Didactics of Translation: Text in Context

A summary of Kussmaul’s major translation pedagogy guidelines

The following points are stressed by Kussmaul in his process-oriented method for the training of translators:

1. 
   Translation teachers should implement pragmatic analysis in their teaching so as to eradicate the misconception that students have about the translation activity – the latter being in the minds of many of them a mere replacement of SL words by TL words – and in order to produce “functioning translations” (Kussmaul 1995: 82).
   
2. 
   They should also introduce students to text type conventions in the SL and TL and invite them to focus on the similarities and differences of these text types so as to produce adequate translations (Ibid).
   
3. 
   They should help students build up self-confidence by making them aware of their cognitive processes. In other words, they should assist them in “rationalizing their comprehension and translation processes (Ibid: 92). This awareness is supposed to be a necessary condition for producing successful translations.
   

By applying the method put forward by Kussmaul, it is suggested teachers “should find it easier to argue for or against specific solutions when discussing semantic problems” with their students, who will themselves, subsequently, make use of these arguments in their professional life” (Ibid: 103)

2.