Teaching translation as part of a practical EFL course in teacher training groups

Abstract

The aim of this paper is to provide instruction on how to teach translation as part of the practical English course in the university context. Such modules are included in programmes dedicated to teacher training groups or business English groups and are characterised by a limited number of hours devoted to translation training. This is why, unlike in the case of translator training groups, where students have much more time to develop their skills, the teacher has to carefully plan the curriculum paying attention to every detail and make the most of every translation class conducted with and for his or her students. The following paper tries to point out the most important issues which need to be presented and discussed during translation classes, as well as provide the teacher with sample questions and tasks that may be used for training. In particular, it focuses on the following strategies that ought to be applied in translation: changing the order of words; dividing longer sentences into shorter ones; combining shorter sentences into longer ones; generalisation; simplification and omission; clarification; and changing grammatical categories of words.