The value of reading and translating/interpreting: from theory to practice

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The value of reading and translating/interpreting: from theory to practice

Nataliia Kovalska

Summary

The article intends to give an overview of current and emerging approaches used in the productive activities of reading and interpreting/ translation. It deals with investigation of reading as comparatively easy, reliable and fast process for gaining competences helping students as future graduates to become capable of competing on the job market. Reading and translating/ interpreting have a high potential to fit students' wants and needs and further push learning efficiencies. Reading as a classic technique is appreciated as an important part of students' development to increase the efficiency on the one hand and to decrease the number of mistakes in comprehension and translation on the other hand. Based on the kind of text samples, establishment of the general effect of reading and translating/ interpreting is therefore evident. The variety of changes that we can observe in class depends on texts, their structure, style and initial purposes. More specifically the article focuses on the ways of its practical realization. Thus, students become familiar with the methodology of reading and translating/ interpreting and develop these procedures in accordance with national and international standards and practices. At the institutional level, explicit descriptions of the effective ways and the desired learning outcomes have been based theoretically and studied experimentally at the linguistic faculty of the National Technical University of Ukraine «Ihor Sikorsky Kyiv Polytechnic Institute».

Key words: reading and translation competences, texts arranged thematically, competence in the native language and in learning foreign languages, microcompetences, effective reading and translating processes, a system of material preparations, a set of techniques.

Аннотация

reading interpretation translation language

Статья посвящена изучению современных подходов к чтению, устному и письменному переводу в методике преподавания иностранных языков. Чтение рассматривается как относительно легкий, надежный и быстрый процесс формирования у студентов языковой компетенции для дальнейшей конкурентоспособности на рынке труда. Потенциал чтения и перевода полностью удовлетворяет потребности и желания студентов и способствует повышению эффективности профессиональной подготовки. Это классическая методика, которая направлена на недопущение ошибок в понимании текстов на различных языках. Позитивные изменения зависят от типа, структуры и стиля текста. Статья уделяет особое внимание методам практического осуществления применения чтения и перевода в аудитории. Таким образом, студенты знакомятся с методологией чтения и перевода, и, кроме того, совместными усилиями добиваются усовершенствования указанных процедур в соответствии с международными стандартами и стандартами образования в Украине. Мы пришли к выводу, что в нашем случае основополагающее значение имеет использования родного языка в аудитории: это необходимо для подготовки переводчиков. Перевод рассматривается как новый механизм, который позволяет создание инновационной среды для изучения языка. Такая среда имеет важное значение для преодоления опасений студентов перед выполнением перевода во время практических занятий по «Теории и практике перевода». Формирование у студентов общего видения понимания важности способности переводить на основе поощрения и мотивации для выявления опыта в этой области, которая тесно связана с будущей профессией и создание творческой среды, основанной на критическом отношении к продукту перевода. Студенты должны быть осведомлены о связи между языком и содержанием. Преподаватели должны предлагать модель сочетания языка и содержания с подробными инструкциями на основе тематически организованных материалов, так как полнота воспроизведения содержания в работе переводчика выступает в качестве основной споссобности для обеспечения эффективной коммуникации. Эффективность создания условий для развития возможностей применения чтения, устного и письменного перевода теоретически обоснована и экспериментально доказана на факультете лингвистики Национального технического университета Украины «КПИ имени Игоря Сикорского».

Ключевые слова: компетенция в чтении и переводе, тематически организованные тексты, языковая компетенция родного и иностранного языков, эффективное чтение и перевод, система учебных материалов для использования в аудитории и на экзаменах, набор методов и методик.

