Modern approaches to the training of linguists-translators

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Kyiv National University of Technologies and Design (Kyiv, Ukraine)

Department of Philology and Translation

Modern approaches to the training of linguists-translators

Maryna Vyshnevska

Senior Lecturer

Inna Borolis

Senior Lecturer

Nina Shkura

Associate Professor

Abstract

In the context of a multilingual globalized world, the possibility of a quick and clear exchange of information between representatives of different cultures is becoming more important than ever. The profession of a linguist-translator is gaining new popularity, and, consequently, the needfor high-quality training of experts in the translation industry is also increasing. One of the main problems of training a professional translator is the choice of the optimal approach to teaching oral and written translation. Despite a huge number of publications devoted to various aspects of the translator's activity, it should be noted that there is still not enough information on this issue in the pedagogical literature.

The purpose of this work is to analyze and systematize pedagogical concepts, approaches to the professional training of linguists-translators, study the basic principles of teaching translation in educational institutions, identify their differences and common characteristics to provide a holistic view, and formulate a personal vision of the problem, as well as for further practical application of the information received.

It has been established that while training linguists-translators communicative, personality-oriented, and activity-oriented approaches to foreign language teaching are widely used. It has been found that the competence approach in occupational education helps to form the ability of the graduate to independently apply the knowledge, skills, and abilities acquired in the process of preparation in a certain professional context.

In the process of research, methods of systematic analysis of scientific and methodological sources and generalization of scientific views on the research problem were applied. The research methods used suggest that the application of the approaches and principles listed in the work is possible both in the training of translators and in teaching a foreign language as a subject.

The scientific novelty of the study is to select the optimal approach to the training of students of linguistics, considering current trends in the translation industry.

The analyzed methodological approaches to the training of linguists-translators contribute to the formation of translation competence of students, which is the basis of successful professional activity in the future.

Key words: linguists-translators, high-quality training, teaching translation, translation competence.

Марина Вишневська, старший викладач кафедри філології та перекладу Київського національного університету технологій та дизайну (Київ, Україна)

Інна Бороліс, старший викладач кафедри філології та перекладу Київського національного університету технологій та дизайну (Київ, Україна)

Ніна Шкура, доцент кафедри філології та перекладу Київського національного університету технологій та дизайну (Київ, Україна)

Сучасні підходи до підготовки лінгвістів-перекладачів

Анотація

professional specialist teaching

У сучасних умовах мультилінгвального глобалізованого світу як ніколи важливою стає можливість швидкого та чіткого обміну інформацією між представниками різних культур. Професія лінгвіста-перекладача набуває нової популярності, а отже, зростає й потреба в якісній підготовці професійних фахівців у галузі перекладу. Однією з основних проблем підготовки спеціаліста-перекладача є вибір оптимального підходу до навчання усного та письмового перекладу. Незважаючи на велику кількість публікацій, присвячених різним аспектам діяльності перекладача, необхідно зазначити, що в педагогічній літературі все ще недостатньо інформації щодо цієї проблеми.

Мета роботи - аналіз та систематизація педагогічних концепцій, підходів до професійної підготовки лінгвістів-перекладачів, дослідження основних принципів навчання перекладу у навчальних закладах, виявлення їхніх відмінностей та спільності для формування цілісного уявлення та формулювання власного бачення проблеми, а також для подальшого практичного застосування отриманої інформації.

Встановлено, що в сучасному процесі підготовки лінгвістів-перекладачів широко використовуються комунікативний, особистісно-орієнтований та діяльнісно-орієнтований підходи до навчання іноземної мови. Виявлено, що компетентнісний підхід у професійній освіті допомагає сформувати здатність випускника самостійно застосовувати отримані у процесі підготовки знання, уміння та навички в певному професійному контексті.

У процесі дослідження було застосовано методи системного аналізу науково-методичних джерел та узагальнення наукових поглядів на проблему дослідження. Використані методи дослідження дають змогу стверджувати, що застосування перерахованих у роботі підходів та принципів можливе як під час підготовки фахівців-перекладачів, так і під час навчання іноземної мови як предмета.

