Tesis corregida 23:12:11
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Universidad VeracruzanaFacultad de Idiomas
Licenciatura en Lengua Inglesa
Área de Traducción
A Holistic Approach to Translator Training:
A Case Study based on a UV Workshop
Una monografía presentado porFrancisco González Ramírez
Para obtener por el título de Licenciado en Lengua Inglesa
Asesora de lengua y contenido:
M. A. Eileen Sullivan
Xalapa de Enríquez, Veracruz16 de junio de 2011
Formateado en estilo APA, 6ª edición.
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Table of Contents
Table of Contents ................................................................................................................. 2
Introduction .......................................................................................................................... 4
Theoretical Framework ........................ .......................... .......................... ....................... 11
Background on Translation Pedagogy ................................................................................. 11
The concept of Translator Competence ............................................................................... 12
PACTE Holistic Model for Translation Competences ........................................................ 12
Methodology........................................................................................................................ 17
Participants .................................................................................................................................. 18
Student informants. ........................................................................................................................................... 18
The instructor informant. ............................................................................................................................... 19
The researcher informant. ............................................................................................................................. 19
Materials ....................................................................................................................................... 20
Course materials. ................................................................................................................................................ 21
Instructor questionnaire/interview ......................................................................................................... 21
Analysis ......................................................................................................................................... 22
Data Analysis ......................... ........................... .......................... ............................ ............. 24
Introduction to the Analysis .................................................................................................... 24
Outstanding PACTE Competences.......................................................................................... 24
Correlations with PACTE Competences based on self-interview data and workshop
activities. .................................................................................................................................................... 26
1. Transfer Competence. ................................................................................................................................. 27
2. Strategic Competence. ................................................................................................................................. 27
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3. The Professional Subcompetences. ...................................................................................................... 31
4. Extra-linguistic Competence. ................................................................................................................... 33
6. Psychophysiological Competence ......................................................................................................... 38
Commentary ................................................................................................................................ 49
Conclusion ........................................................................................................................... 51
References ........................................................................................................................... 54
Appendix (a) Course Materials Table...................... .......................... ........................... 55
Appendix (b) The PACTE Model Chart ........................ .......................... ....................... 60
Appendix (c) Ned Herrmanns Whole Brian Model ....................... .......................... . 61
Extracted from: http://www.12manage.com/methods_herrmann_whole_brain.html
....................................................................................................................................................................... 61
Analyzing personal and organizational thinking preferences. Explanation of Whole
Brain Model of Herrmann. ('76) .......................................................................................................... 61
What is the Whole Brain Model? Description ...................................................................................... 61
Origin of the Whole Brain Model. History .............................................................................................. 62
Appendix (d) Instructors Self Interview ................... .......................... ....................... 63
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Introduction
Records indicate that translation has existed as means of massive communication since
the times of the Achaemenids when Darius immortalized in three different cuneiform script
languages his victory over the treacherous Gaumata in 522 BCE. Ever since then, translation has
played a fundamental role in the social and economical life of all cultures as it has bridged the
communication gap of many ±if not all± civilizations. As a consequence of the so-called
globalization and the boom of communication medias, the interest on this discipline has
dramatically increased in the past decades. The increment in the translating activity calls for a
large-scale translative competence; currently, there is a plethora of translation institutions around
the world offering undergraduate and postgraduate programs to train translators. However,
Sabaté-Carrové (1999:1) complains that the tools, methodologies, and training that trainees are
given in these programs have failed to prepare them adequately for their professional careers. In
her view, most translation training (TT) programs and methodologies have been designed on a
³hit and miss´ basis. She also complains about the lack of academic development of translation
pedagogy. Likewise, Hurtado Albir (2001:162) observes that the lack of curricular design and
development for the didactics of translation has encouraged some academics to mechanically
include, with essentially disregarding pedagogical considerations, works on linguistics or
traductology (e.g. Larson¶s, Newmarks or Vázquez-Ayora¶s manuals) in their programs. Both
authors agree that this gap in translation pedagogy has led some authors to attempt their own
theoretical frameworks on translator training models (Kaßmaul, Robinson, Baker, etc.), but that
these represent merely a small step in the direction of constituting translation pedagogy as a
discipline.
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Unlike the field of EFL, which has a well-developed pedagogy, translation has lacked a
similar disciplinary specialization. This was reflected in the design of many translator training
syllabi. P lan 90 at the Facultad de Idiomas de la Universidad Veracruzana (FIUV) may have been one
case where the resulting ³hit and miss´ basis, mentioned by Sabaté Carrové, also applied.
Unfortunately, there is currently no research project aimed at evaluating the degree of success
Plan 90 had in preparing active professional translators, therefore I am unable to ascertain if the
last statement is true. If so, then the training was probably less than optimal. I remember that
during a translation exercise, a professor²after hearing a frustrated fellow student ask why
translation had to be so difficult²told us: ³Translation is indeed very hard. That¶s why many
students don¶t dare translate when they leave here.´ I thought at the time that he meant that it
was the nature of translation to be virtually impossible, and that no one in my classroom would
ever measure up to the challenge. At any rate, I myself felt insufficiently prepared for life as a
professional translator.
Why did I feel so unprepared? Danielle Giles, quoting Jansen and Jakobson (2000:114),
gives one more or less obvious answer: ³Such skills [translation skills], like other cognitive
skills, are acquired and mature over a long period, generally far longer than the few months or
years that translation students spend in the classroom«´ (2004:1). Indeed, the BA¶s program
was holistic and thorough, since it included subjects ranging from culture, compared literature,
stylistics to machine translation, Spanish writing workshops, traductología and compared
grammar; however, my question, perhaps, can be further illuminated if we consider that there
was an absence of a broader approach to translation theory: the mainstay of our translation
theory subject (Traductología) came from Vázquez-Ayora¶s work Introducción a la
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T raductología. Curso básico de T raducción (1977), a compared stylistics approach to translation.
