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Volume4,No.3
July2000

ConstanzaGerdingSalaswas
borninOsorno(intheSouthof
Chile,SouthAmerica)fortysix
yearsago.Herfirstcontactwith
languageswasattheageoffive,
whenherparentsregisteredher
atthe"DeutscheSchule"inLa
Unin,atownthatmayhavehad
some20,000inhabitantsthen.
Foreignlanguages(alittlebitof
GermanandFrenchandsome
Englishaswell)neverseemedto
betoodifficultforherwhileshe
wasatschool.Forthatreason,
andbecauseshehadalways
likedteaching,shedecidedto
enterUniversidadAustralde
Chile,Valdivia,assoonasshe
finishedhighschoolandshe
becameanEnglishteacherfive
yearslater.
ShemovedtoSantiago,the
capitalofChile,whereshe
workedforabouttenyearsina
collegewhichtrainedexecutive
bilingualsecretaries.Thereshe
firstbecameacquaintedwith
translation,mainlyinthefieldof
businesswriting.
AnactofGodcompelledProf.
GerdingSalastoleaveChilein
1988.ShemovedtoStockholm,
Sweden,whereshespentthe
followingfouryears.Thereshe
realizedthattranslationwas
veryusefulforsomeofherfellow
countrymenwho,havinglivedin
anonSpanishspeakingfora
longtime,stilldidn'tmanageto
copewithlegalmatters,bank
documents,officialforms,andso
on.
OnceshewasbackinChile,Prof.
GerdingSalasdecidedto
dedicateherselftotranslation.
Shetookregularcourseson
somepracticaltranslation
aspects,suchastranslation

http://translationjournal.net/journal/13educ.htm

TeachingTranslation
ProblemsandSolutions
byProf.ConstanzaGerdingSalas

Abstract
Thepresentarticledealsfirstlywithsome
theoreticalreflectionsaboutthetranslational
processandthevariousapproachestoverge
ontextstobetranslated.Then,asequential
workprocedurecarriedoutwith
undergraduatetranslationstudentsis
described.Thismethodology,consistingofa
stepbystep,eithersequentialorsuccessive
procedureforworkshops,whichhasproven
quitesuccessfulintranslatortrainingatan
undergraduatelevel.Theeducatoris
understoodasafacilitatorofthetranslation
task:Thelion'sshareofthetransferprocess
isaccomplishedbythestudentsboth
collectivelyandindividually.Themethodology
proposedandthecorrespondingevaluation
processarediscussed,andthehumanprofiles
andtheworkfacilitiesaredefined.Allthe
aspectspresentedandanalyzedhererespond
toempiricalmatters.

Introduction
verytranslationactivityhasoneormorespecific
purposesandwhichevertheymaybe,themainaim
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strategiesand,atthesametime,
shetaughtherselftranslation
theory.
Someyearsago,Prof.Gerding
Salaswasofferedandtookupa
postatUniversidaddeLosLagos,
Osorno,toteachcontrastive
grammar,translationtheory,
appliedgrammarandEnglishas
aforeignlanguagefortheEnglish
TeacherandTranslatorTraining
Program.
Currentlysheisworkingtowards
herPh.D.inEducation
(UniversidaddeConcepcin),
whilekeepingherpositionasa
fulltimeprofessoratLosLagos.
Prof.GerdingSalascanbe
reachedatcgerding@ulagos.cl.