Наукова новизна проведеного дослідження полягає в підборі оптимального підходу до навчання студентів-лінгвістів з огляду на сучасні тенденції розвитку перекладацької галузі.

Проаналізовані методичні підходи до підготовки лінгвістів-перекладачів сприяють формуванню перекладацької компетенції у здобувачів вищої освіти, що є основою успішної професійної діяльності в майбутньому.

Ключові слова: лінгвісти-перекладачі, високоякісна підготовка, навчання перекладу, перекладацька компетентність

Introduction

In recent years, significant changes have taken place in the field of linguistic education in terms of pedagogical concepts, approaches, and methods of teaching foreign languages. In this area, theoretical and practical issues of training linguists-translators and teachers of translation disciplines can be considered as independent theoretical and methodological aspects of teaching.

The translation industry in Ukraine is currently developing at a rapid pace. Every year, international and all-Ukrainian translation forums, summer translation schools, international translation conferences are held, where translation teachers, heads oftranslation agencies and translation departments of government agencies, freelance translators, etc. get together. Translators' professional issues are discussed at these sites. The most important ones are aspects of the training of translators and teaching staff for the training of linguists-translators, based on public and private universities.

The relevance of the problem comes from the fact that in the current situation of intensive international communication and information exchange, there is an increased interest in various aspects of translation as a complex multilateral process, and first of all, the importance of the ability to carry out the high-quality translation in all spheres of human activity increases. Translators do not only translate terms and words from one language into another one, but they also translate one culture into another. This highlights the need for a careful choice of approaches to the education and training of translators.

Analysis of the research and publications shows that studies of approaches to the training of qualified professionals have been covered in the works of T.V. Kriukova, Yu.O. Shvetsova, I.S. Alekseieva, L.N. Chernovaty, N.V. Zinukova, L.K. Latyshev, А.S. Kaliakin, and others.

Concepts, approaches, and methods of teaching translators are covered in the works of L.I. Korneieva, N.A. Malenkykh, A.Yu. Ivleva; N.V. Zinukova studies the markets of translation services, the problems of professional training of translators are considered in the works of O.V. Dudina, O.V. Martyniuk, Ya.V. Mukataieva, D.M. Buzadzhi, A.S. Kaliakin. However, there is a need for a careful analysis of modern concepts of teaching translation disciplines, approaches, methods, and techniques, taking into account the requirements of the modern labor market and current trends in the translation industry to train competitive future professionals.

The purpose of this work is to analyze and systematize pedagogical concepts, approaches to the professional training of linguists-translators, study the basic principles of teaching translation in educational institutions, identify their differences and common characteristics to provide a holistic view, and formulate a personal vision of the problem, as well as for further practical application of the information received. To select the best approaches to learning, it is advisable to consider the existing approaches based on the pedagogical learning framework.

In the field of humanities in European pedagogy, the concept of humanistic education has found wide application in the middle of the last century. The essence of this concept is to focus on the personality of the student, on his interests, needs, and opportunities, as well as on teaching methods that correspond to his individual characteristics. Humanistic education is characterized by a reorientation of the entire learning process from the personality of the teacher and teaching methods to the personality of the student and methods of learning.

The concept of humanistic education has led to the emergence of several non-traditional (alternative) methods and approaches to learning and the creation of new concepts of learning.

The student-centered concept of education, which is based on the individual approach of the teacher to each student, taking into account his individual characteristics, has become a continuation of the humanistic concept of education. The teacher should help the student identify his own capabilities, stimulate self-affirmation, self-realization of him as a person (Yakimanskaya, 2000: 34).

Training by this concept involves:

independence in the learning process, resulting in independent determination of the goals and objectives of the course, joint development of training programs with the teacher;

reliance on the existing knowledge and experience of students in explaining new material;

taking into account the emotional state of students, as well as their moral and ethical values;

limiting a leading role of the teacher, assigning him the functions of an assistant, consultant, adviser.

Thus, the student-centered concept of learning is an alternative to the teacher-centered concept of learning. The concept, where the teacher plays a dominant role, correlates, as a rule, with traditional teaching methods and frontal mode of work (Serikov, 1994: 17).