Vázquez-Ayora¶s work is indeed ample, dealing with translation matters such as discourse;
however his approach is mostly based in linguistics and even if it is supposedly based on context,
as Llácer-Llorca (QUOTE) observes, his examples rarely go beyond the sentence level. We also
spend a good deal of time in learning his version of the technical procedures conceived originally
by Vinay and Dalbernet (1958). Vázquez-Ayora aimed at making translation more scientific
through linguistic analysis (QUOTE Introduction), consequently he proposes in Chapters 1 (la
unidad de traducción) and 9 (el procedimiento gral. de la traducción) QUOTE the use of set
procedures that start from the analysis of the Source Language text to the rendering of the
translation equivalences²by choosing the adequate technical procedure as required. We learn to
use the technical procedures to analyze and provide translations using the technical procedures ±
a methodological error, according to Delisle (1988). I believe it would have been rather useful if
the translation theory course had helped us build our understanding of the translation process and
in encouraging us to develop our own method of translating instead of learning name tags
(translation procedures) of someone else¶s understanding of the translation process (Vázquez-
Ayora¶s, for example). In any case, the technical procedures seemed inoperative to me at the
moment of exegesis, as they relied on prescriptions that were hard to follow when facing real
texts²due to time issues mainly, and because such procedures are of very little assistance in
interpreting and re-expressing a given message or understanding discourse. The very word
³procedures´ (an established or official way of doing something, according to the Oxford
English dictionary) suggests that Vázquez-Ayora believed that translators could be provided with
some pre-established way of dealing with translation problems. In the following excerpt from
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T ranslation: An Interpretive Approach (1988), Delisle seems to support my contention that the
procedures are unhelpful in learning to translate:
The term ³procedure´ is misleading, because comparative stylistics does
not study the process by which equivalences are established [«] the
categories of comparative stylistics (and particularly the so-called
translation procedures) cannot really be applied to the analysis and re-
expression of messages, or even to the verification of equivalences [«]
Compared stylistics short-circuits the interpretive process of
translation
1
« Delisle (1988: 72, 73, 74)
Although I have never actually used these ³procedures´ in my brief life as a professional
translator, I have come to better appreciate some of Vázquez-Ayora teachings that have helped
me develop my translator expertise: I have used his ideas on el genio de la lengua and
anglicismos de frecuencia, which have assisted me in understanding the different stylistic
devices used in English and Spanish for expressing ideas in written language. I also consult his
book for matters of style when I grow suspicious about my own translations; I generally regard
Introducción a la T raductología as a good compendium of English-Spanish style issues.
Nonetheless, I still believe that the translation theory program should consider many
more translation theories ranging from linguistics to postcolonial studies in order to better
understand the translation phenomenon. Fortunately, the panorama has changed in the most
recent curriculum: it includes a Translation Studies subject separated from the Traductología
subject²which should, in my opinion, be re-christened to Compared Stylistics, a very useful
subject, indeed, in helping students explore communicative possibilities and get away from
literal translation, but with a far less misleading name.
1 My own underlining
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It seems to me that the inclusion of the compared stylistics technical procedures in Plan
90 lacked of a clear pedagogical purpose as these are meant for analyzing the final product, and
not for developing neither the understanding of the translation process, nor the interpretive or
transfer skills. As time has gone by, however, I have become more optimistic about the
possibility of learning useful heuristics for translating in the classroom. As I moved into the
second level workshop and left behind Vázquez-Ayora, I was exposed to a different approach²
one which encouraged me. For me, at least, this new focus helped me to understand what I had
studied before.
Of course, the three diverse translation workshops we took offered very interesting
aspects about translation and they all contributed (along with the other subjects in the
curriculum) to the development of my expertise in the long run. Nevertheless, the pedagogy of
the second workshop is what most interested me in writing this paper. While taking this
workshop, I noticed that my translations began to improve, and I started to feel more confident of
my interpretive skills; my skills for transferring messages from one language into the other also
became better. In a short time, the theory learnt in the previous courses began to make sense and
I started to be more aware of my cognitive processes at the moment of the interpreting the
assigned texts2. This may be the result of natural progression ²my translation skills are still
developing nowadays, like Giles notes in his text², however, I believe the second workshop
instructor¶s pedagogical practices contributed vastly in the developing those skills.
2 Compared stylistics procedures derive from cognitive processes similar to the ones Ireferred to in this paragraph. As I mentioned before, it is not so much that Vazquez Ayora analytic
categories are wrong, but that are of little help for novice translators. They are useful in tagging a
finished product, but they give no hint of the cognitive processes. I believe they best follow the
learning of the cognitive processes that ultimately enabled me to produce better translations.
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After having taken the previously mentioned workshop, I realized that the instructor¶s
approach to conducting the class had been multifarious: the activities were aimed at developing
reading, extra-linguistic, memory and cognitive skills. The latter realization encouraged me to
further research the topic of translation theory and translation pedagogy so as to understand the
methodological basis for the instructor¶s course. My initial research led me to the PAC TE
(Procés de Adquisiciò de la Competència T raductora i Avaluació) model for translation
competences. I found that the instructor¶s practices developed (or strived to, at least) several
translation competences to a certain extent. Therefore, my research question arose: how many
of the PACTE model¶s competences were dealt with in the course, and how did the instructor
tackled them with her teaching practices? I decided to carry out a post-facto descriptive case
study of the T aller de T raducción II, Grupo C workshop, in order to document, analyze and
categorize the instructor¶s teaching practices in light of the Translator Competences detected by
the PAC TE group (at the University of Barcelona, where they have carried out theoretical and
empirical research since 1998) and current translation pedagogy literature, and from my
particular point of view as a workshop participant.