FrontPage

April00Issue

January00Issue

October99Issue

July99Issue

April99Issue

January99Issue

October98Issue

July98Issue

April98Issue

January98Issue

October97Issue

July97Issue

Faster,Better,Easier
byGabeBokor

http://translationjournal.net/journal/13educ.htm

oftranslationistoserveasacrossculturalbilingual
communicationvehicleamongpeoples.Inthepastfew
decades,thisactivityhasdevelopedbecauseofrising
internationaltrade,increasedmigration,globalization,the
recognitionoflinguisticminorities,andtheexpansionof
themassmediaandtechnology.Forthisreason,the
translatorplaysanimportantroleasabilingualormulti
lingualcrossculturaltransmitterofcultureandtruthsby
attemptingtointerpretconceptsandspeechinavarietyof
textsasfaithfullyandaccuratelyaspossible.
Mosttranslationtheoristsagreethattranslationis
understoodasatransferprocessfromaforeignlanguage
orasecondlanguagetothemothertongue.However,
marketrequirementsareincreasinglydemandingthat
translatorstransfertextstoatargetlanguagethatisnot
theirmothertongue,butaforeignlanguage.Thisiswhat
Newmarkcalls"servicetranslation."
"Ishallassumethatyou,thereader,are
learningtotranslateintoyourlanguageof
habitualuse,sincethatistheonlywayyou
cantranslatenaturally,accuratelyandwith
maximumeffectiveness.Infact,however,
mosttranslatorsdotranslateoutoftheirown
language..."Newmark(1995b).

Thereisalwaysaway
ofapproachinganSL
text,whetherthe
translatorchoosesthe
authorcentered
traditionalmodel,the
textcentered
structuralisticmodel
orthecognitive
readercentered
model.

Thisfactmakesthe
translatingprocessaharder
task,sometimesresultingin
amediocreoutputthat
shouldundoubtedlybe
revisedandpostedited
beforedeliverytotheclient.

ThroughexperienceIhave
learnedthatthe
consequencesofwrong
translationscanbe
catastrophicespeciallyif
donebylaypersonsand
mistakesmadeinthe
performanceofthisactivitycanobviouslybeirreparable.
Justthinkofwhatcouldhappenincasesofserious
inadequacyinknowledgeareassuchasscience,medicine,
legalmatters,ortechnology.Theremustbethousandsof
examples,butIfindthisanecdoteworthmentioninghere:
Lily,aChileanexilewhohadbeengrantedrefugeestatus
inanonSpanishspeakingcountry,wasgoingtoundergo
surgeryforthesimpleremovalofaskinblemishfromher
face.However,becauseofamisunderstandingbythe
translatorondutyinthehospitalatthemomentshewas
goingtobeanesthetized,shewasabouttoundergobreast
surgery!
Itisquiteclearthatapoortranslationcannotonlyleadto
hilarityortominorconfusion,butitcanalsobeamatter
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Index19972000

TranslatorProfiles
AHardWaytoMakeMoney
byRobinBonthrone

TheProfession
TheBottomLine
byFireAnt&WorkerBee
InPursuitoftheCheapest
TranslationCost
byJohannesTan

Translatorsand
Computers
ReflectionsofaHuman
TranslatoronMachine
Translation
bySteveVlastaVitek

LiteraryTranslation
A30YearAfterNear
PosthumousNoteonPeter
Handke's"PublicInsult"
byMichaelRoloff

Portuguese
WhatistheWordfor"you"in
Portuguese?
byDaniloNogueira

TranslatorEducation
TeachingTranslation
ProblemsandSolutions
byProf.ConstanzaGerding
Salas

Science&Technology
ATranslatorsGuideto
OrganicChemical
NomenclatureXX
byChesterE.Claff,Jr.,Ph.D.

BankingandFinance
GermanFinancialAccounting
andReportingFAQsand
Fallacies
byRobinBonthrone

