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Does Translation help to learn a Lang? | ||
Tags: Translation | Learning Technique/Method | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Learning Techniques, Methods & Strategies |  | |
| fiziwig Senior Member United States Joined 4800 days ago 297 posts - 618 votes  Speaks: English* Studies: Spanish | Message 9 of 29 04 November 2011 at 5:26pm | IP Logged | |||||
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I started out using translation in both directions. I found that after a while when I read a sentence in my target language, Spanish, I simply understood the sentence. Translating it into my L1, English, became a waste of time. If I already know what the sentence means, why bother translate it into English? What do I gain by that?
However, translating from my L1 into my target language teaches me a lot about vocabulary and usage. So my experience taught me that translating from my target to my L1 is useful only for a short while until I acquire the ability to simply understand sentences in my target language. After that, I would forget it and only do formal translation INTO my target language. I think I would make an exception if, after learning Spanish to a decent level I used a Spanish-to-Italian textbook (for example) to learn Italian FROM Spanish. Then I suppose I would continue to translate both ways (Spanish->Italian and Italian->Spanish) and leave English out of it entirely. Just my opinion, of course. 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| Bao Diglot Senior Member Germany tinyurl.com/pe4kqe5 Joined 5701 days ago 2256 posts - 4046 votes Speaks: German*, English Studies: French, Spanish, Japanese, Mandarin | Message 10 of 29 04 November 2011 at 6:36pm | IP Logged | |||||
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It depends.
Translation from the target language, especially hyperliteral translation can be a good tool to make difficult text accessible. The focus is on the way different parts of the sentence interact, not on making the result sound good in your native language. Doing such exercises from time to time can also point out gaps in your understanding; often learners think they understand a sentence even though they're just guessing from the context and those words they do know. (That is something at least I can cover up with doing summaries and paraphrasing in the target language, because I paraphrase the parts I understand and cite the ones I don't understand, always hoping that the other person will give away some crucial information that makes me understand it better :P) Translation into the target language needs to be done with a competent partner. 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| Arekkusu Hexaglot Senior Member Canada bit.ly/qc_10_lec Joined 5316 days ago 3971 posts - 7747 votes Speaks: English, French*, GermanC1, Spanish, Japanese, Esperanto Studies: Italian, Norwegian, Mandarin, Romanian, Estonian | Message 11 of 29 04 November 2011 at 6:55pm | IP Logged | |||||
Preferably, but not necessarily. In essence, it becomes the same as restrained or directed production, without the freedom to choose different words when you can't find the right ones. It may also allow you to realize that you are unsure about certain grammatical constructions or usage. This kind of knowledge is quite valuable. 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| Bao Diglot Senior Member Germany tinyurl.com/pe4kqe5 Joined 5701 days ago 2256 posts - 4046 votes Speaks: German*, English Studies: French, Spanish, Japanese, Mandarin | Message 12 of 29 04 November 2011 at 8:34pm | IP Logged | |||||
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Let me rephrase it - when you are tackling challenging material, you should work with a competent partner who will check your translations for you as soon as possible.
I personally don't see much benefit in doing L1-L2 translations that are not challenging and will result in only a few minor mistakes, as one could do the same with any target language text/topic without having to deal with the interference that switching often causes. (I want to have a competent speaker around to correct me when that happens.) When I don't know how to translate a certain structure to another language and try it anyways, I want to be able to ask somebody if my guess was correct. I will probably look it up in my reference books, but I probably did already fail to understand that grammar point using exactly the same books. It is a bit difficult to explain, but structures, words etc. I am not too sure about have a certain hazy, vague quality in my mental representation that allows me to think about them, collect more information to get a bet idea of how they work; I even can toy around with them - but using them myself in a sentence changes that quality. It seems to me that by using such bits of language creates new links to a different part of the brain (or, when I'm unlucky, it uses existing links from another language) and I feel the need to get feedback to attach a clear 'correct' or 'wrong' value to those links as long as they are new; review when I was correct or replace the wrong version with the correct one and memorize it then. When I fail to do that, I end up with fossilized mistakes which I personally have a lot of trouble correcting. 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| leosmith Senior Member United States Joined 6485 days ago 2365 posts - 3804 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Tagalog | Message 13 of 29 05 November 2011 at 5:19am | IP Logged | |||||
Interesting. When you come across an L2 word or phrase you don't understand, what do you do? 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| Arekkusu Hexaglot Senior Member Canada bit.ly/qc_10_lec Joined 5316 days ago 3971 posts - 7747 votes Speaks: English, French*, GermanC1, Spanish, Japanese, Esperanto Studies: Italian, Norwegian, Mandarin, Romanian, Estonian | Message 14 of 29 05 November 2011 at 5:26am | IP Logged | |||||
I look it up in a dictionary or I ask someone. Phew, I almost answered "I translate it". Anyway, the question was about translating as an exercise. 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| leosmith Senior Member United States Joined 6485 days ago 2365 posts - 3804 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Tagalog | Message 15 of 29 05 November 2011 at 7:29am | IP Logged | |||||
nice dodge 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| Bao Diglot Senior Member Germany tinyurl.com/pe4kqe5 Joined 5701 days ago 2256 posts - 4046 votes Speaks: German*, English Studies: French, Spanish, Japanese, Mandarin | Message 16 of 29 05 November 2011 at 7:51am | IP Logged | |||||
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Is that any different from translation as an acquisition strategy and translation as a stress test?
1 person has voted this message useful |
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