Thus the objectives of this work are as follows:
y To find points of contact between the workshop instructors classroom activities and
practices and the competences they strive to develop utilizing the Translation
Competences model described by the PACTE.
y To describe the objectives, the activities and the underpinnings of the workshop
instructors teaching practices.
y To gain insights into the logic of the workshop instructors teaching practices.
This research project is divided as follows:
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The Theoretical Background contains a brief history of the current situation of
Translation Pedagogy, as well as an explanation of the concept of Translation Competence.
Afterwards, I provide a description of the PACTE¶s holistic model of Translation Competence. I
discovered that several concepts on Translator Training (henceforth TT) from D. Robinson, M.
Sabaté-Carrové, and others resonated with the instructor¶s own methodology. Though these TT
concepts are not dealt with in the Theoretical Framework, they will emerge throughout the
analysis in supporting many of the instructor¶s ideas and procedures.
The following section is a Methodology section where I explain how I obtained the data
to carry out this research, and how I utilized the theory described in the previous section. I also
provide a description of the participants and the materials, and explain how I carried out the
analysis.
The Analysis section describes in-depth the instructor¶s methodology for developing the
translation competences found in the PACTE model. (Interestingly, the instructor herself had
never even heard of the PACTE model.) Finally, I draw my conclusions about the instructor¶s
teaching model, and I comment on the interesting aspects that the research generated and which
can provide material for further research.
I believe it is of utmost importance to start creating TT models in our academic context. I
hope the results from this research nourish the discussion on TP, and that a translator training
model adapted to the present needs of the FIUV will be developed and put in place eventually.
Finally, it is my hope that future students will find this paper inspiring and start their own
research projects on TP.
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Theoretical Framework
In writing this conceptual framework for my T rabajo Recepcional , my concern will be to
provide a Translator Competence model as a guide to identify the competences which were
developed in the case under study. I will also describe how the development of such
competences was achieved. To that end, I will also document relevant ideas for this research
from Douglas Robinson¶s manual Becoming a T ranslator (1997), Jean Delisle¶s T ranslation: An
Interpretive Approach (1988) and Mariona Sabaté Carrové¶s doctoral thesis T owards a T heory of
T
ranslation Pedagogy (1999), seeking a better understanding of how the competences
developed. I also included a brief history of TP to help the reader understand where we are
currently regarding TP.
Background on Translation Pedagogy
Translation has been traditionally regarded as an activity that is learned mostly through
empirical experience; under this assumption, translation theoreticians paid little attention to
translation training and to translation pedagogy until the late eighties. It was not until the 1990¶s
that TP was more or less consolidated as an independent discipline. The closest that the
translation theorists came to focusing on TT was the proposal of training manuals based on
structural linguistics and, according to García Yebra (1987: 22), methodological guides based on
lexicology and semantics. According to Robinson (1997:162,163), the central concern for
translation theorists (even as far back as Cicero) has been only the issue of equivalence, thus
making TT at best a secondary consideration. It was not until 1988 that Holmes identified TT as
an applied discipline, including it in his map of Translation Studies where it was shown as part of
the ³applied§ activities as opposed to the ¦pure§ study of translation. Ever since then, the number of
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academics concerned with TT and the translator as a learner has continued to increase. Many
academics involved in TT have generated new knowledge about specific training techniques,
among them Kaußmaul (1989), Hurtado-Albir (1996 to the present), Robinson (1997), Mariona
Sabaté Carrové (1999). Nevertheless, TP is yet to be consolidated as an independent discipline in
its own right as the discussion is still in an early stage.
The concept of Translator Competence
A fundamental advance in the creation of TP was the concept of translator competences.
These competences are a set of skills that student translators should learn or empirical translators
develop at some point of their careers. The term, based on the concept of ³linguistic
competence´ coined by Noam Chomsky in 1962, came into use 1980¶s. The understanding of
translation competence is very important as it can serve as a basis for the creation of course
syllabi. The term ³translation competence´ , as I have explained, started to appear in translation
theory literature around 1986 although initially many authors used the term without explicitly
defining it (Hurtado Albir. 2001: 382). However, as TT has grown and found its place within the
discipline, scholars, such as Hewson and Martin (1991), Kiraly (1995), Hurtado Albir (1996) or
Neubert (2000) among others, have continued to generate models and functional descriptions for
TC.
PACTE Holistic Model for Translation Competences
The PACTE Group (Process of Acquisition of Translation Competence and Evaluation)
has been carrying out holistic, empirical-experimental research concerning translation
competence and its acquisition in written translation since 1998. In their research at the
Autonomous University of Barcelona, they have considered both the translation process and the
translation product. They have examined, in turn, both inverse and direct translations in six
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language combinations: English, French and German-Spanish and Catalan. The participants in
this group include Amparo Hurtado-Albir (who has been mentioned previously) as group leader,
as well as participants of other national backgrounds, including Allison Beeby, Mónica
Fernández, Olivia Fox, Anna Kuznik, Wilhelm Neunzig, Patricia Rodríguez, Lupe Romero, and
Stefanie Wimmer. This group of researchers has generated a holistic model which is described
in Hurtado Albir¶s book T raducción y T raductología: Introducción a la T raductología (2001: 393, 398).
There are many translator competence models: the PACTE project, the PETRA project at
the University of Granada, the TransComp at the University of Graz and the CTP project at the
Zurich University, to name a few. I have chosen to use the PACTE model¶s categories for
explaining the teaching practices in the workshop under study since it was the only available
model I had at hand at the time I wrote this paper. The PACTE model integrates research from
previous authors such as Hatim and Mason, Kiraly, Hansen, Neubert, and Orozco. In regard to
her motivation for organizing the PACTE research, Hurtado-Albir begins by debunking the
pedagogical nature of much material (manuals, etc.) purportedly addressing pedagogical
concerns:
E l vacío pedagogico existente en didáctica de la traducción ha dado pie a
que, en los últimos años, se incluyan de manera directa y mecánica, sin
pasar por una aplicación pedagógica, investigaciones desarrolladas en el
ámbito de la Lingüística o de la T raductología [...] Aunque algunos de
estos trabajos (cfr. por ejemplo, Robinson, 1997d) reflejan una mayor
preocupación práctica y metodológica, en realidad se trata más bien de
libros sobre aspectos teóricos de la traducción que sobre su enseñanza;
lo que hacen es plantear el conocimiento de la reflexión teórica como un
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medio de aprendizaje de la práctica, produciéndose así una confusión
entre teoría de la traducción y didáctica de la traducción.´
Hurtado-Albir (2001: 164).