CaughtintheWeb
WebSurfingforFunand

http://translationjournal.net/journal/13educ.htm

oflifeanddeath.Hencetheimportanceoftraining
translators,notonlyintheacquisitionandcommandof
languagesandtranslationstrategiesandprocedures,but
alsoinspecificknowledgeareasand,whatisequally
important,inprofessionalethics.
Iftranslatingisadiscourseoperationinterposingbetween
languageandthought(Delisle,1980),weshouldaccept
thatintheartorskilloftranslatingweareinexorably
goingtocomeacrossassortedandnumerousobstacles.
Delisle(1981)illustrateswhatasubtleformoftorture
translationis:
Translationisanarduousjobthatmortifies
you,putsyouinastateofdespairattimes,
butalsoanenrichingandindispensablework,
thatdemandshonestyandmodesty.
Therearemanythornsthatcanmortifyusduringthe
translationprocess,whateverthenatureofthetextwe
face,andtranslatorsshouldbeawareofthem.Thefirst
problemisrelatedtoreadingandcomprehensionabilityin
thesourcelanguage.Oncethetranslatorhascopedwith
thisobstacle,themostfrequenttranslationdifficultiesare
ofasemanticandculturalnature(Trics,1995):
"Linguisticuntranslatability"(cognates,i.e.trueandfalse
friends,calque,andotherformsofinterference
institutionalandstandardizedterms,neologisms,
aphorisms,etc.),and"culturaluntranslatability,"(idioms,
sayings,proverbs,jokes,puns,etc.).Oneshouldadopta
verycautiousattitudetowardthesewordsorexpressions
soastoavoidinterferenceand/orlanguagemisuse
(Kussmaul,1995).
Similarly,wequiteoftenrunintothosepainful"notfound"
terms,forwhichnoteventhebestdictionary,anexpertin
thetopicoranativespeakerofthesourcelanguagecan
provideuswithasolutiontoconveyanaccuratemeaning.
Weshouldalwaysbearinmindthatoneofthegreatest
virtuesofagoodtranslatoriswhatIhavecalled
"contextualizedintuition,"i.e.theabilitytofindthe
nearestcommonsenseinterpretationofthe"notfound"
elementwithinitscontext.
Whateverthedifficultyinthetranslationprocess,
proceduresmustaimattheessenceofthemessageand
faithfulnesstothemeaningofthesourcelanguagetext
beingtransferredtothetargetlanguagetext.Inthewords
ofNidaandTaber(1974):
Translatingconsistsofreproducing,inthe
targetlanguage,thenearestequivalenttothe
messageinthesourcelanguage,inthefirst
placeinthesemanticaspectand,inthe
secondplace,inthestylisticaspect.
Toagreatextent,thequalityoftranslationwilldependon
thequalityofthetranslator,i.e.onher/hisknowledge,
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Profit
byCathyFlick,Ph.D.
TranslatorsOnLine
Resources
byGabeBokor

skills,training,culturalbackground,expertise,andeven
mood!Newmark(1995b)distinguishessomeessential
characteristicsthatanygoodtranslatorshouldhave:
Readingcomprehensionabilityinaforeignlanguage

TranslatorsTools

Knowledgeofthesubject

TranslatorsEmporium

TranslatorsEvents

Sensitivitytolanguage(bothmothertongueand
foreignlanguage)

CallforPapersand
EditorialPolicies

Competencetowritethetargetlanguage
dexterously,clearly,economicallyandresourcefully
Inaddition,MercedesTricsreferstointuition,or
commonsenseasthemostcommonofallsensesin
otherwords,makinguseofthatsixthsense,a
combinationofintelligence,sensitivityandintuition.This
phenomenonworksverywellifhandledcautiously:
...thetransferprocessisadifficultand
complexapproachmechanism,oneinwhich
onemustmakeuseofallone'sintellectual
capacity,intuitionandskill(Trics,1995).
Apartfromthepreviouslymentionedaspects,itis
relevanttoemphasizethenecessityforsoundlinguistic
knowledgeofboththeSLandtheTL,anessential
condition,yetnottheonlyone,tobeginswimmingupthe
streamsofprofessionaltranslation.However,neither
knowinglanguagesnorbeingefficientlybilingualisenough
tobecomeatranslator.
Formorethantwentyyears,translationtheoristshave
beenpointingthisout,andyetmanypeoplebelieveand
claimthatknowingtwoormorelanguagesisidenticalto
knowinghowtotranslateproperly.Wemustbanishthis
idea.Delisle(1980)statesitclearly:
Linguisticcompetenceisanecessary
condition,butnotyetsufficientforthe
professionalpracticeoftranslation.
Inadditiontoreadingcomprehensionability,the
knowledgeofspecializedsubjectsderivedfromspecialized
trainingandawideculturalbackground,andtheglobal
visionofcrossculturalandinterlingualcommunication,it
isamusttolearnhowtohandlethestrategicandtactical
toolsforagoodtranslatingperformance.
Hencetheimportanceofadidactictranslationapproach:A
methodologythatallowsthedevelopmentofaneffective
andefficienttransferprocessfromonelanguageto
another.Asiswidelyknownbythosecommittedtothe
field,translationasaformalprofessionalactivitywitha

