17 - Translation in Foreign Language Teaching

Summary

The chapter explores translation in a foreign-language course at a South African university and argues that the explicit practice of translation and concurrent reflective writing foregrounds the negotiation of meaning between languages and cultures. The study proposes fair assessment practices for a multilingual, multicultural context, as reflective writing nurtures student diversity and individualised learning. In translation courses, students and lecturers must ideally share a home language and second/ foreign language, in this case German and English, but often do not. Subsequently, clumsy English translations might not accurately reflect students’ understanding of the German source text, nor their contemplation of equivalent language transfer. The reflective essays, however, revealed evidence of deep engagement with language in context and re-evaluation of linguistic and cultural assumptions. The reflections also created a diagnostic space where comprehension errors or misconceptions could be addressed on an individual basis. The study finds that teaching translation in foreign language courses stimulates critical reflection on language, provided that assessment methods match such learning outcomes.