excerpts from literary texts, essays, literary criticism and reviews, and the level of difficulty matches the exam subjects in the case of bilingual classes. The intensive ones will have to deal with made-up sentences for translation, which

represents one of the currently blamed teaching methods. The amount of such assignments in the above mentioned textbooks are as follows: none in the textbooks for the 9 th and 10th grades, two grammar-translation exercises in the 11th form textbook and one such example can be found in the 12th grade textbook, this time in the form of an authentic 4-line text. However, the great majority of high-schools in Romania have done away with the textbooks under previous discussion. The replacement of Romanian textbooks for EFL by their foreign counterparts is nowadays by far not a tendency any longer, but has almost become the rule. There is no intention here of drawing up any criticism of the latter in favour of the former. The only concern would be related to the lack of translation activities, since the curriculum of the Baccalaureate exam in English contains translation competences, mentioned as competene de transfer. In other words, translation is used as a testing method, but hardly as a teaching method. The word hardly will do in the case of textbooks for EFL conceived and issued in Romania, but definitely too weak for the foreign textbooks, which include no translation activities at all. However, they are accepted to be used in regular classrooms in Romania, and so they are: used extensively and exclusively. The fact that translation has been out of favour for some good years, while still remaining a means of testing language competences seems, to some extent, weird. This finding might throw the effectiveness of translation as a testing method under a shade of doubt, since the teaching does not offer the proper training of it. Do students possess the relevant abilities to deal with such an approach in the absence of the training and practice? To what extent are they able to handle a contrastive method? Most teachers will have made sure that students get the necessary training even if they have to supplement the textbooks they currently use in class. This is necessary especially as the translation tests proposed as exam subjects are quite difficult. They are based on solid knowledge of dealing with unknown words in the absence of a dictionary. Leafing over the textbooks, in the cases of translations containing problematic vocabulary, the students are urged to use the dictionary. Positive point, since handling a dictionary is an essential component in dealing with a foreign language. Nonetheless, in the exam they are not allowed to use it. That is why passages like: Ai vzut vreodat cum i suduie ranii

vitele? Ei bine, vita se suduie cu o convingere extraordinar. Cu ct o iubeti mai mult i ai nevoie de ea, o sudui mai apsat. 1 need for some mastery. The conclusion and answer to the starting question are obvious: diligently studying the textbooks alone is not the equivalent of successfully and fully completing the final examination paper. Why have the translation activities been harshly diminished in amount in textbooks? Perhaps, they are of no need. But, then, why have they been preserved as testing methods? Are they still of some need, after all? The truth is translation has a manifold use in the EFL teaching and therefore it is definitely a method to be taken into account, on condition it is not used exclusively, considering its drawbacks and limits. This means that the importance of developing students spontaneous communication abilities is not to be underestimated. Still, as shown above, translation can be used for communicative purposes as well. Besides, there is no teaching method that will do alone, used exclusively. On the contrary, the teaching of foreign languages is based on a diversity of methods joined together or opted for at a specific point in the learning process so as to serve certain immediate or long-term purposes. It focuses, in turns, on certain abilities or skills to be developed at the expense of others that are considered at another teaching stage. To conclude, like any other teaching method, translation can be successful in EFL if used in an appropriate way, imaginatively as an alternative to other teaching methods, the teacher being the one to make the right decision.

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