Анотація

Статтю присвячено дослідженню сучасних підходів до читання та усного і письмового перекладу в методиці викладання іноземних мов. Читання розглядається як відносно легкий, надійний та швидкий процес набуття студентами мовної компетентності для подальшої конкурентоспроможності на сучасному ринку праці. Потенціал читання та перекладу повністю відповідає потребам і побажанням студентів і сприяє підвищенню ефективності навчання. Це класична методика, яка направлена на уникнення помилок в розумінні різнопланових іншомовних текстів. Позитивні зміни залежать від типу, структури та стилю текстів. Стаття приділяє особливу увагу методам практичного застосування читання і перекладу в аудиторії. Таким чином студенти ознайомлюються з методологією читання і перекладу, і, крім того, спільними зусиллями досягають удосконалення зазначених процедур у відповідності з міжнародними стандартами і стандартами освіти в Україні. Ми прийшли до висновку, що у нашому випадку, основоположне значення має використання рідної мови в аудиторії: це необхідно для підготовки перекладачів. Переклад розглядається як новий механізм, який дозволяє створення інноваційного середовища для вивчення мови. Таке середовище має важливе значення для подолання страхів студентів виконувати переклад під час практичних занять з «Теорії та практики перекладу». Формування у студентів спільного бачення розуміння важливості здатності перекладати на основі заохочення і мотивації для виявлення досвіду у цій царині, яка тісно пов'язана з майбутньою професією і створенням творчого середовища, що базується на критичному ставленні до продукту перекладу. Студенти мають усвідомлювати зв'язок між мовою і змістом. Викладачі мають пропонувати модель поєднання мови і змісту з детальними інструкціями на основі тематично організованих матеріалів, оскільки повнота відтворення змісту в роботі перекладача виступає як основна здатність для забезпечення ефективної комунікації. Ефективність створення середовища для розвитку можливостей читання та усного і письмового перекладу теоретично обґрунтовано та експериментально доведено на факультеті лінгвістики Національного технічного університету України “КПІ”.

Ключові слова: компетенція читання та перекладу, тематично організовані тексти, мовна компетенція рідноі та іноземної мов, ефективне читання і переклад, система навчальних матеріалів для використання в аудиторії і на екзаменах, набір методів і методик.

Formulation of a research problem and its significance. These days' people have to read for both personal and professional reasons. In the morning, an average Ukrainian has to resist the so-called free press that is distributed next to underground stations he/she uses to get to his/her home or office. But it would be a kind of simplification to think that it is possible to build up someone's knowledge of the present world only on the basis of the preconceived stereotypes. Students try to read books that help them to learn more about themselves, other cultures. Textbooks are used to gain/improve their knowledge. Lecturers' interest in developing students' reading skills led to keeping alive students' love of literature in general and scientific and technical literature especially within the course of English at university.

Analysis of the research into this problem. Reading has been applied in teaching languages for centuries now. Being a classic technique it is well established as a productive and structuring methodology which allows for efficient work in the classroom and outside it. In order not to oversimplify, we value both reading and translation and have many problems teaching them. Through further research and development in this field, reading and translation take part in the recent progress of learning process helping students (future graduates) to become capable of competing on the job market.

The goal and the specific tasks of the article. We should stress that this article is not general or complete study of reading comprehension in connection with translation. The main emphasis is on techniques that can guarantee a continuing productive process of reading and translation. The purpose of this study is to find a way to estimate the integral influence of sets of techniques on reading and translation gain. Such information has to assist the proper choice of texts, their levels and grades to maximise the reading comprehension and thereby to increase the quality of translation. This article is intended for lectures and also for students who wish to improve their language knowledge and, at the same time, practise the foreign language that they have been studying.

The research has to prove that assignation of subject homogeneity can get started with the university placement test, then students have to be offered to go through a test on reading comprehension and the last but not the least is the test on translation. As far as the faculty of linguistics trains specialists in the field of translation it is to be stressed that there is interdependence between reading and translation skills/competences.

Statement regarding the basic material of the research and the justification of the results obtained. Any text can be used as a means for teaching. Detection of reading related problems that the students have can be regarded as a starting point to practice with texts similar in the item/text bank.

Taking into account our experience we offer to arrange a computerized item/text bank of reading and listening comprehension that are used to prepare valid and reliable exams to measure the ability of university students to read and translate scientific and technical texts in English and from English as a foreign language. Extensive reading exposes the students to different registers of the foreign language and varied contexts. There should be the bridge well-built between competency in the native language and in learning foreign languages and also between general intelligence and general experience reflected with the help of applying language practice and experience.