The problem-oriented concept of learning is based on the awareness of any contradiction in the process of activity, for example, the inability to complete a theoretical or practical task using previously acquired knowledge, skills, and abilities, which leads to the emergence of a need for new knowledge that would allow resolving the contradiction that has arisen (Batyaeva, 2016: 115).

Following the modern methodological concept, problem-based learning involves the following main stages:

phase of confrontation (entry into the problem): setting goals, analyzing problems, defining the problem;

phase of creating an action algorithm: search, development, and planning of ways to solve the problem; approach to solving and direct problem solving;

phase of application and transfer: exercise, consolidation; transfer of acquired methods of action to other situations; control, self-control, expert evaluation.

The humanistic direction in pedagogy, psychology, and didactics has led to the emergence of a communicative concept of learning, which aims to teach foreign language communication, i.e. communication in a foreign language, using all the necessary (not only communicative) tasks and examples. It is necessary to prepare a student for participation in the process of foreign language communication in the conditions of foreign language communication created in the classroom. This determines the essence of communicative learning, which lies in the fact that the learning process is a model of the communication process.

The communicative approach to learning emerged in the 1970s and 1980s as a result of numerous independent research and development projects both in Europe and the United States. On the one hand, this happened because, with the creation of the European Economic Community, the demand for foreign languages increased significantly, especially in Europe. This increased demand has made teachers change their approach to teaching foreign languages. Traditional methods, such as grammar-translation, implied that students begin to learn a foreign language several years before they have to use it in real life. But these attitudes were not suitable for adult students who were busy with work, and for schoolchildren who did not yet have sufficiently developed learning abilities. As a result, it became clear that for these categories of students a higher impact approach was needed.

Scientists have also contributed to the development of a communicative approach in teaching a foreign language. British linguists Christopher Kan- dlin and Henry Widdowson found that focusing on the structure of a language does not contribute to its better absorption. They believed that mastering grammatical structures, students also need to develop communication skills and understand language functions (Richards, Rodgers, 2001: 64).

The Russian scientist E.I. Passov created his own theory of communicative foreign language education. According to this theory, the concept of communicativeness is considered in two perspectives: theoretical, i.e. as a category (concept), and practical (empirical), i.e. as a technology. Interpreting communication as technology or strategy of education, E.I. Passov highlights the following characteristics:

motivation of any action and any activity of the student;

purposefulness of any action and any activity of the student;

personal sense in the whole student's work;

speaking and thinking activity, i.e. constant involvement in the process of solving communication problems, the constant connection of cognitive and communicative thinking;

the attitude of personal interest, which implies the expression of a personal attitude to problems and subjects of discussion;

connection of communication with various forms of activity - educational and cognitive, social, labor, sports, artistic, household;

interaction of those who communicate, i.e. coordination of actions, mutual assistance, support for each other, cooperation, trusting cooperation;

contact in three planes: emotional, semantic, and personal;

situation, which is expressed in the fact that the communication of students with a teacher and students among themselves in the process of mastering speech material can always be characterized as a system of relationships generated by the situational positions of speakers;

functionality, which means that the process of mastering speech material always occurs in the presence of speech functions that have priority over the form of speech units;

heuristic as the organization of the material and the process of its assimilation, excluding arbitrary memorization and reproduction of what has been memorized;

content-richness as an objective characteristic and informativeness as a subjective characteristic of educational materials;

problematicity as a way of organizing and presenting educational materials;

expressiveness in the use of verbal and nonverbal means of communication (Passov, 2003: 26).

Only the observance of all the listed parameters and their optimal use gives the right to call the educational process communicative. A model of this quality is the basis of the given concept.

The activity-oriented concept of learning is becoming more widespread in the pedagogy of higher education, including in the field of linguistic education. Within the framework of the activity-oriented approach, foreign language learners are considered as subjects of social activity, i.e. as members of society, solving tasks and problems that are not necessarily related to the language, under certain conditions, in a certain situation, in a certain field of activity.