According to the research carried out by the PACTE group, TC is the ability to carry out
the transfer process from the comprehension of the source text to the re-expression of the target
text, taking into account the purpose of the translation and the characteristics of the target-text
readers (Hurtado-Albir 2001:385). TC is also defined as the underlying system of knowledge,
skills, abilities, and attitudes necessary for translating. This model makes a clear distinction
between competence (the underlying system) and performance (translating in itself), and it is
developed on the basis of the following theoretical assumptions [adapted from Hurtado-Albir
(2001)]:
1) translative competence is different from bilingual competence
2) translative competence has constative and operative components (subcompetences)
which:
(a) are of diverse nature (e.g. linguistic, extra-linguistic, instrumental,
professional)
(b) work at different levels (e.g. knowledge, skills, epistemological knowledge,
operative)
4) strategies interact within these components.
5) translative competence comprehends a group of subcompetences that interact through
a gamma of hierarchies, variations, and relations.
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As explained above, TC is divided into different subcompetences that interact with each
other (See Appendix (b) for the chart). The competences, which are integrated to form
³Translator Competence´ include: 1. Linguistic Competence for the two languages ( bilingual
competence), 2. Extra-linguistic Competence, 3. Transfer Competence, 4. Professional and
Instrumental Competence ,5. Psychophysiological Competence and6. Strategic Competence. A
detailed explanation of each of these follows.
Linguistic Competence or Bilingual Competence consists of the capacity for
understanding the source language (SL) and for producing texts in the target language (TL). It
comprises the following skills: grammar competence, textual competence (knowledge and
mastery of the different text, or discourse genres), illocutionary competence (mastery of
language functions), and sociolinguistic competence (related to the comprehension and
production within contexts presenting differing dialects, registers and jargons).
E xtra-linguistic Competence is the implicit and explicit knowledge of the world and of
particular subjects. This competence is composed of knowledge about translation, bi-cultural
knowledge, encyclopedic knowledge (world knowledge), and subject knowledge (on specific
topics).
T ransfer Competence consists of the capacity to understand and carry out the translation
process beginning with the reading of the SL text and ending with the final draft. In other words,
the competent translator must be able to understand the SL text and to know how to express its
features in the TL, keeping in mind the over-arching goal of the translation and the
sociolinguistic features of the beneficiaries (clients, readers ) of the text. This is the central
competence that integrates the other competences.
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Professional and Instrumental Competence refers to the knowledge and abilities related
to the professional practice of translation. It comprises a wide range of knowledge: knowledge of
where and how to find documentation and sources of all kinds; knowledge of how to use new
technologies, and where to obtain them; knowledge of the job market and of the behavior of a
professional translator.
Psychophysiological Competence consists of the ability to apply the attitudinal, cognitive,
and psychomotor mechanisms to carry out the translation process. It incorporates the cognitive
capacities of attention and memory; psychological attitudes, such as intellectual curiosity;
perseverance, critical spirit, the recognition of one¶s abilities and trust in one¶s capacities; rigor
and so forth; the capability for developing creative processes, logical thinking, etc.
Strategic Competence is made up of all the individual processes (internal or external,
conscious or unconscious) that the translator employs for solving problems arising during the
translation process. There are several existing strategies for different purposes, for example:
strategies for compensating for a lack of understanding of a text (separating main ideas from
secondary ideas, looking up for information, establishing conceptual relationships, etc.); for
reformulating ideas (paraphrase, retranslate, reformulate ideas aloud, etc.) for documenting
(knowing how to choose information, organize the order of consults, etc.). Developing this
competence is essential because it gives translators ways to detect, solve and²when a problem
arises²make decisions.
It is of utmost importance for the consolidation of translation pedagogy to carry out
extensive empirical studies measuring the success of the strategies and processes for acquiring
the TC. The work that has been carried on by the PACTE group during the past eight years is,
however, still in process; for that reason, they do not present their results as conclusive.
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Methodology
The focus of this T rabajo Recepcional (TR), a case study, is the instructor¶s pedagogy
for conducting a single 9th semester Translation Workshop II in which I participated as student
at the FIUV in 2007. The workshop was given in the morning to a group of 27 students, 14 men
and 13 women of widely varying interests and abilities. All students attended eight hours a week
during the fall semester. At the time I actually took the course and began my TR research, I
lacked the background which would have suggested the use of diary writing and observation
schedules to describe the workshop activities. By the time I had defined my topic my
methodological choices were limited.
Therefore, in order to describe qualitatively the translation pedagogy approach employed
in the Workshop under study, I initially conceived the use of multiple perspectives. For the sake
of greater objectivity, they were distributed in the following way: (1) post facto documental
research supplemented by (2) semi-structured instructor questionnaire (3) my own emic (insider).
This case study may perhaps be best described as a descriptive case study. Yinn (cited in
Baxter 2008) notes that this type of case study is used to describe a phenomenon (the pedagogy
behind the workshop) and the real-life context in which it occurred (the Translation Area of the
FIUV). My role in this type of research is to describe the instructor¶s pedagogy as witness of her
teaching practices. Any criticism to her practices is beyond the scope of this capstone paper (an
explanatory case study would be needed instead) due to the nature of descriptive case studies. On
the other hand, I was unable to conceive any device for evaluating the success of her teaching
practices objectively in this research. Consequently, I have limited myself to only describing her
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teaching practices, and to measure their degree of contact with the competences identified by
PACTE.