Any text as a component of the system can be updated. A mix of texts with real issues under discussion brings the learning context alive. For instance, the success of the texts thematically arranged and devoted to companies with profound understanding of the customers and industry, the ones that adhere to green standards and principles of Corporate Social Responsibility has been measured by the number of students brought in reading them and considering them to be helpful for people in society to improve their quality and standards of life. As a result the course (“Practice of translation” in our case) has become more intensive, really more interesting and informative. From the viewpoint of the positive effect on learning process, reading is in the center of interest of the researchers and lecturers of the theoretical and practical courses as it trains students to be ready for real life and it is important for their personal development. Reading boosts the students' chances in their exams. While reading and translating the texts students have had prior practice during graded reader and translator work using such ways as:

developing knowledge;

examining alternatives;

being highly selective in gathering information;

being critical to each other ideas;

seeking expert opinion;

doing clear analysis of the issue;

having contingency plan.

With the wide range of support texts as materials, the lecturers are ready to meet with the diverse students' wants and needs in a variety of real life situations that will help them with their own career decisions. It is essential that the students become more independent taking their reading and translating performance seriously and appreciating their academic achievements.

The way of gaining and developing knowledge is closely connected with the students' future as specialists: there is a psychological factor of thinking and deciding in a group but not to be responsible for making a decision. Students can agree with something false in case they are not knowledgeable enough they trust in others' expertise instead of being in doubt. This conclusion gave us the idea that too many decisions are being made nowadays without full understanding some of the major and acute issues under discussion. We would underline the necessity to educate the students in major spheres - scientific, technical, logical, and, of course, financial/banking and cultural with the help of wide range of thematically arranged texts.

It is right that lecturers should be encouraged to be trying to create conditions within the classroom that make students happy spots to be in and another uphill task is to create a culture of enterprise. In this case subject-specific texts can be used as they can motivate students towards English as a tool for effective learning.

As reading entails strategic decision making, we must conceive of reading to translate, what Neubert and Shreve call reading for translation, as a distinct set of microcompetences: distinguishing relevant information (including meaningful from random patterns), reliable from less reliable information, textual norms from anomalies [4].

Any time students are confronted with a text they are involved in the act of reading and interpretation. They have to be aware that there are various ways of reading and no two people will read a text the exact same way [3]. Naturally, they cannot escape from their cultural and social background, which in turn influences their approaches to the reading of texts. In an age of scholarly jargon, the act of reading needs to be rethought in some fundamental ways. The methodologies derived from the art and craft of translation could serve as one possible mode to revitalize the reading of literary, scientific and technical works.

According to the experimental research for effective reading and translating processes there are dependences on the students' skills which are given below in the form of scheme that is expected to be adequate for rather high results in the test-target areas, which mean that students have to:

read and find translation solutions;

read on purpose;

get interested personally;

offer at least three findings to translate;

overcome translator resistance to using «pure» language;

avoid the usage of many borrowings;

pay special attention to terms and expressions prior to translating;

remember that language nuances are of great importance for a professional translator;

take into account differences in the organizational structure of documents in one or another country;

work over the text itself, as well as over the problems the author offers to tackle.

The final stage of work over reading is in the form of a test. So reading and translation are the testtarget areas and texts can be regarded as samples as readability of a text is dependent on a range of parameters such as text size, type size, line spacing ways of text accentuation, illustration. The key problem here is that working with copies of the texts the lecturer and students are economical, as a result the aesthetics is neglected. But the right balance can be found: students are offered to come out with their illustrations, graphs to raise readability and aesthetical values of texts.

The tests of reading comprehension are of particular interest because of various competences. The issue of criteria is important and challenging for both theory and practice. The main criterion established in the course of research for selecting texts samples for such a subject as “Practice of translation” is the right theme or topic and the right number of translation transformations that the students can apply to promote creative use of languages with further manipulation of informative input of the text in case we offer the students real challenge and engagement plus enjoyment. The students' results are more profitable for them as far as they show interest in the subject and recognition of the relevance of the text theme that corresponds with the field of study. On average Vocabulary and Reading Tests include 25 points for items of general vocabulary, 25 points for terms, 25 points for two-word verbs, etc., 25 points for translation findings/ 25 reading comprehension items [2, p. 17]. Texts have to be subject-specific (we mean faculty of linguistics), challenging and engaging, up-to-date or even up-to-minute (the Internet and social media are of great help), linguistically and communicatively relevant, provoking students' interaction.

