Translation
What
and why?
As
a technique in language learning and teaching, translation used
to be very popular. In recent years, however, it has fallen out
of favour. There has been concern that an over-use of translation
encourages the students to produce very strange-sounding English.
Too much translation can also prevent students from developing fluency
in the language as they develop the habit of going through their
MOTHER TONGUE.
Yet, used appropriately, there are a number of reasons why translation,
as a teaching technique, still offers considerable benefits. Students,
at all levels of ability, do translate. It is, in fact, impossible
to learn anything unless you find ways of integrating it into what
you already know - in this case the mother tongue. It is thus important
that the teacher is able to ensure that students have the correct
translation in their minds. Translation can also help students be
themselves Ð they can express what they want to say and then learn
how to say those same things in English. It is also useful as a
planning device (e.g. before writing) where trying to plan in English
would prevent the flow of ideas.
Practical
ideas
- You
can deal with basic vocabulary problems through translation. This
saves time compared with long explanations and ensures the correct
meaning is understood.
- Students
can play the translation game, where a 'non-English-speaking'
student says something in the mother tongue and another student
has to interpret for him/her.
- BRAINSTORMING
can be done in the mother tongue, but as you put the ideas up
on the board or a POSTER,
you can translate them into English. Students can then learn from
seeing their ideas in English.
- Before
doing a ROLE PLAY,
WRITING a passage, preparing QUESTIONS
or an exercise, students can first plan things out in their mother
tongue, all the time thinking of what they are able to say in
English. Planning in the mother tongue can prevent language problems
interfering with the generating of ideas.
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