As I have previously mentioned, this course was of special interest to me because the
methodology for conducting it was interesting in itself and because I found it significant for my
development as translator.
The present analysis of the TP employed in Translation Workshop II was carried out
using the literature presented in Chapter I to the end of identifying what Translator Competences
from the PACTE model were present in the instructor¶s teaching model, as well as in the course
materials. The major actors in this piece of qualitative research are described below.
Participants
Student informants.
This research project originally intended to have several key informants to provide the
information about the Workshop under study. However, owing to the fact that many former
students have moved away or have moved on to other interests, they were either very hard to
contact and, on the surface at least, seemed to have little recollection of the Workshop. Time also
influenced the decision which ultimately excluded key informants. It soon became clear that it
would take more time than I had at my disposition to gather all the relevant data from them, and
in the meanwhile the material I had in hand was more abundant than expected.
Consequently, the information analyzed was drawn from the workshop materials
themselves, from the self-interview with the instructor, M.A. Eileen Sullivan (henceforth ³the
instructor informant´ or simply ³the instructor´), and from the recollections of the researcher
himself, i.e. emic.
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The instructor informant.
The instructor informant is a professor at the F acultad de Idiomas de la Universidad
Veracruzana (FIUV) with 30 years of experience in teaching translation. She is very
knowledgeable in many disciplines such as rhetoric, discourse analysis, translation, as well as
EFL teaching (English as Foreign Language), and psychotherapy. She has been a translator for
about 35 years and taught that subject for almost as long; nonetheless, her TP knowledge is
mostly empirical.
The researcher informant.
The researcher informant has completed translation studies in the BA in the English
Language Program at the Universidad Veracruzana. I am also in the process of certifying my
mastery of French and Italian, and am self-taught in Romanian. My pedagogical concepts have
been nourished by experiences in martial arts, theater and teaching at an experimental language
institute: as a teacher of martial arts, I applied ideas drawn from (a) traditional instructor
apprenticeship which emphasizes the instructor-student relationship as well as non-verbal
transmission of knowledge, (b) formal instruction, including a sports methodology diplomate,
and three seminars with Richard Amos Sensei. I consider these experiences relevant since the
instructor employed non-verbal techniques in the Workshop, and regarded the body as a source
of information, and translation as a sort of performance. This performance, I reasoned, might be
similar to martial arts performance and be related to verbalization and muscle memory in martial
arts. My theatre training consisting of working with Yaco Guigui, an actor-director of long
experience who used ludic techniques focused on de-inhibiting the student actors. His constant
question was: How do you synthesize these words into action? (This was a sort of translation, I
thought.) Often, more than explaining, this instructor²like martial arts instructors²preferred
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modeling to explaining. Other exercises proceeded on the understanding that meanings encoded
in the body could be perceived and translated into words. At the experimental multidisciplinary
institute (Laboratorio Sperimentale Multiculturale) I learned a very different type of pedagogy:
first, in an Italian course, I was taught comparatively in an approach that assumed it was better to
work from the students¶ current state of knowledge, and therefore proceeded analogically and
deductively from the student¶s language. (Perhaps the method merits the name ³constructivist.´)
The generative transformational grammar of Chomsky was translated into a pedagogical model
in which a limited number of universals were identified and then dealt with across language
boundaries. This approach was a simplified version of some of the concerns of Vazquez-Ayora,
but with more pedagogical considerations. I later re-interpreted the approach and applied it to
French language teaching at the same institute. Later on, I utilized the same approach for
teaching myself Romanian, Portuguese, German and Farsi; unfortunately, I have only partially
adapted it to these languages, as I have had very little time for doing so.
Materials
The documents to be examined included a detailed post-facto account of the materials
employed in the Workshop. In each case, objectives, procedures and instructor perceptions of
outcomes are specified and available for analysis. The emic participant did not write a separate
document, as did the instructor, but rather reflected on his personal reaction to different
materials, techniques and so on. Other documents consisted of the actual materials used in the
course. No official course syllabus was included since the purpose of the research was not
comparative but aimed at exploring those aspects which were intrinsically interesting and
comparing them with the PACTE model. The instructor questionnaire was to provide
information on the teaching model supporting the workshop¶s methodology.
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Course materials.
The course materials were gathered from the original photocopies from the workshop
kindly provided by a former student in the same workshop. The material was originally
presented in chronological order in a table containing the description, the rationale and activities
for each material as provided by the instructor. I subsequently organized it into five categories
according to the material type: Theory, Structured Translation Exercises, Reading and
Translation Texts, Evaluation, Syllabi. The workshop materials, which appear in the table, are
both abundant and extensive. (The ³fit´ between the material and the time frame of the workshop
was evident in the fact that most students had to make a real effort to keep up.) A few documents
may have been lost. The research was carried out on those documents which could be
recuperated. [The table itself can be found at Appendix (a)]
Instructor questionnaire/interview
The application of the instructor questionnaire was carried out in an atypical manner; one
shaped partly by instructor preferences and time restrictions and partly by the researcher¶s need
to know. Before the decision to use a self-interview was made, I consulted an experienced
qualitative researcher who said that it was one alternative; another would be for the instructor to
simply write an essay. Both would acceptable in terms of reliability. The instructor was reluctant
to have an unedited recorded interview published claiming that such impromptu exchanges end
up sounding ³demented.´ On the other hand, she reasoned that if her workshop had been
somehow unique, then perhaps the questions that she had asked herself in the process of
developing the workshop would also have been unique. So, at least initially, the interview was
³open´ in order to allow her the greatest possible degree of self-expression. (Later, the self-
proposed questionnaire was augmented with further questions from the emic researcher, as
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explained below.) She felt comfortable with responding to questions in front of a screen: She
remarked that when student researchers approach her, she typically responds to their
questionnaires by e-mail ³in order to do them justice.´ Clearly, this course of action precluded
sophisticated techniques of analysis3
which take into account interviewee reactions to questions
(e.g. fidgiting, hesitation, eye movement, change of tone of voice) and the subjective reactions of
the interviewer co-occurring with each response. [The interview can be found at Appendix (d)]
In addition to increasing the instructor¶s comfort, considerable time was saved with the
self-interview conducted in front of a computer. Further information was gathered in a later
face-to-face interview during which researcher questions about the text were clarified and new
questions added. First layer additions and clarifications subsequent to the initial interview appear
in italics; third layer additions appear in footnotes. The instructor¶s questionnaire will be referred
to as the Self-Interview henceforth. [See separately bound Appendix (d).]
