Developing the system of exercises for teaching translation skills to students of it-specialties

Размещено на http://www.allbest.ru/

УДК 811.111 '25:37.02

Developing the system of exercises for teaching translation skills to students of it-specialties

Shylinska I.F., Candidate of Pedagogical Sciences,

Associate Professor at the Department of Foreign Languages

Ternopil National Economic University

У статті обґрунтовано систему вправ для навчання перекладу студентів спеціальностей галузі знань «Інформаційні технології». Визначено основні перекладацькі вміння і навички майбутніх IT-фахівців. Запропонована система вправ складається з трьох груп, а саме: підготовчих, операційних і перекладацьких (інтерпретаційних) вправ.

Ключові слова: уміння і навички перекладу, система вправ, студенти ІТ-спеціальностей.

В статье предложена система упражнений для обучения переводу студентов специальностей отрасли «Инфор-мационные технологии». Определены основные умения и навыки перевода будущих IT-специалистов. Предложенная система упражнений состоит из трех групп: подготовительных, операционных и переводческих (интерпретационных) упражнений.

Ключевые слова: умения и навыки перевода, система упражнений, студенты ИТ-специальностей.

The system of exercises for teaching translation skills to students of IT-specialties is substantiated in the article. The main translation skills and habits of students majoring in Information Technologies are determined. The proposed system of exercises includes three groups, in particular, preparatory, operational, and translational (interpretive) exercises. Key words: translation skills and habits, system of exercises, students of IT-specialties.

Introduction. The peculiarities of oral and written kinds of translating are determined by various factors including the psychological and psycholinguistic mechanisms, the genre of the text, which has to be translated and the conditions under which oral or written translation is performed.

While performing translation of a specific subject field matter, an interpreter should have good knowledge of the vocabulary and terminology of this field as well as the knowledge of the subject matter. The main difficulties, which an interpreter can face with while translating scientific and technical texts are the difficulties in conveying the appropriate semantic meanings of terminological words related to a specific field of science or industry. Nowadays, science and technical fields of industry are being developed rapidly and, consequently, new terminological words are being created. translate skill exercise

Thus, searching for appropriate educational techniques for teaching technical translation and educational and methodological support for their implementation is vital today. Knowledge and skills of translation should be acquired by students ofIT-specialties during the course of“For- eign Language” study, since the course of “Scientific and Technical Translation” is not always provided for by the curricula and if it is included in them, there is a small amount of academic hours intended for its study (24).

Analysis of recent researches. Topical issues of the methodology of teaching translation are highlighted in the works of leading Ukrainian and foreign scholars, in particular, I. Alieksi- eieva, L. Latyshev, V. Komissarov, I. Korunets investigated the content of translation studies, theoretical and practical aspects of translation; R. Minyar-Bieloruchiev, L. Latyshev, A. Olkhovska developed the concept of “translation competence”; V. Karaban, A. Kovalenko, L. Chemovatyi revealed the main problems, grammatical and lexical difficulties of scientific and technical translation, peculiarities of its teaching; L. Chernovatyi, T. Hanicheva, V. Khodyriev described the principles of building a system of exercises for teaching translation, their types and kinds.

Some researchers claim that translation and related exercises should be used as a pedagogical tool in foreign language classes at University (K. Malmkjaer, C. Schaffner, V. Leonardi, I. Dagiline). Accordingto A. B. Femandez-Guera, “translation can be a great aid to foreign language learning” as it helps learners “acquire linguistic and cultural knowledge” [1, p. 153].

However, despite a large number of studies devoted to this problem, it is not completely solved. English textbooks, which are used in the process of studying English by students majoring in information technologies {Infotech: English for Computer Users by S. R. Esteras;

Oxford English for Information Technology by E. H. Glendinning & C. Jacques, Technical English 4 by D. Bonamy) do not provide exercises aimed at translation skills development of future IT-specialists. The exercises included into them are intended for performing four main language activities: reading, speaking, writing and listening.

