Translation Exercises Almost Killed My English
BY SUN TIANXUAN 孙天璇
Fresh perspectives on language study and intercultural learning… It’s time for English classes in China to banish the grammar-translation method.
Communicating with my parents about my course selection was the first time I had to translate a whole page of English since I came to DKU. At that moment, I realized that I had not been practicing translation for a long time. Translation exercises were one of the most emphasized teaching methods in my high school, yet under no circumstances did I find translation practical when learning English. In fact, the reason this struck me during my conversation with my parents was that I was translating for someone else, just like in translation exercises, which always felt like a competition to achieve better grades rather than an effective tool of language learning. Overemphasizing translation exercises in language learning is a significant problem I encountered as a language learner, since these exercises were inefficient to train and test our comprehension.
Translation exercises play a major role in English learning in China’s education system. They were adopted for their accessibility to beginners. The goal was to refine our ability to translate English into Chinese so that we can apply our first language in language learning. In my high school, translation exercises took various forms. For regular classes, we were assigned to translate ten to twenty representative sentences in the textbook. Every Monday, the class would be divided into groups to translate new words and a few sentences as a competition. The majority of the workload came from homework where we would spend more than one hour finishing the daily exercise of translation.
Image credit: 《新高考·英语翻译与概要写作》
I think this widely used teaching method of second language learning is not an effective approach. Inappropriate translation exercises are responsible for spreading incorrect ideas about the equivalence of words between languages and it may also cause dependence on the first language in language learning.
In addition to the negative effect of translation on language accuracy, this learning strategy also affects our language learning habits, which can be detrimental in the long term. In my high school, we were required to memorize a new word only by its most common definition. During this time, I formed the habit of searching only for the Chinese word that shows up in the dictionary when learning new words by myself. By keeping this habit, I neglected the English definition as well as the nuances of usage. As a result, I struggled over writing assignments, where I had to check every word choice for fear that I might use the wrong word. But mistakes still remained unavoidable. For example, I used the word “adequate” to express the meaning of “appropriate” just because they have the same definition in Chinese, which creates ambiguity, as “adequate” implies a negative connotation in many contexts.
Careres, who teaches Spanish at the University of Cambridge, states that translation into the second language is counterproductive, and it forces learners to always view the foreign language through their mother tongue, which causes interferences and a dependence on the first language that inhibits free expression in the second language.She believes that this teaching method encourages students to think in one language and transfer to another. [1. Carreres Angeles. “Strange bedfellows: Translation and language teaching.” Sixth Symposium on Translation, terminology and interpretation in Cuba and Canada, no.15 (2006): 5.]
Additionally, learners who use the grammar translation method tend to remember the English text they received as its translated version. The defective translation from learners leaves a biased memory of the English text we receive. Take my learning experience as an example. My thinking pattern automatically changes to “English only mode” when processing English information, where I understand and reflect on the English directly. The newly learned concepts will stay in their original version, which is helpful when I summarize or state an argument in written work as well as making conversation.
Dependence on the first language shows disadvantages when using the second language. Translating everything we read could keep us from the first-hand information that the writers are trying to convey, for there are unavoidable limitations of translation. Apart from this, the inconvenience of this dependence is noticeable. Habitual use of the first language confuses the learner’s comprehension with translation, adding an unnecessary process when reading. Not only does this lessen the effectiveness of language learning, but we might lose motivation because of this inconvenience. However, motivation is vital to the language learning process. According to Dörnyei, motivation initiates the learning of a second language and provides the driving force that sustains its process. He believes that motivation makes up for individual’s deficiency in language learning, which one’s ability and learning methods alone cannot achieve.[2. Dörnyei Zoltán. “Motivation in second and foreign language learning.” Language teaching 31, no.3 (1998): 117-135.] Motivational feedback is needed for learners during the language exercises.
Image credit: https://www.urmc.rochester.edu/community-health/patient-care/self-determination-theory.aspx
“De-motivating” is the word I would use to conclude what I feel about translation exercises because I was never able to attain the level of accuracy or stylistic polish of the original text and the standard translation given by the textbook’s answer key. The translation exercises work in a way that makes language learners passive in language learning because teachers are regarded as an authority, which makes it a teacher-centered mode. [3. Liu Qingxue and Shi Jinfang. “An Analysis of Language Teaching Approaches and Methods–Effectiveness and Weakness.” Online Submission 4, no.1 (2007): 69-71.] The passiveness of translation is responsible for its de-motivating characteristics. If the students don’t feel like they can attain the standard, they don’t have the “experience of behavior as effectively enacted” [4], which means the need for competence is not satisfied. Like I mentioned above, I never received a full mark on the translation exercises. I cannot ensure accuracy even after devotion to translation, so I did not have the feeling of efficacy to sustain my motivation.
Why does this teaching method occupy an important position when it has so many disadvantages? I think this has something to do with the current status of language learning in China, since English examinations still remain focused on reading and writing skills. Careres argues that using translation as a teaching tool is “restrictive in that it confines language practice to two skills only: reading and writing” and “does not facilitate achievement of generally accepted aims such as emphasis on the spoken language”. [4. Niemiec Christopher P. and Richard M. Ryan. “Autonomy, competence, and relatedness in the classroom: Applying self-determination theory to educational practice.” Theory and research in Education 7, no.2 (2009): 133-144.] But these limitations were minimized in the examinations, which makes the method a practical approach to get better grades.
Although translation exercises are counterproductive to language learning from my point of view, there’s no denying that it is suitable for other language learners. It’s easier for beginners with a weaker vocabulary base to start with the translation method and some people are more comfortable with comprehending English with the help of their first language. However, I believe that using translation as a tool to teach and test shouldn’t be a mandatory practice in language learning, and having the right to choose an effective tool that suits us best for learning is what we need as language learners.
Editors | Elisabeth Ursell, Austin Woerner
Layout | Wang Xinyue 王心悦
Sun Tianxuan (孙天璇) is a sophomore DKUer. He enjoys reading science fiction and has a passion for movies of all genres. He wrote this essay in Prof. Austin Woerner’s EAP 101B class.
References
- Carreres Angeles. “Strange bedfellows: Translation and language teaching.” Sixth Symposium on Translation, terminology and interpretation in Cuba and Canada, no.15 (2006): 5.
- Dörnyei Zoltán. “Motivation in second and foreign language learning.” Language teaching 31, no.3 (1998): 117-135.
- Liu Qingxue and Shi Jinfang. “An Analysis of Language Teaching Approaches and Methods–Effectiveness and Weakness.” Online Submission 4, no.1 (2007): 69-71.
- Niemiec Christopher P. and Richard M. Ryan. “Autonomy, competence, and relatedness in the classroom: Applying self-determination theory to educational practice.” Theory and research in Education 7, no.2 (2009): 133-144.