Analysis
The analysis of the data involved color-coding each of the Translator Competences from
the PACTE model. The next step was to look for coincidences of the color-coded competences in
the discourse of the Instructor¶s Questionnaire, and in the description and rationale of the course
materials. After that, the number of coincidences were counted so as to determine the strongest
competences from the Course Materials, and the model in the Instructor Self-interview; the
weakest competences were considered in the analysis, but it foregrounded the strongest
competences: the Bilingual Competence, and the Extra-linguistic Competence.
3 The inclusion of body language and interviewer reaction in a three-column scheme was
referred to me by Prof. Sullivan. She observed this type of research at the UNAM Center for
University Studies on a visit with Dr. Leslie R. Bloom.
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The final step involved analyzing how the instructor dealt with the weakest and the
strongest competences, and describing the process. Theoretical references to Robinson, Sabaté-
Carrové, and others are made throughout the analysis. As there was no time to include former
students in this study, determining the actual extent to which the competences developed
qualitatively in the students is unknown to the researcher. Therefore, many qualitative factors
such as student attention, student opinion regarding the activities or student presence in the
classroom were not analyzed.
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Data Analysis
Introduction to the Analysis
The analysis involved using data from the Material table and the Self-Interview to
determine the extent to which PACTE competences were developed in the workshop.
Subsequently, in order to better understand the characteristics of the instructor¶s teaching model
(for conducting her translation workshops) a theoretical explanation was provided. There were
some instances where there was no translation theory available for explaining some of the
instructor¶s strategies.
O
utstanding PACTE CompetencesThe first step taken in the analysis of the data drawn from the material table and the self-
interview involved deciding which PACTE competences were actually fully developed in the
workshop, which were partially developed²albeit in an idiosyncratic way²and which were
sufficiently underrepresented to be excluded from this analysis. The competences are listed in
order beginning with those of least interest for this study and ending with those of greatest
interest for this study. (A full description of the competences can be found in the Theoretical
Framework chapter from page 6 to 10)
1. T ransference Competence. The transference competence was completely excluded from
this study because it involved the entire translation cycle. The stage of development of
the students in this particular workshop seemingly precluded the full development of this
competence. Still, the rest of the competences nourish this competence, i.e. if the rest of
the competences are well developed, so is transfer competence. We thought at first that
the students¶ final results would give a clue to the development of this competence, but it
was felt that the normal classroom grading procedures included too many points
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involving factors extraneous to the actual development in student expertise. (That is to
say, points for attendance, participation regardless of quality, homework assignments,
etc.) Examinations were given, but they were progress tests, not achievement tests.
Consequently, no reliable instrument to measure achievement was used. Therefore,
grades seemed unlikely to reflect the development of the transfer competence.
2. Strategic Competence. The strategies constituting this competence were, in general, not
dealt with in-depth in this workshop, with the possible exception of strategies for
compensating lack of student understanding of texts and reformulation of ideas.
3. Instrumental-Professional Competences. The instrumental subcompetence was not dealt
with in the course because no types of software or CAT tools (Computer Assisted
Translation) were included for instructional purposes. The professional competence, on
the other hand, was developed to an important degree through the use of anecdotes about
the behavior of professional translators, for example (refer to page 29 for more
information on this competence).
4. E xtra-linguistic Competences. Only one exclusion was made in this category: knowledge
about translation. The information concerning this subcompetence turned out to be very
similar to the behavior of the professional translator described in the Instrumental-
Professional Competence. Thus, the analysis is centered on real world knowledge
(encyclopedic knowledge), knowledge about translation itself, bi-cultural knowledge and
thematic knowledge (knowledge related to topics being translated).
5. Bi-lingualCompetences. In the case of the linguistic competence, two subcompetences
were excluded: the grammar subcompetence, and the handling of the illocutionary aspect.
No activities were directed to specifically improving students¶ handling of grammar. The
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generally recognized lack of advanced language skills among upper level students at
FIUV, mentioned by the instructor in the Self-Interview (p. 8, l. 14), may have prevented
a thorough development of this competence. Of greater interest for this research were the
handling of the sociolinguistic aspect and the knowledge of different text genres.
6. Psychophysical competences. Most of the subcompetences named in the PACTE for the
psychophysical competence were dealt with in the workshop. It appeared, in general, that
the emphasis of the workshop was tipped toward attitudinal aspects of the translation
process such as rigor, recognition of one¶s abilities and trust in one¶s capacities, cognitive
capacities of memory and attention. Creativity at first appeared to be developed to a
lesser extent, although later I came to question this perception. Neither the instructor
participant nor the researcher were able to connect the ideas from the self-interview or the
class activities to the development of logical thinking in the case under study; therefore,
this last ³attitude´ was excluded from this study.
Correlations with PACTE Competences based on self-interview data and workshop
activities.
The competences below retain the same numeration as above, reflecting their prevalence
and relative interest for this piece of intrinsic research. As mentioned previously in the list above,
the extent of development of the competences differed; the first three competences in the above
enumeration were developed only marginally whereas the last three were broadly developed.