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theoreticalbackgroundisrelativelynew.Thus,anumber
oftermshaverecentlybeencoinedforthesubjectcalled
TranslationTheory("Translatology"inCanada,
"Traductologa"inSpain,"TranslationStudies"inBelgium
andtheNetherlands).
Thisdisciplinebeingsonew,littlehasbeendoneinterms
ofacademictraininginhighereducationinChiletodevise
didacticmethodsandprocedurestoteachorlearnhowto
translate.IquiteagreewithWilliamWeaver,the
translatorofThenameoftheRose,whoclaimsthat
"Translationissomethingyoulearnonlybydoing."
Nonetheless,weteachersmayfacilitateourowntaskand
thatofourstudentsifwetakeadvantageofthe
appropriatetoolsandstrategies.
Cognitionscienceshaveprovideduswithsimplebutvery
usefulideasaboutmeaningfullearning,i.e.apositive
approachtolearningthatcomesfromtherelationship
betweenpreviousknowledgeandnewknowledge.1
Thiscognitiveapproachperfectlyappliestothetransfer
processofideasfromonelanguagetoanother,which
obviouslyimpliesalotmorethanthesimplereproduction
model.Inthepreparatoryphaseofatranslation,
cognition,intheformofselfconsciousnessandself
confidence,playsaveryimportantrole,inasmuchasthis
periodimpliesconsciousmentalactivities,where
translatingproblemsaredetectedandanalyzed,and
informationandknowledgeareaccumulated(Kussmaul,
1995).
Fromthepsychologicalandsocialpointofview,the
translator,whoseprofileshouldbethatofanintellectual
workerwithprofessionaltrainingcharacteristicssuchas
theabovementioned,willbemoresuccessfulifher/his
socialaffectivedevelopmentisgivenmoreemphasis,for
s/hemaybebetterpreparedforcooperativework,and
s/hemayreachahighertolerancelevel,showingrespect,
selfcriticismandsensitivity.
TheGlobalApproach
Withregardtotheprincipalapproachestoatranslation
text,themostrenownedtranslationtheorists(Delisle,
Newmark,Nida,Nord,Kussmaul)areinagreementonthe
followingaspects:
Firstly,thereiscomprehensionandinterpretationoftexts
whichimpliesthemanagementoftheapproachprinciples
tovarioustypesoftexts,consideringthetextual,
referential,cohesionandnaturalnesslevels.This
competenceincludesreadingcomprehensionandmessage
interpretation(encodinganddecoding).
Secondly,rewordingisalsoimportant.Itmeansthe
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applicationofthevariousstrategiesfortherestitution
processofthemessage(recoding)bychoosingthe
appropriatemethod(s),techniquesandprocedures.Among
themostfrequentlyusedproceduresfortherestorationof
ideascontainedinatranslationunit,atranslatormay
resorttotransfer,culturalorfunctionalequivalent,
synonymy,transposition,modulation,compensation,
reductionandexpansionoramplification(SeeNewmark,
P.,1995:ATextbookofTranslation).Theseskills
constitutetheessenceoftranslatingcompetenceand
shouldmoststronglyemphasizedinthetraining
prospectivetranslators.Forthispurpose,itisalso
indispensabletomakeeffectiveuseofdifferenttypesof
documentation:Paralleltexts,monolingualandbilingual
dictionaries,encyclopedias,termdatabase,informants,
othersources.
Andthirdly,translationtheoristsgivegreatimportanceto
theassessmentoftheresult,i.e.evidencingthecapacity
toconfrontthetranslatedtextwiththeoriginaltext,being
abletoassessearningsandlossesandshowingself
correctioncapacity.Itistheaccuraterevisionofthe
outputthatwilldefinitelyresultinafinaltranslationof
higherquality.

