Teaching Translation Techniques to Second Language Learners

Translation is recognized to be one of the most challenging subjects for learners in second language departments. Knowing that these difficulties can be either dependent to the individual or the translation training, this study presents reasons why a translation teacher should introduce learners to translation techniques for better skills. In this regard, the paper aims at proposing the most frequently used translation techniques to second language learners, more specifically, to French-speaking students in English departments. The research draws on findings present in the existing literature. The translation techniques or procedures collected from previous studies can be presented into two types: direct translation procedures (borrowing, calque and literal translation), and indirect or oblique translation procedures (transposition, modulation, equivalence and adaptation). Three other techniques (compensation, amplification and omission) are also added to these seven basic procedures. Since languages can have internal characteristics that distinguish one from another, the study ends up inviting learners to pay attention to some particular features that distinguish French and English while translating.

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Second language learners’ divergence from target language pragmatic norms

Studies in Second Language Learning and Teaching ◽

10.14746/ssllt.2016.6.2.4 ◽

2016 ◽

Vol 6 (2) ◽

pp. 249-269 ◽

Cited By ~ 3

Author(s):

Maria Pia Gomez-Laich

Keyword(s):

Second Language ◽

Language Learners ◽

Second Language Learners ◽

Native Speakers ◽

Nonnative Speakers ◽

Target Language ◽

Pragmatic Competence ◽

L2 Pragmatics ◽

Direct Explanation ◽

The Individual

Pragmatic competence is an indispensable aspect of language ability in order for second and foreign language (L2/FL) learners to understand and be understood in their interactions with both native and nonnative speakers of the target language. Without a proper understanding of the pragmatic rules in the target language, learners may run the risk of coming across as insensitive and rude. Several researchers (Bardovi-Harlig, 2001; Kasper & Rose, 2002) suggest that L2 pragmatics not only can be taught in the L2/FL classroom, but, more importantly, that explicit approaches that involve direct explanation of target pragmatic features are beneficial for learning pragmatics. Just as native speakers of a language acquire a “set of dispositions to act in certain ways, which generates cognitive and bodily practices in the individual” (Watts, 2003, p. 149), instructors can help learners to become aware of the pragmatic features that characterize the target language. Although the importance of explicit teaching of pragmatics is well recognized in the literature, learning norms and rules of pragmatics largely depends on learners’ subjectivity. Learners’ convergence or divergence from the L2 pragmatic norms, both consciously and out of awareness, sometimes depends on whether these norms fit their image of self and their L1 cultural identity. Since identity-related conflict can have significant consequences for the acquisition of second language pragmatics, failing to consider the centrality of learners’ identities will produce an inadequate understanding of SLA. This paper synthesizes studies that document the reasons why learners opt to remain foreign by resisting certain L2 practic-es. The following synthesis question was proposed: Why do language learners resist the pragmatic norms of the target language?

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Non-Foreign-Accented Speech in Adult Second Language Learners

ITL - International Journal of Applied Linguistics ◽

10.1075/itl.133-134.01neu ◽

2001 ◽

Vol 133-134 ◽

pp. 185-206 ◽

Cited By ~ 6

Author(s):

Gerald G. Neufeld

Keyword(s):

Second Language ◽

Language Learners ◽

Second Language Learners ◽

Native Speakers ◽

Tape Recorder ◽

Detailed Account ◽

Accented Speech ◽

Test Conditions ◽

French Speaking ◽

Rigorous Test

Abstract The findings of this study add to the growing number of reports in which investigators claim to have located adult second language learners who, under rigorous test conditions, manage to pass as native speakers in L2. The aims of this paper were two, first, to provide a detailed account of how we tested and qualified our Anglophones as native-like speakers of French and, second, to suggest that, interesting as our data were, more questions emerge than do answers. Seven of 18 English/French bilinguals, having acquired L2 after the age of 16, were selected by means of a pre-test interview with three Francophones as “potentially of French-speaking background.” These seven, along with three Francophone controls, recited an 81-word passage in French onto a tape-recorder. Sixty-eight native-speaking French raters, of similar dialectal background and weak in English, each heard one of four tapes with differing random roders of the 10 passages, their task being to designate each voice as “Franco-phone” or “non-Francophone.” Four of our seven English-Franch bilinguals obtained ratings statistically comparable to those of our three Francophone controls.

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A Pilot Study on the Use of Pronouns in Oral Productions of Spanish as a Second Language

10.29007/4bkm ◽

2018 ◽

Author(s):

Kim Collewaert ◽

An Vande Casteele

Keyword(s):

Second Language ◽

Pilot Study ◽

Language Learners ◽

Second Language Learners ◽

Native Speakers ◽

Spanish Language ◽

Personal Pronouns ◽

Null Subject ◽

French And English ◽

Subject Pronoun

In this paper, some preliminary results on the use of pronouns in oral discourse of language learners of Spanish will be discussed. The article mainly focuses on the use of different kinds of personal pronouns and the pro-drop phenomenon, namely the existence of a null subject, typical of the Spanish language. The absence of an explicit subject due to a rich verbal conjugation opposes Spanish to other languages, such as French, English and Dutch, where an explicit subject pronoun is obligatory.As to investigate the use of the pronouns by language learners of Spanish, we compiled a corpus of oral productions of second language learners of Spanish who are all native speakers of Dutch and also learned French and English, which means that for them the pro-drop phenomenon is new. We will investigate which kinds of pronouns are used in which syntactic contexts and indicate in what contexts the use of a pronoun is not required. Next to this, we observe in our learners’ corpus an unnecessary repetition of proper names and an over-use of personal pronouns as subjects. This can be related to the concept of "over-explicitation" or "overspecification", whereby learners of a second language tend to use more explicit forms than necessary.

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