The solution of a task or problem is understood as actions performed by one person or a group of people, each of which strategically uses its specific (linguistic, communicative) competencies to achieve a certain result. The activity-oriented approach makes it possible to take into account the entire range of personal characteristics of a person as a subject of social reality, primarily cognitive, emotional, and volitional resources (Korneeva, 2006: 64).

In the process of training linguists-translators, the goal of teaching a foreign language is radically changed to a practice-oriented one - the use of a foreign language as a means of communication between representatives of different cultures. Fluency in both native and foreign languages is an integral part of the professional competence of an interpreter. Accordingly, when preparing translators, the approach to teaching a foreign language changes - it is no longer studied with a general educational, not with a theoretical, but with a practical purpose. Education has a pronounced activity-oriented and communica- tive-oriented character.

Let us consider the methodological approaches which are the basis for the methodological principles and methods of teaching linguists-translators.

At the end of the 20th century, a communicative approach to learning became generally accepted in Europe, since language acquisition as a means of communication became a new goal of teaching foreign languages. Along with the communicative approach, activity-oriented and student-oriented approaches to teaching foreign languages are becoming more and more preferential in modern foreign and domestic didactics. These approaches provide conditions for the formation and development of a qualified linguistic personality, focused on successful educational and future professional activities. Systematic teaching of a foreign language, for example, the phonetic, lexical, and grammatical aspects of foreign speech, should take place in the context of the significance of these skills for the personal and professional growth of students.

The current stage of higher education development is characterized by the introduction of a competency-based approach, which has replaced the so-called “knowledge” approach. If in the 20th century people were seriously talking about the possibility and necessity of transferring knowledge, today such a goal-setting is irrelevant. It becomes obvious that knowledge is not transferred, but generated, appropriated in the process of personally meaningful activity. Knowledge itself, outside of certain skills and abilities to use them, does not solve the problem of a person's education and his preparation for real professional activity (Korneeva et.al., 2016: 15).

The competency-based approach in vocational education is understood as the implementation of educational programs that form the ability of a graduate to independently apply the knowledge, skills, and abilities acquired in the process of training in a specific professional context. When implementing the competency-based approach, learning-by-doing models that have their origins in pragmatic and activity didactics become relevant. A generalized interpretation of ideas can be represented as follows.

The purpose of “learning by doing” is to bridge the gap between what a person knows and what he “does”. In other words, bridge the gap between the theory of intended actions (knowledge) and practice activities. “Learning by doing” is “learning by experience”. “Learning by doing” is a structured process of studying one's own experience in solving a real task, problem (project implementation). What matters here is the ability to ask questions that help clarify what to do and how. The main difference of this training is:

students work on real problems, not exercises or artificial situations;

they learn not only from the teacher but also from each other;

students work with real process data;

students work with different bases of information to choose and make different decisions in the context of real professional situations;

students learn to think critically.

Thus, each educational program of vocational education should be guided by the implementation of a competency-based approach and be based on modern principles, methods, and technologies of teaching, as well as contain clearly formulated specific learning outcomes for the educational program as a whole and its key elements. With a competency-based approach, not only knowledge and skills become equally important, but also certain personality traits, experience, key competencies, thanks to which university graduates will be able to work in modern conditions.

At present, a modular competency-based approach is being actively introduced into the system of higher education in Ukraine. This is due to joining the basic principles of organizing a single European educational space within the framework of the Bologna Process. The modular competency-based approach in higher education is a concept of organizing the educational process, in which the totality of the student's professional competencies acts as the goal of learning, and the modular construction of the content and structure of vocational training is used as a means of achieving it.

The main advantages of organizing the educational process based on a modular competency-based approach are improving the quality of training of specialists; flexibility and openness of organization forms of the learning process; providing high motivation for the learning process; taking into account the individual needs and capabilities of students; the individual pace of progress in learning, building individual educational trajectories.

Practicing translators and linguists believe that there is no consistency in the modern training of linguists-translators. So, P.S. Brook points out: “Training at universities in the Linguist-translator specialty remains under the strong influence of traditional education of the mid-twentieth century, and far from its best sides. In the total amount of study time, the priority of theoretical disciplines remains to the detriment ofthe practice of translation, the acquisition of professional production skills by students” (Bruk, 2008: 45).