Consequently, the study is centered in the Psychophysical Competence and the Linguistic
Competence. Nonetheless, the less prevalent competences have been commented as well.
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1. Transfer Competence.
Even though I realized that this was very important competence, the Transfer
Competence was completely excluded from this study, as previously stated. It is mainly an
internal process and I found no instrument to adequately measure it.
Despite the fact that most of the activities in the workshop were somehow aimed at
developing it, the Transfer Competence cannot be taught per se, since the translation process is
mostly an internal one. Hurtado-Albir (2001:311) comments on the difficulty of studying any
cognitive process, especially the translation process which happens at different stages and
includes different types of knowledge and numerous skills. It should be taken into account that
the Transfer Competence is supported by the other competences (text competences, extra-
linguistic competences, strategies, etc.); hence, a thorough development of the rest of the
competences should give a solid foundation in the Transfer Competence. Another reason for its
exclusion is the difficulty of determining the extent to which this competence was developed in
this workshop, as the PACTE is not very clear in delimiting its specific working parts.
2. Strategic Competence.
The Strategic Competence comprises all the processes that translators employ to solve
any problem that arises. The strategies developed in the workshop were: (a) strategies for
compensating for a lack of understanding of a text, and (b) the reformulation of ideas. Of the
broad range of strategic competences suggested by Hurtado Albir (see p. 13), we selected only
two for in-depth study.
(a) Strategies for compensating lack of understanding.
The instructor addressed issues such as lack of understanding of a text in an indirect
holistic way. The instructor believes that lack of good reading skills was the main cause
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preventing students from understanding any text (Self-Interview, page 8, lines 4-7). This
problem was dealt with, according to the self-interview, by having students read more than they
actually translated so as to give them an amplified context to support their translation [on certain
topic] (page 8, lines 15-18). The course material table reported 14 text readings out of 20 items;
in contrast, the total of translation exercises sums up to 13 including vocabulary exercises and
the subtitling of the Crop Circles video. In spite of the instructor¶s insistence on the usefulness of
thematic repetition, she did, in fact, only one repeat in single topic in printed texts (Item 9, the
³Viceroy Time Drinking´ article, and the alternative text on pulque.) However, she also repeated
topics in the ³oral texts´ she produced at the whiteboard on support of students¶ reading.
Unfortunately, it proved impossible to recuperate all the white boar talks for matching with
printed texts.
Delisle puts forward a similar idea for didactic purposes of translation. He believes that
student translators should read some texts before translating. Afterwards they can discuss the
recreation of the text; the text is the true unit of translation (cited in LLácer-Llorca, 2004: 76).
In the self-interview, the instructor mentions an additional strategy that aids students to
better understand a source text: comparing the source text with a discourse model (page 7, lines
18-21). In the Self-Interview the instructor provided two teaching anecdotes related to translating
without the benefit of target language (henceforth, TL) discourse models (page 10, lines 31-45).
The instructor believes that the students have, in fact, already internalized certain discourse
models. They are, however, unable to use this knowledge because they lack confidence in their
own judgement. Consequently, they rely on dictionary searches to a great extent, and forget to
check what they are saying against a discourse model (Self-Interview, p. 7, l. 19). In her own
study, Sabaté-Carrové found that students were unaware of this problem: ³Excessive dependence
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on bilingual dictionaries is one of the problems that students tested in this study were not aware
of. Dictionary translations prevailed over context-bound information´ (1999:45).
The instructor tackled the problem of sentence-bound student translation by providing
parallel text models to be emulated (regarding style, discourse, etc.) The self-interview and the
course material table reported some examples of modeling: (a) the instructor¶s own translations
(page 15, lines 43 & 44; Items 5, 6, 15& 7, Course Materials), (b) two anecdotes (page 10, lines
35-49; pages 15 & 16, lines 53-59 & 1-4) (c) and several class activities (Items 13 & 14, Course
Materials). In my own experience, the result of this approach is that students have a better idea of
what kind of register, for example, the target text should contain; thus, they produce a more
natural translation.
Another example of a modeling strategy happened in a different group (I walked into the
instructor¶s classroom that day). Students were translating the instructions for a window-washing
squeegee. They were producing very unnatural translations, so the professor asked them to
remember the language used in TV commercials and to re-translate the text with that language in
mind. She asked them to perform the translations as if they were recording a TV commercial. I
did not see the rest of the class, but the instructor told me that students produced more natural
translations because they were able to evoke the discourse they had learnt from TV commercials.
(b) Reformulating ideas.
The PACTE mentions the following strategies connected with the reformulation of ideas:
(a) paraphrase, (b) retranslate, and (c) reformulate ideas aloud. This is a partial list, notes
Hurtado-Albir, as more strategies for reformulating ideas can be listed. Due to the fact that the
instructor¶s emphasis tipped toward other aspects of translation (such attitudinal aspects), this
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competence was developed without discrete-point reference during class exercises or in-class
translation evaluations.
Although the PACTE reformulation strategies were not tackled head-on in the workshop
they were practiced indirectly. The Course Materials reported activities for Item 2 which covered
strategies (a) and (b) through by asking the students to summarize and do back translation back
translation and inverse translation. Likewise, I recall that Items 8, 10, and 12 involved students
sharing their solutions in front of the class, which required a good deal of reformulating ideas
aloud (c). Again there was no discrete-point analysis, in the sense that the instructor¶s reiterated
criterion was ³making it sound like Spanish´ instead of focusing on pre-established ³procedures´
(such as Vazquez-Ayora¶s) to solve arising problems. Students were required to paraphrase
constantly in order to produce a more ³natural´ translation. They were invited to add to their
classmates proposals by brainstorming. Some alternatives were obviously wrong, but in other
cases the collocations were not so easy to judge. ³Have you read that somewhere? Who said
that? Did you consider another word before you gave us that one? Did you look that one up
when you did your homework? Where?´ Basically, she was asking the same kind of questions
required by Gile in his IPDR (Integrated Problem and Decision Reporting).