TheSpecificApproaches
Accordingtomosttranslationtheorists,thespecific
approachestotexttranslationtendtobesimilar.Onthe
onehand,itisnecessarytouseoneormoretranslating
approachesormodels.Ontheother,thereisalwaysa
wayofapproachinganSLtext,whetherthetranslator
choosestheauthorcenteredtraditionalmodel,thetext
centeredstructuralisticmodelorthecognitivereader
centeredmodel.Dependingontheirtraining,translators
willadoptonemodeloranother,butmanywilltendto
tendtoaneclecticintegrationofthethreeapproaches.
Translatorsshouldbeawareofthefactthatincorrect
comprehensionofatextconsiderablydecreasesthe
qualityofthetranslation.Wemust,therefore,usereading
comprehensionstrategiesfortranslation(underlining
words,detectingtranslationdifficulties,contextualizing
lexicalitemsneverisolatingthem,adapting,analyzing,
andsoon.)
Findingsolutionstodilemmasisaconstantintheworkof
thetranslator.Thisincludestranslatingproblemssuchas
linguisticorcultural"untranslatability,"beingableto
managelossesandgains,solutionstolexicalambiguity,
etc.,throughvariousmechanismssuchascompensation,
loans,explanatorynotes,adaptation,equivalence,
paraphrasing,analogies,etc.
Translatorsshouldalsobeawarethatmeaningisnotonly
conveyedbywords.Henceadequatedecodingandre
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codingofnomenclatures,figures,tablesandcharts
standardizedterms,acronyms,metonyms,toponyms,etc.
isamatterthatmustbeproperlyconsidered.
Agoodtranslatorshoulddefinesomeessentialstarting
pointsfortheapproximationtoatexttobetranslated,
suchastheauthorofthetext,theaimofthetext,the
readership,andthestandardtobeused,forwhichitis
importanttoidentifyandcategorizetheauthor,the
message,thekindofdiscourse,thetranslatorandthe
readership.
Anotherimportantaspectisthepreeditingoftheoriginal
texttodetecteventualsourcetextdefects,ontheone
hand,andtheposteditingofthetranslatedtexttoverify
theuseofthemostadequatesyntactic,semanticand
graphemiclevels(recognitionofthereviser'srole),onthe
otherhand.
Amongformalmatters,translatorsshouldbeawareofand
controlthesoundeffectandcadenceofthetranslatedtext
("translatingwiththeear")toavoidcacophonous
combinationsandcalqueonthesourcelanguage.
Regardingtheuseoftranslationproceduresand
strategies,translatorsmustconstantlymakechoices,in
eachparagraph,sentenceortranslationunit,soasto
decidewhichofthemisthemostusefulforthetransferof
theideasinthetextbeingtranslated.Itmeansadapting
themostsuitablestrategiesandtechniquestothe
requirementsofthetextratherthanadoptingacertain
techniqueandusingitforever.
Last,butnotleast,translatorsshouldobservethatthe
essenceintermsofmeaningandsense,registerand
style,etc. and the lay out of the original text in terms of format,
i.e. sources, paragraphs, indentation, columns, tables, etc.is properly
adhered to in the translated unit.