Nowadays, IT specialists work in international environments and should be able to discuss different professional issues, give reasons for and against to provide balanced decision making.

Thus, the lack of knowledge of translation techniques causes lexical, grammatical and stylistic difficulties in interpreting and translating the content of the subject field texts.

The aim of this paper is to develop the system of exercises for teaching translation skills to students of IT-specialties in English classes at University. The objectives of the study are to analyze the existing systems of exercises for teaching translation, to determine the main translation skills and habits required for performing successful translation activities by students of IT-specialties while translating subject field texts.

Overview. We should note that scientists use different approaches to the classification of exercises for teaching translation.

According to V. Komissarov, exercises are divided due to the type of speech actions into pre-translational (when conditions are provided for the successful translation activity) and proper translational (language, operational, communicative) [2].

In the work of L. Latyshev, we find pre-trans- lational exercises aimed at developing the skills, which are necessary forthe translation activity, but the translation itself is not performed; combinatory exercises aimed at paraphrasing with the subsequent translating and proper translational exercises such as preparatory and practical ones [3].

According to the stage of training, I. Alieksie- ieva divides exercises into preparatory (the intensive study of a foreign language) and basic (oral translation integrated training) types [4].

V. Khodyriev distinguishes between preparatory and translational types of exercises in the structure of exercises for teaching translation [5]. Preparatory exercises involve drill activities and exercises, which are aimed at the preliminary acquisition of knowledge. Translational exercises simulate the real conditions of the process of translation and promote further development of the translator's skills.

T. Hanicheva offers a cyclic model for the development of translation skills and classifies exercises for teaching oral translation skills into preparatory, operational and holistic types [6].

However, the scientists do not always refer exercises to the typological system, more often they talk about different types of exercises.

The most developed system of exercises for teaching translation skills is offered by L. Cher- novatyi [7, p. 151]. It consists of three types of exercises: 1) preparatory, 2) forthe development of translation habits, 3) for the development of translation skills on the basis of previously developed habits. Each of these types of exercises includes the corresponding groups of exercises aimed at: 1) overcoming lexical, grammatical, stylistic and genre difficulties; 2) developing the skills of translating the units of nationally biased lexicon, developing the skills of making translation transformations, developing the skills of switching from one language code into another; 3) developing the mechanisms for selecting equivalents. This classification is based on the principles of systemicity and consistency, that is, each subsystem of exercises and the exercises included into it, should ensure the formation of certain translation habits and promote their further development into translation skills.

Considering the system of exercises proposed by L. Chernovatyi [7] as the basic one for our research we attempted to develop the system of exercises for teaching translation skills to students of IT-specialties. Taking into account the conditions of language training of future IT-specialists (lack of academic hours for studying the theory and practice of translation), this system of exercises should promote the development of common psychological mechanisms of translation activities, namely, memory, information perception and its comprehension in foreign language classes.

Perception of information begins with the physical perception of a word (message). Its direct, substantive meaning can be determined according to the context and its semantic meaning is defined on the basis of the translator's knowledge. Finally, this leads to emotional and mental comprehension of the meaning of the word (message) by the interpreter, as well as the intentions of the sender of the original message.

In the process of speech comprehension “key semantic points” are determined and equivalent substitutions are chosen [8, p. 83]. According to “key semantic points”, the translator focuses on the semantic content of the received information and can interpret it.

In addition to the well-developed psychological mechanisms, which are necessary for conducting high-quality translation activities in different fields of science and technology, the knowledge of terminology is also of primary importance for an interpreter. He/she must be able to determine the meanings of scientific and technical terms and use their corresponding equivalents during translation activities.

Therefore, among the translator's habits required for the interpretation of scientific and technical literature, the following ones can be identified and developed: perception of information in a foreign language; performance of lexical-semantic and syntactic transformations; switching from one language code into another; comprehension and interpretation of information in a foreign language.

