Contemporary Approaches to Translation in the Classroom : A study of students' Attitudes and Strategies

The purpose of this study is to explore the strategies and attitudes of students towards translation in the context of language learning. The informants come from two different classes at an Upper Secondary vocational program. The study was born from the backdrop of discussions among some English teachers representing different theories on translation and language learning, meeting students endeavoring in language learning beyond the confinement of the classroom and personal experiences of translation in language learning. The curriculum and course plan for English at the vocational program emphasize two things of particular interest to our study; integration of the program outcomes and vocational language into the English course - so called meshed learning – and student awareness of their own learning processes. A background is presented of different contrasting methods in translation and language learning that is relevant to our discussion. However, focus is given to contemporary research on reforms within the Comparative Theory, as expressed in Translation in Language and Teaching (TILT), Contrastive Analysis and “The Third Space”. The results of the students’ reflections are presented as attempts to translate two different texts; one lyric and one technical vocational text. The results show a pragmatic attitude among the students toward tools like dictionaries or Google Translate, but also a critical awareness about their use and limits. They appear to prefer the use of first language to the target language when discussing the correct translation as they sought accuracy over meaning. Translation for them was a natural and problem-solving event worth a rightful place in language teaching.

A comparative study of approaches to audiovisual translation

For those who are not new to the world of Japanese animation, known mainly as anime, the debate of "dub vs. sub" is by no means anything out of the ordinary, but rather a very heated argument amongst fans. The study will focus on the differences in the US English version between the two approaches of translating audio-visual media, namely subtitling (official subtitles and fanmade subtitles) and dubbing, in a qualitative context. More precisely, which of the two approaches can store the most information from the same audiovisual segment, in order to satisfy the needs of the anime audience. In order to draw substantial conclusions, the analysis will be conducted on a corpus of 1 episode from the first season of the popular mid-nineties TV animated series, Sailor Moon. The main objective of this research is to analyze the three versions and compare the findings to what anime fans expect each of them to provide, in terms of how culture specific terms are handled, how accurate the translation is, localization, censorship, and omission. As for the fans’ opinions, the study will include a survey regarding the personal preference of fans when it comes to choosing between the official subtitled version, the fanmade subtitles and the dubbed version.

LA ANSIEDAD Y SU RELACIÓN CON LA EXPRESIÓN ORAL EN EL APRENDIZAJE DE LENGUAS EXTRANJERAS : Una elaboración de revisión sistemática de la literatura

La importancia de la dimensión afectiva que acompaña el proceso de adquisición de lenguas extranjeras es indiscutible. Sin embargo, a pesar de esta realidad, y de la evolución de los enfoques comunicativos como métodos de enseñanza de idiomas, la literatura continúa asegurando la existencia de aprensión lingüística en el aula y su efecto debilitador en el proceso de aprendizaje de una nueva lengua. Este estudio tiene como objetivo examinar cómo el aprendiz experimenta la variable de la ansiedad al expresarse oralmente y en qué medida el profesorado de lenguas extranjeras puede lograr crear condiciones en la clase que reduzcan los niveles de ansiedad. En este trabajo utilizamos la revisión sistemática de literatura como estrategia de investigación, un método que constituye una buena herramienta, permitiéndonos sintetizar coherentemente, de forma rigurosa, los resultados de los estudios empíricos sobre el fenómeno de la ansiedad. Los análisis revelan, en primer lugar, que los síntomas experimentados por aprendices de una nueva lengua suelen manifestarse en cada uno de los niveles que integran al individuo, en un nivel emocional, psicológico, fisiológico, de comportamiento y psicopedagógico; en segundo lugar, los investigadores plantean diversas estrategias a nivel psicológico, pedagógico y socio ambiental con el objetivo principal de incrementar en el aprendiz una serie de recursos personales para hacer frente a la ansiedad. Comentamos las implicancias pedagógicas de estos resultados para una mejor comprensión de la ansiedad y del aprendizaje de una lengua extranjera.