Translation in English as a Foreign Language: A Friend or a Foe?

Translation in English as a Foreign Language: A Friend or a Foe? Marina Siskos: Teacher of English Translator EN<>GR, ITMother Tongue: What happens to L1 during Teaching English as a Second Language? Since the onset of the 21 st century, teachers have gone to great lengths to render the teaching of English translation-less. This tendency to resist translation in teaching English can be an attempt to outbalance the harsh consequences generated by extensive reliance on the obsolete and inflexible Grammar-based Translation Method that dominated teaching during the 19th and 20th centuries. As a self-regulatory response, gradually, yet defiably, all translation-related approaches were meant to be ostracized from English teaching. The Direct Method and the Communicative Approach ensued and have been favored in the effort to banish the influence of mother-tongue features in the target language output. In terms of language acquisition process, very few entities can be safely considered undeniably right. Evidence points at the conclusion that “[h]uman creatures originally search for meaning, and, on a [later] stage, the vehicle leading to [the intended] meaning [i.e. the target language content]” (Siskos, 2019). Our minds seem to prioritize meaning over codes and this impulse is one of the factors rendering second language acquisition notoriously complex. Localization is an almost natural and instinctive learners’ response; L2 learners, upon encountering unfamiliar context, notions, and meaning, inadvertently strive to find common ground-having as their major [yardstick] their native language [...].Localization, as defined by the Merriam-Webster [...], is the attempt to make local; the act of assigning or keeping with a definite locality” (Siskos, 2019). New synapses are developed upon prior knowledge. Specified by Gass & Selinker, “[...] all that we know about learning insists that previous knowledge and skills are intimately involved in the acquisition of new knowledge and skills [...] the part played by the mother tongue in the acquisition of a second language is a good deal more pervasive and subtle than originally believed. It plays a part at the start of learning, in the use of target language in communication” (1993). Arguably, “[...] new mental, neuronal, sentimental connections are [established] or developed by means of familiar knowledge which [...] is the [equivalent] term in the L1” (Siskos, 2019). Ironically, persistent avoidance of instructive translation revolves around translation. Mother tongue makes leeway into the foreign language learning. Justifiably, if one accepts that mother tongue constantly “underlies every thinking instance of one’s conscious and unconscious living. Being so, any countermands against thinking in one’s native language [...] contradict a natural response to firstly-encountered input” (Siskos, 2019). Namely in teaching and learning a foreign language, localization assimilates a reflex strategy, aiming to approach the unfamiliar. Supposing that the underlying workings of the mother tongue cannot be stifled during the extensive procedure of L2 learning, then how can the teacher leverage L1 towards L2 comprehension, retention and hopefully, acquisition? “Translation, if [prudently] effectuated, can serve as a [...] pathway from what is familiar and tangible (i.e. the mother tongue) toward the undiscovered and unimaginable (i.e. the target language)” (Siskos, 2019). The Relativity Hypothesis The Sapir-Whorf hypothesis, the theory of linguistic relativity, proclaims that linguistic distance is gradable, [therefore] every learning and communication challenge can be overcome once approached judiciously. After all, the very principle of gradation [systematized by the Sapir Whorf hypothesis] is the spectrum which allows for mutual intelligibility between foreign languages. This common ground enables the development and learning of a foreign language. As concluded by Koerner, “there can be no doubt that our mother tongue influences our thinking process, but since we are capable of initiating changes in our language and in our thinking habits, the questions of relativity cannot be posed in terms of absoluteness or determinism, but in terms of degree” (1992, cf. 1972). The Uses of Translation In a mentality similar to Selinker’s asking “what can be or is actually transferred, in language Transfer Hypothesis (1979, 1983)”, should we ask “what can be or actually is translated in second language learning?”. What is the fate of untranslatable target language items? The ability to employ translation in English teaching is highly situation-dependent. Anecdotal classroom evidence informs that learners avoid untranslatable target language items, as they feel they lack reliable correspondent referent: their mother-tongue definition of the word. Translation is a communicative learning set in [motion] (Siskos, 2019). Translation, as a quintessentially creative process, can turn to a foe in English teaching, namely in the event of being delivered untimely and randomly. “Problems in understanding and internalizing target language notions [arise] in [cases] of excessive reliance upon translation, as well as when it is uncritically employed. The [...] teacher [is encouraged] to allow some [mental fermentation] time with the L2 item before they introduce the equivalent [...], as too early exposure to the L1 corresponding term [leads] to L2 learners’ withdrawal from the effort to reach [or elicitate] meaning” (Siskos, 2019). The use of L1 allows for deeper perspective in the L2 item. The association enables deepening in the understanding of the meaning, referent and functionality of the lexical item. All too often, it leads to re-discovery of the mother-tongue lexical item as it is now (maybe for the first time) viewed and processed through estranged eyes ― those of a bilingual. Restriction from utilizing L1 for L2 development might discourage learners from active engagement and it might damage inclusiveness in the Teaching of English as a Second Language. The use of L1 as a means of expression and a means of processing L2 input is legalized as valuable not only since an inherent need and faculty, but for its instructive value too. The aim of second language education is bilingualism, biliteracy, or multilingualism: the threshold to understanding and the gate to in vivo justice and equality. References Gass, S., Selinker, L. (1993). Language Transfer in Language Learning. John Benjamins Publishing Co., Revised Edition, Vol. 5, Amsterdam, Philadelphia. Koerner, E.F., & Konrad. The Sapir-Whorf Hypothesis: a Preliminary History and a Bibliographical Essay. Journal of Linguistic Anthropology, vol. 2., pp.173-198, JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/42102168. Siskos, M. (2019). Compromising the Impossibility of Abolishing L1 from EFL Teaching. Journal of Applied Languages and Linguistics, 3(1), ALS House Publications. Athens, Greece, pp. 88-96.

Marina Siskos is a graduate of the Faculty of English Language and Literature, at Aristotle University. She holds a specialization degree in Translation and Intercultural Studies and has completed her dissertation upon the translation of Economics and Financial Texts. A teacher of English as a Foreign Language and associate translator, she has cooperated with private English-teaching institutes. An advocate of the Montessori Method, Marina recently completed her official training on “Creative Methods for Successful Inclusion in Multicultural Schools”, a program co-funded by Erasmus+. Greek Teachers, the ELT News magazine, the Journal of Applied Languages and Linguistics (JALL), Tesol Greece Journal, IATEFL Slovenia (In Magazine) and ELTA Serbia, host her publications. Marina is an associate translator for Flow Magazine working on a range of contexts, including, business, current and foreign affairs, psychology, personal and popularized science, history, culture, education, travelogues. You can contact Marina via: Email: Marina.Siskos@gmail.com LinkedIn profile: https://www.linkedin.com/in/marina-siskos-99375943/ Facebook profile: https://www.facebook.com/marina.sk.9