Results and Discussion. Thus, having analyzed the approaches of the scientists (V. Komissarov, L.Latyshev, I. Alieksieieva, V. Khodyriev, T. Hanicheva, L. Chernovatyi) to the problem of exercises typology, principles and criteria for building a system of exercises for teaching translation skills and conditions, under which the students majoring in information technology study foreign language, we think it is expedient to include the following subsystems into the system of exercises for developing translation habits and skills of the students of IT-specialties:prepara- tory, which are for the development of perceptual abilities of students and development of their memory; operational, which are for the formation of habits of oral translation; translational (interpretive), which are for the development of oral translation skills.

The subsystem of preparatory exercises contains the groups of exercises aimed at developing the students' skills of the perception of information, mnemonic abilities and the skills of the perception of terminology.

In the subsystem of operational exercises, we distinguish between the exercises, which are intended for performing lexical-semantic transformations; syntactic transformations and exercises for developing habits of switching from one language into another.

The subsystem of translational (interpretive) exercises includes the following groups of exercises: aimed at developing the skills of comprehension of the text information; for developing the mechanism of probabilistic prediction; for developing the skills of oral consecutive translation.

Each of these groups of exercises contains the appropriate types of exercises, which should be done in order to develop the above-mentioned translation skills and necessary habits.

The students' language knowledge and the level of their knowledge of the subject field terminology are tested while doing preparatory exercises. The emphasis is laid on the development of the students' ability to perceive the semantic meanings of words, phrases, texts and memorize them for further interpretation. The attention should also be paid to developing the students' ability to perform a comparative analysis of the use of the terms and terminological phrases in the source and target languages in order to determine the semantic meanings of the terms and use them properly during the translation activities.

Thus, the group of exercises for developing the skills of perception of information in foreign language contains the following types of exercises: written translation of given words, phrases and sentences with the use of the visual support (translation at sight) and without it (from an orally presented matter); oral translation of the original matter from a written matter.

Exercises intended for development of students' mnemonic abilities include repetitive activities while producing the message or text. Students are encouraged to repeat previously read or orally presented message (text). This type of exercises also promotes the acquisition of terminology. The automated use of the subject field vocabulary allows the interpreter to quickly and accurately choose the most appropriate equivalent to the term in the source and target languages.

Exercises for selecting equivalents to the terms and translating subject field terminology at sight and from the oral matter refer to the group of exercises, aimed at developing the skills of perception of the subject field vocabulary and terminology. At the first stage of the development of these skills, students translate at sight, that is, they translate the given terms and terminological phrases individually for a set period of time, while at the second stage, they try to perceive the information from the oral matter and, then, they perform translation of the received information. A teacher or one of the students reads the words and phrases related to the scientific and technical literature and the students perform translation of these words from the source into the target language and present their translations to the group and a teacher for assessment.

Students are offered to perform multiple-choice or simple matching activities. They do exercises at sight intended for selecting the terminological equivalents after the introduction of a new topic. In one column the words and phrases of the subject field vocabulary are given in the original language, and in the other column their equivalents are written in the students' native language but in a changed sequence. Students have to find the equivalents to the given words or phrases. Another exercise of this type is intended for selecting equivalents to the sentences or parts of the specialised text.

While doing operational exercises, students' oral translation skills are developed. A group of exercises for performing lexical-semantic translation transformations includes the following exercises: to convey the meaning of a word or a phrase of the original matter by means of synonymous substitution, contextual substitution, literal translation, transcoding, descriptive or antony- mous translation. Sentence transformation exercises, as well as transformational reading, refer to the group of exercises intended for performing syntactic transformations. Students read a part of the text in Ukrainian or English and, then, render its meaning. However, they do not need to translate the whole text.

Exercises aimed at developing the skills of switching from one language code into another include the following groups of exercises:

Dictation-translation. Students try to understand the oral matter and write down the translation of words, phrases and sentences, which the teacher reads in English or mother tongue only once.

Exercises with numerals. This type of exercises promotes the development of the flexibility of thinking. Students quickly read numerals in English, perform written and oral translation of numerals from the oral matter.

