Is it possible to learn from mistakes of others? From the problematics of translation teaching

Abstract

The paper addresses some selected issues of translation didactics at the first stage of academic instruction. The author considers the purpose of the analysis of translations published on the Internet (persuasive and informative texts). Such analysis uncovers typical translation problems, revealing errors and mechanisms of their occurrence. From the didactic point of view, the trained critics of a published translation seems to be a good step before the analysis and evaluation of texts translated by students. The main arguments for such form of work are as follows:

1. inculcation of the principles of competent usage of Internet as the source of information for future translators (reliability of information resources, linguistic correctness);

2. sensitivization to mechanisms of cross-linguistic interference – which is particularly important in the case of typologically close languages, when language transfers are clearly present at both lexical and morphosyntactic levels;

3. familiarization with mechanisms of errors and of sensu stricto translation that are typical of a chosen pair of languages;

4. identification of proper names as one of the main problems of translation process; indication of possible solutions;

5. stressing the necessity to learn about the world presented in the original in order for better understanding of the text and the ability to build the “proper cognitive basis”;

6. improvement of translational analysis (first, as of a self-contained text, then in reference to the original);

7. stressing the importance of layout and editing, which may be crucial in evaluating the quality of translation.