Teaching Translation versus Doing Translation: a Connection between the Two?
Pages : 81-89Download PDF
Translation, as a profession, is relatively new; it goes back to Nuremberg trials or the recruitment of translators in the 1950s. It existed as a result of the rapidly growing increase in the translation types and the number of texts of different languages requiring translation (Newmark, 1991: 62). This was accompanied by a change in focus from literature to linguistics, from artistic work to skilful work and from proposition to communication (ibid: 62). The present paper discusses two crucial concepts in the field of translation studies; the first is translation teaching while the second is translation practice. These concepts are examined in an attempt to explore whether or not there is a connection between them. The paper probes into the concepts in question in view of three main areas: translation teacher and translator requirements, course syllabus and programmes designed for translation teaching as well as translation training and finally text types, problems and directionality in translation. The paper will argue that there is a clear link between translation teaching and translation practice as an important objective of the former is to achieve the latter. This link is clearly shown if sufficient consideration is given to the aforementioned areas.
Keywords: Translation; subject; profession; requirements; connection.