Didactics of Translation: Text in Context

An overview of translation pedagogy in the second half of the twentieth century

1. From 1940s to 1980s

Systematic studies in translation teaching are a recent phenomenon. This fact is demonstrated by the survey of writings on the topic conducted by Chau, in which a total of 521 works on the subject are examined. These works belong to the period extending from 1941 to 1983 and are representative of the literature covering English and French-speaking areas where translation is taught. They include writings on translator and interpreter training and translation teaching as a technique in foreign language learning (i.e. translation as a means to an end). According to Chau,
an analysis of the nature of the writings reveals an encouraging picture. There is an obvious general trend of change from random insights to perceptive theorizing, from the description of immediate individual programmes to formulations of model curricula, and from the exposition of personal convictions on individual problems to studies into the entire business of translation teaching, with reference to various branches of linguistics and adjacent disciplines. (Chau 1984: 28)

The “perceptive theorizing” and the “formulation of model curricula”, according to Chau, can be traced to the period of the 1970s which was marked by the work of Reiss (1976 b) Pan (1977), Wilss (1977), Keiser (1978) and Fawcett (1981).

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