The students involved in the project have learned how much power they have as translators. For the lecturers it is a real pleasure to observe that the students project energy working on texts independently and under control, coming out with their text-findings with translation peculiarities to try for their group mates/colleagues [1, p. 559]. The «must have» for the students is a sense of success in reading and translating in order to become motivated, skilled specialists with well built confidence.

A number of techniques have to be developed and proposed for eliciting texts as controlled samples for tests while having with the students such a subject as «Practice of translation».

We have to assume that there is a lot of work to do to build a system of material preparations for the exams and technological advances have to be used: the computer programme has to be designed. The main idea is to link power of knowledge and control.

Effective oral communication is based on the ability to apply the language knowledge adequately while being involved in interactions in any social context. While interacting the students have to demonstrate diversity in verbal communication that includes such elements of speech as pitch, stress / standard word stress, tempo and intonation.

In this connection reading aloud in class is the starting point for effective oral communication. It is a kind of warming-up, any student can do, all the rest have not only reading but also listening comprehension. The situation can be used for good students to show themselves and for weaker students to be helped. The real challenge as we speak about students of linguistics first of all is to pick up information while reading, moreover, to have complete understanding of the text / paragragh concentrating on the rhythm and melody and complete readiness to produce artistic translation of the text/paragragh. Reading enriches the vocabulary which is important for effective communication. The point of difficulty detection is essential such as words with preposition, false friends/word-traps, etc. The lecturer's role is to train the students to be good at editing and the foundation for it is the students' awareness of certain types of errors. We offer a way of detecting similarities in figuring out the meaning. Another way is to build up translation system that gives the students possibility to provide them with surprising understanding of differences and similarities in the pictures of the world based on differences and similarities in the field concepts beginning with concepts of time between English and Ukrainian.

We have come to the realization that one of the principal values of using native language in the classroom in our case is that the students become involved as far as they gain considerable practice in translating from their native language into English and vice versa. Translations are considered as a new mechanism to development of innovative learning/working environment. Such an environment is important to overcome students' fears of spontaneous translation during their following courses in the theory and practice of translation and interpreting. Students are helped to achieve a shared vision of their translation abilities and are usually motivated enough demonstrating their experience in the target area of their future profession, and have established creative environment on the basis of critical relationship [1, p. 561].

Thus, we changed some of our attitudes to using native language in the English classroom of future translators and interpreters. We introduce translation exercises as a part of the classroom routine and a systematic activity and students start make it a habit. We have noticed that students gradually become comfortable about translation exercises, and they do not seem pressured doing it. Well-designed translation exercises help students learn, revise, review, improve, test and assess their knowledge not only in general English but in the sphere of translation as well.

There is a great need as well as considerable potential for overcoming students' fears for a lecturer in the art of interpreting. Not many people naturally enjoy taking the floor in front of a large group of people in the role of interpreter. The urgent task of any lecturer is to identify the sources of anxiety and inhibition in the classroom and help students overcome these fears of public speaking due to the creation of working /learning “translation environment”.

This can be done in steps. We usually start by asking our students to prepare the written translation of the text (let it be the text from their manual or any additional text). Since all kinds of learning are social [4, p. 39] it is important to develop social competence so after checking the students' translation we propose to role play the process of interpreting: ask their group peer to do so called «back translation» from their native language into English and vice versa (pair-work), then to a small group (group-work), and finally to a larger group of sympathetic peers (interpreting in front of the class). This role play involves having the text in English/source language and its written translation before the students' eyes. One cannot deny or ignore the significance of such brainstorming event in the classroom that encourages students to actively take part and share knowledge with mates. It also implies active usage/revision of new vocabulary.

The proposed procedure includes two stages. The first stage (deals with translation):

Written translation of the English text into native language (In the form of home assignment);

Checking the students' translation (In the classroom);

“Back translation” from the native language into English (using the blackboard or the screen).

