Translation Studies
10. The teaching of
Krisztina Károly, Spring, 2006
Sources: Klaudy, 2003
Main questions:
Can translation and interpretation be
What is it exactly that can/cannot be
How can the results of translation
studies be applied in organising
translation courses and making the
teaching of translation more efficient?
The relationship between the study
and the teaching of translation:
translation studies grew out of the needs of
teaching translation and training translators
James Holmes (1972, creator of the term
“TS”) identifies 3 branches within the field:
(1) theoretical
(2) descriptive
(3) applied TS: translator training,
translation aids, translation policy, and
translation criticism
Main sources of knowledge applied
in the teaching of translation:
General conclusions:
translation theory
Specific solutions:
translators’ intuitive work, experience (no
rules, generalizations!)
What can be of use in teaching?
James Holmes’s (1972) classification:
Theoretical TS
general  cannot be applied in teaching
partial (special or concrete)  CAN be applied
in teaching!
- medium-restricted TS (man/machine
- area-restricted TS (languages involved)
- text-type restricted TS (text type being
Descriptive TS
function-oriented TS.
The role of contrastive linguistics
in the teaching of translation:
CL  comparison of specific language
pairs and text types (in primary
communication, NOT secondary =
Klaudy (2003):
TS looks at translation in a complex
manner (Lic + extra-Lic factors
influencing the process of translation)
Contrastive Lics and contrastive text
Lics can be helpful only in the analysis
of the Lic factors of translation, but in
this they have a crucial function.
The translational "behaviour" of
languages and transfer operations:
Klaudy (1999): depending on the
similarities and differences between Ls  a
certain type of "translational behaviour" (cf.
"friendly" and "unfriendly" L pairs);
e.g., English: friendly with German, less
with French, not with Hungarian
depending on the L pair and the directions
of translation, the typological features of
particular Ls determine the difficulties of
the behaviour of L pairs towards each other
determine some of the transfer operations
as well  important in teaching
The transfer competence of
Consists of five elements:
(1) linguistic competence,
(2) subject-related competence,
(3) inter-cultural competence,
(4) transfer competence
(5) communicative competence
a particular type of knowledge
(language proficiency, subject
knowledge, knowledge about
skills (transfer skills, communication
Transfer competence
part of the translator's professional
can develop strategies to overcome
problems resulting from the differences
between the two languages
can "freely move" between the two Ls:
possesses general translation strategies +
particular language-pair-specific strategies!
(merely a mono- or bilingual speaker)
Modelling the process of
A translator, a professional bilingual person,
differs from a speaker of language “A” or
language “B” in that he/she knows and
consciously or instinctively operates two
(1) He/she knows the rules according to
which signs of language “A” are used by
speakers of language “A” to refer to reality
("A" system of rules);
(2) He/she knows the rules according to
which signs of language “B” are used by
speakers of language “B” to refer to reality
("B" system of rules).
Modelling the process of translation, cont.
Process: the translator,
with the help of the language "A" rule
system, decodes the language "A" text and
reaches reality (denotative model) or a
semantic deep structure (one subtype of
the transformational model);
re-encodes this reality with the help of the
language "B" system of rules to ultimately
reach the language "B" text.
Path: language "A"  reality  language
The characteristics of the "C"
system of rules:
How come that Hungarian texts translated from a
FL differ (linguistically) from original Hungarian
texts?  2 explanations:
(1) The translator goes down to the deep structure
from the language "A" surface, but then takes
the wrong path towards the language "B"
surface; or
(2) The translator does not go down to the deep
structure from the language "A" surface, but
directly switches to the language "B" surface. In
other words, he/she creates for him-/herself an
intuitive translational rule system, a so-called "C"
system of rules, and, consciously or
unconsciously, applies this system during his/her
How can this "C" system of rules
be characterised?
It is
(1) abstract  while the rules of systems "A" and "B"
relate L signs to reality, rules in the system "C"
relate L signs to L signs;
(2) subjective  while the rules of systems "A" and
"B" are acquired within an institutional framework
by speakers of language "A" and "B", rules in the
system "C" are created intuitively by translators on
the basis of their own experience;
(3) incidental  the "C" system of rules may be
distorted if the translator has received inadequate
training in one of his/her Ls, or if he/she has
received good training in both Ls but for some
reason cannot relate them appropriately.
The dilemma of translator
How should translator training deal with this "C"
system of rules?  it must reckon with the
existence of the "C" system of rules.
Two alternatives:
(1) It can try to eliminate the "C" system of rules,
and discourage translators from believing in a
direct relationship between Ls "A" and "B" 
translators should not bother with Lic form, but
should try and grasp content (sense, meaning)
(2) It can try to improve and refine the "C" system of
rules, accepting the assumption that some form of
relationship does exist, but in a considerably more
complicated form than the one intuitively created
by the translators  language "A" effects should
be avoided by proposing a more sensitive and
complicated system of relations (!)
The benefits of linguistic
for teachers of translation: in designing translation
courses, selecting texts to be translated, evaluating
translations, and justifying teachers' and readers'
for translator trainees: without Lics only very lowlevel generalisations can be made from the translators'
experience (e.g., "this does not sound nice in
Hungarian", "we say this differently in Hungarian", "this
doesn't sound OK", or "maybe you should phrase it
differently")  the teacher should explain his/her
corrections by highlighting the differences between the
two L systems and their typical usages (= frame of
reference in the decisions of future translators)
for practicing translators: as a result of being aware
of the regularities of Ls, the translator can multiply
his/her own transfer experience + contributes to
increasing the prestige of the profession (professional
explanations of decisions)

Translation Studies