A Translation Methodology: A Cooperative Work Procedure

My experience in the field of translation training has given me some
useful hints on how to elaborate a translation methodology with
undergraduate students who want to become translators. This approach
attempts to develop some workshop activities for the translation process
as a cooperative activity with the studentsthrough a graded and
sequential procedure. We must assume that students have sound
linguistic knowledge, both theoretical and practical, and a wide cultural
bilingual background, achieved during their first years in college.
This methodology, consisting of a stepbystep procedure workshop,
(stages may sometimes be sequential and successive, sometimes,
alternated) has proven quite successful in my classes in terms of
students' motivation, productivity and the quality of their work.
However, I do think that this methodology can be improved.
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However, I do think
that this methodology can be improved.

1. Theteachermakesaselectionofthematerialtobe
translated.Textsmustbechosenaccordingto
previouslydefinedobjectivesfortranslation
practice,takingintoaccountthedegreeofdifficulty
ofthetexts(semantic,cultural,stylistic,etc.),the
topicorthespecificknowledgearea(scienceand
technologysocial,institutional,economicand/or
politicaltopicsandliteraryorphilosophicalworks),
thetranslationproblemstobesolved,andsoon.
2. Afterbrowsingthroughthetext(scanreadingand/or
skimreading),thestudents,assistedbytheir
teacher,shouldidentifythesource,thenorm,the
typeoftext,theregister,thestyleandthe
readershipofthetextselected.Itisakindofgame
oftheimaginationinwhichthetextisrealbutthe
clientandher/hisneedsareimaginary.
3. Thestudentsshouldreadthewholetextatleast
twice:Thefirstreadingwillbecomprehensiveand
general,tobecomeacquaintedwiththetopicandto
understandtheoriginal,alwaysbearinginmindthat
meaningiscontextdetermined.
4. Thesecondreadingmustbea"deep"reading,
placingemphasisonitemswheretranslation
problemsmayappear.Inotherwords,thisiswhatI
havecalled"readingwithtranslationintention,"i.e.
doingpreeditingandassessingthequalityofthe
writing(Reminder:Notalltextsarewellwritten).In
myopinion,whentranslatingintotheTL,ifthe
translatordetectsmistakes(usuallydueto
misprints)intheoriginaltext,s/heshouldbe
entitledtoamendtheminher/hisversioniftoo
obviousorelseconsulttheclientoranexpertin
caseofdoubt.Whendoingthis"readingwith
translationintention,"studentsshouldfirstunderline
unknowntermsandthentheyshouldmentally
confrontpotentialtranslationdifficultiesinthetext
withsuitabletranslationprocedures.
5. Theteacherthendividesthetextintoasmany
segmentsasstudentsinthegroup.Dependingon
thedegreeofdifficultyandthelengthofthetext,
thesesegmentsmaybeparagraphs,columns,pages
orevenwholechapters.Then,eachstudentis
assignedafairportionofthetext.Thesegment
distributionordershouldrotatesothatadifferent
studentbeginsatranslationuniteverytime.
6. Ifthetopicisalreadyquitefamiliartothestudents,
theydoapreliminarytranslation.Asthisisthefirst
approachtothetext,itwillprobablylack
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naturalness,sincestudentstendtotransferSLunits
oftranslationtoTLunitsoftranslation("onetoone
translation,"Newmark,1995a).Thisfirstapproach
canoftenbemadeorallyandsuggestedannotations
maybewritteninthemargins.
7. Ifthetopiciscompletelyunknowntothestudents,
theyshouldconsultcomplementaryliterature.In
otherwords,beforebeginningthetransferprocess,
theyshouldresorttovariousdocumentation
sources,especiallyparalleltexts(thosewhichare
similarinnatureandstyle)inthelanguageofthe
original.Thisallowsthemtoachieveadeeper
understandingofthetopicunderstudy.
8. Oncethe"onetoone"versionisaccomplished,the
studentsdoasecondversionoftheirown
translationthistimeawrittendrafthandlingthe
mostsuitabletranslationstrategiesandprocedures
andbeingfaithfulinthetransferofideas.
9. Withtheoriginaltextinfrontofher/himandbeing
carefultofollowthesamecorrelativeorderofthe
SLtext,eachstudentreadsouther/hisownversion
ofthetranslatedtext,makingthenecessarypauses
betweensentences.
10. Thestudentsandtheteacherfollowthereadingof
eachtextattentively.Asamonitoringactivity,
everybodyshouldfeelfreetostopthereadingatthe
endofagivensentenceandhavethereadingofthe
segmentrepeated,whenthesituationwarrants
comments,suggestions,questions,contributions,
etc.Thestudentshaveto"defend"theirwork
againstcriticism.
11. Duringthisprocedure,thestudentsandtheteacher
needtosetupallnecessaryconventionswithregard
tothehomogeneityofthetermsandthecoherence
andcohesionofthefinalversion.
12. AsNewmarkstates,"translationisfordiscussion"
(Newmark,1995b).Studentsshouldthenbe
encouragedtotakenotesanddiscussthe
(in)convenienceofthecontributionsandcomments
arisingfromthisanalyticalreadingofeachoneof
thedifferentversionsproposed.
13. Asametacognitiveactivity,thestudents,assisted
bytheteacher,analyzethetranslationstrategies
andproceduresused,anddiscussthereasonstaken
intoaccountinthechoiceofeachanalyzedcriterion:
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"Theabilitytodiscusstranslationsinanobjective
wayiscentraltoatranslator'scompetence",
(Kussmaul,1995).
14. Thestudentshandinthefinalversionoftheir
revisedandposteditedsegments,whichhave
alreadybeenamendedinthelightofthewholetext.
Theworkmustbetyped,doublespacedandpaged
accordingtotheoriginal.
15. Theteachermakesafinalrevision(secondpost
edit),givesformativeevaluationandmakes
comments,emphasizesfindings,"happy"solutions
andcreativeacts,ontheonehand,andanalyzes
failuresandweaknessesintheprocess,onthe
other.