Any systematic approach is determined by five basic principles: integrity, hierarchy, structuring, multiplicity, and consistency. The last principle, in its essence, unites all other principles, since it says that each object can have all the features of the system.

The principle of integrity says that all elements of the system are a single whole. That is, they are all subject to common principles, goals, and tasks. Hierarchy is a set of elements of the system, each of which has a certain value and is subordinate to other elements or itself subordinates other elements of the system. Structurization is the combination of various elements of the system into separate subsystems according to certain characteristics. Each of these subsystems, in turn, can have various connections with other subsystems. Multiplicity involves the use of many different models to describe each element and the entire system as a whole (Humeniuk, Korets, 2014: 65).

Since the future professional activity of a translator is connected with intermediary activities between representatives of different cultures, an intercultural approach is of great importance in the preparation of a linguist translator. The intercultural approach stimulates the development of the internal culture of the translator's linguistic personality, capable of intercultural dialogue, contributing to the development of the ability to perceive, understand, interpret the phenomena of a different culture and the ability to compare, find differences, and common characteristics with their native culture. An intercultural approach in the preparation of a translator is implemented by methods and techniques that allow mastering native and foreign languages in situations of intercultural communication.

The concepts and approaches discussed above determine the choice of principles for teaching linguists-translators. In the methodology of teaching foreign languages, there are general didactic principles of teaching and specific principles for the formation and development of foreign language communicative competence.

General didactic principles reflect the provisions that are applicable in teaching any subject. Methodological principles describe and specify the features of teaching a particular subject. For the methodology of teaching linguists-translators, the following principles are relevant: the principle of communicative orientation, the principle of considering the peculiarities of the native language, the principle of interconnected teaching of all types of speech activity, the comparative principle, etc. General didactic and corresponding methodological principles in teaching linguists-translators are interrelated and complementary, which allows us to consider them as a complex system.

The principle of a professional orientation is based on a careful selection of the content of the language material, as well as on the choice of methods and forms of work, taking into account the direction of professional training and future professional activities of students. Particular attention is paid to the translation practice of linguist students, where their professional translation competence develops in a professional environment.

The principle of integrativity involves the integration of knowledge from various disciplines, including those related to the professional cycle of translator training. This principle provides for the mandatory rotation of previously studied language material about new communicative situations in the professional field.

The communicative concept/approach is implemented through the principle of communicative orientation in the training of linguists-translators, the principle of the polyfunctionality of communicative exercises, the principle of the influence of the native language on mastering a foreign language, the principle of relying on a previously studied foreign language, etc.

The principle of communicative orientation includes the widespread use of problem verbal and creative tasks, the modeling of authentic situations of professional communication, the development of spontaneous response skills in the communication process, the formation of psychological readiness for differences in the levels of language competence among communication partners (willingness to provide communicative support to a less experienced partner, readiness to accept communicative support from a more experienced partner).

The modular competency-based approach is based on the totality of the principle of orientation towards future professional activity, the principle of the modular organization of training, the principle of the stage-by-stage formation of professionally significant competencies of the future translator, the principle of non-linearity, etc.

The principle of non-linearity, for example, implies not sequential, but the simultaneous use of various sources of information, referring to previously studied material in various sections of the course to solve new problems.

The intercultural approach is based on the following principles: the principle of multicultural interaction, the principle of cultural conformity and dialogue of cultures; the comparative principle, etc.

The principles listed above are relevant both for the process of teaching students' foreign languages and for the training of translators. The training of translators is also characterized by specific methodological principles, for example, for translators, the principle of recurrence, transparency, complementarity, etc.

Conclusions and prospects for further research

The analyzed methodological approaches to the training of translators are focused on the conditions for the formation and development of a qualified linguistic personality focused on a successful professional activity. These approaches contribute to the formation of translation competence, which is especially important in mediation in the process of intercultural interaction. We see the prospect of further research in studying the possibility of improving the quality of training of specialists, considering changes in the order of professional personnel and, as a result, in increasing the rating of the educational program for training future translators.

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