Exercises with precise words. Precise words must be translated very accurately. Since the lan-guage of technical literature is characterized by a large number of such words (the names of companies, products; numerical values or abbreviations), it is important for students to develop the skills of translation of these words. This type of exercises is intended for oral translation of precise words at sight and from the oral matter.

Translational (interpretive) exercises are aimed at developing the skills of oral translating at sight and the skills of consecutive translating. The level of the translator's skills development depends on the formation of the intellectual mechanisms of speech activity, in particular, semantic flexibility, prediction of the content of the upcoming spoken text, interpretation of the semantic content of information.

A summary translation refers to a group of exercises for developing the skills of interpreting the key points of the original matter. Students read through the text, assess the most important points of it, reduce the content of the text to short and concise structures, summarize the information and translate it into the target language. Summary translation is applied to present summaries of scientific articles and other published materials.

Doing exercises aimed at developing the skills of consecutive translation, the students are allowed to make notes while listening to the oral matter in a foreign language. On the basis of their notes the students try to convey the semantic meanings of words, concepts and terms in the target language correctly and accurately. The same exercise is done after the text has been listened to in the native language.

Simulating the real conditions of translation activities, the students play the roles of the participants of an interview (a journalist, an interviewee, or a translator). They perform translation at sight in the form of a role play. In this case, the translator carries out a two-way translation of interviews both from English into Ukrainian and from Ukrainian into English.

Doing exercises aimed at developing the mechanism of probabilistic prediction, students translate a text at sight. They are given a few minutes to read through the text, but they are not allowed to make notes. The task is to translate the text without making pauses. When there are unknown words in the text, they intuitively have to define the meaning of a word or a sentence without distorting its sense. The exercise for translating the text with missing words, which have to be determined according to the context, refers to this group of exercises. In addition, gap- fill activities are also desirable to promote mastering subject field terminology.

Conclusions. Participation of IT specialists in international projects, conferences, training programs requires new forms, methods and tools aimed at the development of translation skills.

Summarizing the above-mentioned, we can conclude that exercises constituting the proposed system are selected and arranged to provide conditions for the consistent development of required translation skills of IT-specialists and their knowledge acquisition. As a result, the acquired knowledge and skills will promote a successful solution to professional problems by IT-specialists, especially when cooperating with foreign partners.

Our further research will be devoted to the experimental verification of the efficiency of the proposed system of exercises.

References

1. Fernandez-Guera А.В. The usefulness of translation in foreign language learning: students' attitudes. International Journal of English Language and Translation Studies. 2014. Vol. 2(1). P. 153-170. URL: http://repositori.uji.es/ xmlui/bitstream/handle/1 0234/134505/62499.pdf (Retrieved: 18.01.2018).

2. Комиссаров B.H. Современное переводоведение: учебное пособие. Москва: ЭТС, 2004. 424 с.

3. Латышев Л.К., Семенов А.С. Перевод: теория, практика и методика преподавания. Москва: Академия, 2008. 192 с.

4. Алексеева И.С. Профессиональное обучение переводчика: учебное пособие по устному и пись-менному переводу для переводчиков и преподавателей. СПб.: Институт иностранных языков, 2000. 192 с.

5. Ходырев В.С. Методика обучения военному переводу. Переводоведческая лингводидактика. Москва: Флинт- Наука, 2009. С. 79-125.

6. Ганічева Т.В. Обґрунтування системи вправ для фор-мування у майбутніх філологів компетенції в усному двосторонньому перекладі. Вісник Київського націо-нального лінгвістичного університету. Серія «Педагогіка та психологія». 2007. Вип. 13. С. 90-96.

7. Черноватий Л.М. Методика викладання перекладу як спеціальності: підручник для студ. вищих заклад, освіти за спеціальністю «Переклад». Вінниця: Нова Книга, 2013. 376 с.

8. Зимняя И.А. Психология обучения иностранным языкам в школе. Москва: Просвещение, 1991. 222 с.

Размещено на Allbest.ru