In seminars of this kind, I assume that the teacher is understood as a

facilitator of the translation task, since the lion's share of the transfer
process is accomplished by the students, mainly collectively, but also
individually. I therefore consider it valid for students to consult all
possible information sources, including the traditional written forms, the
"live" sources or informants, e.g. their own teacher (the "client," in this
case), experts in the topic, native speakers, translation software, term
data bases and the international data processing nets. For this process to
be efficiently carried out, the following minimum conditions should be
met:

Profile of the Student

Soundlinguistictraininginthetwolanguages
Knowledgecoveringawideculturalspectrum
Highreadingcomprehensioncompetenceand
permanentinterestinreading
Adequateuseoftranslationproceduresand
strategies
Adequatemanagementofdocumentationsources
Improvementcapacityandconstantinterestin
learning
Initiative,creativity,honestyandperseverance
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Accuracy,truthfulness,patienceanddedication
Capacityforanalysisandselfcriticism
Abilitytomaintainconstructiveinterpersonal
relationships
Capacitytodevelopteamwork
Efficientdataprocessingtrainingatuser'slevel(an
introductorycourseisNOTenough)
AcquaintancewithtranslationsoftwareforMTand
MTedition
In sum, translators must understand the original text, for which they
must have wide general knowledge, handle the vocabulary of the topic
in the SL as well as in the TL and, last but not least, write their own
language well (Orellana, 1994).

Profile of the Educator

SoundknowledgeoftheSLandtheTL,translation
theory,transferprocedures,cognitionand
methodology
Comprehensionofwhattranslationisandhowit
occurs(Bell,1994)
Permanentinterestinreadingvariouskindsoftexts
Abilitytocommunicateideasclearly,empathically
andopenly
Abilitytoworkoutsynthesisandinterrelationshipof
ideas
Capacitytocreate,fosterandmaintainawarm
workenvironment,"anatmosphereofsympathetic
encouragement"(Kussmaul,1995)
Capacitytofostersearchandresearch
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Accuracyandtruthfulnesscritical,selfcriticaland
analyticalcapacity
Clearassessmentcriteria