The second stage (deals with interpreting):

Pair work of interpreting from native language into English and vice versa;

Group work of interpreting from native language into English and vice versa;

Interpreting (by individual students) in front of the class.

We try to put our students in a positive frame of mind by reminding that their audience has chosen willingly to take part in this kind of interpreting exercise to study English in the classroom. This preparatory work usually helps students get ready for successful translation/interpreting during their special courses in translation as well as during translation practice and in their future professional life. This challenging activity helps give more autonomy to students as they become more active in their learning process and assume responsibility for their learning.

The outline for translation exercises proposed here is widely and successfully used in the process of teaching English at the linguistic faculty of the National Technical University of Ukraine «Ihor Sikorsky Kyiv Polytechnic Institute» for several years already. We suppose that getting our students used to such a framework and gradually making them familiar with it we give them a great chance for the future successes in their career development after graduating from the university.

It should be stressed that in the overall context of work over translation we leave the set of techniques. The students have to be taught to structure and organize their knowledge. Any text can be regarded as a technique to render/exchange/swap concepts and ideas. Different types of text organisation, content; vocabulary and language use; level of language produce much different effect. The genre conventions have to be recognized by every student/translator as far as through them knowledge is created. The genre conventions generate quite rapid and accurate expectations, access the up-to-date information, moreover, they give the possibility to communicate efficiently on the base of findings. We conclude that genre realization has to be present in the academic sphere of functioning.

The students have to be aware of the links between language and content. The lecturers can help them through content-based instructions to the thematically organized materials that can be offered as a model for integrating language and content. Since the completeness of the original content in translation practice and work are considered to be the requirement for the translation and the ability necessary for inter lingual communication.

Conclusions and prospects for further research. On the basis of the research it is possible to state that reading still is the dominant technique in the learning process featuring stable and flexible possibilities forgaining and polishing language and translation competences. Reading and translation have a high potential to fit students' wants and needs and further push learning efficiencies. Reading as a classic technique is appreciated as an important part of students' development to increase the efficiency on the one hand decrease the number of mistakes in comprehension and translation on the other hand. Based on the kind of text samples, establishment of the general effect of reading and translation is therefore evident. The variety of changes that we can observe in class depends on texts, their structure, style and initial purposes. The changes of values are rather significant. The preparation of text samples methodology will be developed and described in the next articles as readability of a text is dependent on promoting English studies as texts give students the real world practice and communication that are the things that students want all over the world.

Bibliography

1. Kovalska N. The success factors of students' presentations / N. Kovalska, N. Prysiazhniuk // Наукові записки. - Вип. 128 - Серія: Філологічні науки. - Кіровоград: РВВ КДПУ ім. В. Винниченка. - 2014. - С. 559-563.

2. Kovalska N. The role of vocabulary learning in reading comprehension / N. Kovalska, N. Prysiazhniuk // Материали Междунар. научн. практ. конф. «Новина та за напреднали наука» (15-17 мая, 2012). - София: «Бял ГРАД-БГ», 2012.- Т. 15. - С. 16-18.

3. Schulte R. Translation and reading / Rainer Schulte [Electronic resource]. - Mode of access: htpp://translation.utdallas.edu/essays/reading_essay l.html.

4. Washbourne K. Active, strategic reading for translation trainees: Foundations for transactional methods / Kelly Washbourne // Translation and interpreting. - 2012. - № 4. - C. 38-55.

References

1. Kovalska N., and Prisyazhnyuk N. 2014. “The success factors of students' presentations”. Naukovi zapysky, 128: 559-563. Kirovohrad: RVVKDPU im. V. Vynnychenka.

2. Kovalska N., and Prisyazhnyuk N. 2012. “The role of vocabulary learning in reading comprehension”. Novyna ta za naprednaly nauka, 15:16-18. Sophiia: «Bial HRAD-BH».

3. Schulte R. Translation and reading. htpp://translation.utdallas.edu/essays/reading_essayl.html.

4. Washbourne K. 2012. “Active, strategic reading for translation trainees: Foundations for transactional methods”. Translation and interpreting, 4: 38-55.

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