Didactics of Translation: Text in Context

Pedagogical implications

The most important pedagogical implications are derived from the text- based model presented above, from the results of the translation teaching experiment, the answers to the questionnaire given to the translation students and the answers to the questionnaire given to a number of Moroccan university translation professors (see appendix B).
A translation teaching programme should consist of three main components: a language competence component, a transfer competence component and a subject competence component (Neubert 1995: 412).
The first component will deal with language training in both the SL and TL. Many translation curricula disregard this important aspect of translator training and concentrate mainly on the transfer competence component, on the contestable grounds that a translation teaching course should not be the domain for practical and remedial language work.
However, it is our firm belief that the translation curricula in use have to be restructured so as to enable students to have some language training. It is all very well to teach students some translation skills and strategies, such as the ones used in the experiment (for example, register analysis). However, this cannot be sufficient. Translation trainees should have “a thorough grounding in language competence and subject competence” if they are to learn to translate adequately and professionally (Neubert, ibid). More specifically, the language competence component should provide instruction and guidance on the use of language in communication in both the SL and TL. It should also provide grammar lessons at the word, phrase and sentence levels in both languages (Li 2001: 348). These language courses should run in parallel with the transfer competence courses.
The second component, transfer competence, will consist of two main parts: part (A) will deal with developing a “theory of translating” (Farghal 2000: 86) i.e. “a set of practical principles, guidelines and problem-solving strategies”. For this purpose, Baker’s translation course book (1992) could be used, together with other basic references. Part (B) will deal with

developing a “theory of translation” (Farghal, ibid) that will encompass the following main points:

x A course in translation studies in the sense defined by Holmes (1972). (See section 2.2 above).

x The relationships between theoretical, descriptive and applied translation theories.
x Current theoretical translation studies such as the textlinguistic approaches to translation
x Psycholinguistic models of comprehension
Concerning this part (B), Hatim’s translation textbook (1997 b) would be most useful for introducing students to how to translate different text types.

3.