The Infrastructure
Terminologicalresources(toolstosavetimeandto
maketranslationmoreprofitable):Monolingualand
bilingualdictionaries,specializeddictionaries,
encyclopedias,glossaries,varioustextson
translationtheoryandpractice,accessto
internationaldataprocessingnets,informants,
expertandothersources.
Internationalcollaborationviacongresses,
symposia,seminars,conferences,inquiriesthrough
internationalnets,etc.
PCs,translationsoftware,printersandprinting
material,termdatabases.
Appropriateenvironment:Therightplaceand
enoughtimeforreflection:Ideally,atranslation
laboratory.

Evaluation
As suggested by Kussmaul (1995), it is a good practice to classify the
kinds of errors/difficulties. The most frequent types of difficulties
arising from translation that I propose to assess in any translation are the
following:
Comprehension,senseandideas
Lexicosemanticlevel
Morphosyntacticlevel
Writingstyleandregister
Spellingandpunctuation
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TeachingTranslation

Creativesolutionstotranslationproblems
Transferandrewording(useoftranslation
procedures)
Cohesionandcoherence
Assessmentoftheresultandpostedition
Format

The method of penalization of errors must be previously established,

using clear criteria, and placing emphasis on the lack of coherence,
especially regarding meaning and sense, whether it is due to faulty
translation, missing items or the wrong application of lexical, semantic,
grammatical, graphemic and/or cultural transfer. I suggest being drastic
with text omissions, but I find it important to point out to the students
all the positive aspects of meaning of her/his translation.

Conclusion
Translatorslike all "professional professionals"must undergo
permanent training. Their productive capacity, however, should not
always be measured or weighed in terms of pages, words or hours done,
but rather taking into account the quality of the output or finished work
work that consumes lots of neurons (although it stimulates many
others).
It often shocks me to hear some people in my country say that MT has
come to solve their translation problems... Undoubtedly, those of us who
are acquainted with translation software know the enormous output
difference between a machinetranslated text and a humantranslated
text. In order to solve translation problems, a human translator must
make use of his/her cleverness, creativity, curiosity, intuition, ingenuity,
reflection, resourcefulness, and much more; a machine, however, no
matter how wellfed it is, is unable to discriminate or discern. Hence, the
importance of translator training.

Bibliography
Bell, Roger T. 1994. Translation and Translating. Longman Group UK Ltd.
Delisle, Jean. 1980. L'Anayse du discours comme mtode de traduction.
Cahiers de traductologie, 2, Universit d'Ottawa.
http://translationjournal.net/journal/13educ.htm

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TeachingTranslation

Delisle, Jean. 1981. L'Enseignement de l'interprtation et de la traduction.

Editions de l'Universit d'Ottawa.
Kussmaul, Paul. 1995. Training the Translator. John Benjamins Publishing
Co.
Newmark, Peter. 1995. Manual de Traduccin. Prentice Hall International
(UK) Ltd. Ediciones Ctedra, S.A.
Newmark, Peter. 1995. A Textbook of Translation. Library of Congress
CataloginginPublication Data.
Nida, E. y Taber Ch. 1974. The Theory and Practice of Translating. Brill,
Leiden.
Orellana, Marina. 1994. La Traduccin del Ingls al Castellano. Gua para el
Traductor. Editorial Universitaria.
Trics, Mercedes. 1995. Manual de traduccin francscastellano. Gedisa
S.A.
Varela, Francisco J. 1990. Conocer. Gedisa Editorial.

1Thislearningscaffolding,alsocalledthefourphasemodel,asfirstdescribed
byPoincarin1913,consistsofthefollowingstages:Constructionprocesses
(integrationtothecognitivenet),elaboration(relationshiptoprevious
knowledge),exercising(consolidationofnewknowledge),andapplication
(relationshipbetweenthepreviouslyacquiredknowledgewithnewknowledge).

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