On the other hand, I also believe that (c) also helped us train what Gregory Rabassa calls
the translator¶s ear, which is able to notice when a text sound alien in the TL that way. Rabassa
believes that ³the translator must have a good ear for what his author is saying and he must have
a good ear for what he is saying himself´ (cited in Llácer-Llorca, 2004:81). Regarding
Rabassa¶s idea, Llácer-Llorca (2004:56) comments that indeed the best translations sound fluent
as if they were written in the original language. Llácer-Llorca¶s commentary may be related to
the concern of making a translated text more readable. Giles (2004) claims that students trained
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to translate on the basis of language equivalence often have the problem of producing unnatural
sounding texts. While this statement may seem trivial, he says, many professors even in TT
programs tend to ignore the readability norm and give preference to formal ³fidelity´ over
naturalness of the target text.
The foregoing suggests that the instructor paid little attention to already prescribed
strategies for reformulating ideas (i.e. ³technical procedures´), rather she encouraged students¶ to
find their own ways of solving translation problems. The precept of ³making it sound like
Spanish´ shows that the instructor was more concerned about students being able to produce
more readable translations than strict equivalences.
3. The Professional Subcompetences.
Competence 3 in the PACTE includes the Instrumental Competence, an aspect which²
on this occasion at least²was not developed in the Workshop. Owing to its exclusion, the
heading of the section is "Professional Subcompetence" only. The PACTE includes in the
professional subcompetences (a) knowledge of the job market and the (b) behavior of the
professional translator in connection with the professional subcompetence. Since the PACTE
offers no further description regarding any of their characteristics, these two subcompetences can
be interpreted in several ways.
(a) Knowledge of the job market
The only strategy employed during the workshop was the use of advice from the
instructor¶s own professional experience and that of other translation professionals. The self-
interview reported that, in order to compete professionally, translators should develop their (1)
inverse-translation skills (self-interview, page 13, line 47 & 48), which is often required in the
real world and excluded from the curriculum at the FIUV; (2) their ability to read longhand, as
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many English speakers still use it (self-interview, page 14, line 1 & 2) and because it occurs in
older materials; (3) the ability to read in front of a camera and to record audio-scripts (a radio
script was translated and adapted in this particular workshop, and one of the students went to the
Radio UV and saw how another material we had worked with in back translation was actually
recorded (p. 14, l. 4 to 9.) Finally, the ability to keyboard at least 60 wpm was recommended
(self-interview, page 14, lines 53-55). Robinson (1997:37) also comments that typing fast is an
important factor in increasing translation speed (a crucial issue in the modern capitalist world).
(b) The behavior of the professional translator
Regarding the behavior of the professional translator the instructor seemed mainly
concerned to debunk some of the myths, surrounding translator behavior and, in my opinion,
derived from older translation theory. The course materials table reported the following three
strategies for transmitting translator behavior. (1) To reflect on the nature of her editions on a
target text, contrasting it with the source text (item 15, course materials). (2) The teaching
anecdotes about ³the fidelity myth´ exploiting Robinson¶s notion that translation is ³what the
client wants´ (items 1, and 15, course material).
The foregoing demonstrates that the instructor was very concerned about the translator¶s
adaptability to any text ³in the French sense´ task. She was also concerned with the ethics of
translation, for example: she told students at the beginning of the workshop under study, the
anecdote about the interpreter who made up a welcome speech without knowing the language to
save face of the delegate who was not informed about the official languages (present in the Self-
Interview, p. 1, l. 34.) The point of the story is that translation or interpretation ethics involve
matters beyond the ³right equivalence´ depending on the real-life context: the instructor believes
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that the interpreter¶s behavior was indeed ethical because face saving was more important than
the right equivalence.
Douglas Robinson points that the definition of translation ethics has been traditionally
very narrowly defined: ³it is unethical to distort the meaning of the source text´ (1997: 30). As
proved in the previously cited anecdote, this definition is inoperative in the everyday life of the
translator. ³There are cases when the translator is explicitly asked to µdistort¶ the meaning of the
source text in specific ways, as when adapting a text for television, a children¶s book, or an
advertising campaign (ibid ). It seems that in professional translation the issue of equivalence can
be often changed for ³what the client wants´ (or needs).
4. Extra-linguistic Competence.
The extra-linguistic competence was intensively developed, in quantitative terms at least,
in the case under study. No exclusions whatsoever were made in this category. The class
materials contained knowledge from specific topics, to bi-cultural and world knowledge. The
instructor also utilized the same materials to develop cultural knowledge; therefore, I merged (a)
real world knowledge (encyclopedic knowledge), bi-cultural knowledge, and thematic
knowledge into the same category. Knowledge about translation itself involved the same
findings as in the Knowledge of the Job Market from the Professional Competences, hence its
exclusion.
(a) Real world knowledge, thematic knowledge, and bi-cultural knowledge
The reason why the instructor paid little attention to subtitling and translation software is
because she believes that students are usually good at handling technology themselves (Self-
Interview, p. 14, l. 36). Their problem lies elsewhere. Language and culture generally represent
more of a challenge to students, in her view. The instructor tried to improve students¶ culture by
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giving them several texts related to history, anthropology or socio-politics. Two of the teaching
anecdotes provided cultural information from her own experience as a learner of Spanish as a
second language.
Examples of the material types mentioned in the foregoing paragraph include Susan
Sontag¶s text ³On Being Translated´ (Item 1, Course Materials), which is contextualized during
the Sarajevo siege of the middle of the 90¶s. The activities involved studying a map of the
Balkans and comparing a few phrases from the Serbo-Croatian languages. The instructor also
complemented this text with a questionnaire on vocabulary and contents. The pulque texts (Item
9), and the ³Saints in Mexico´ (Item 13) also contained Mexican history and cultural information
about Mexican traditions. Item 13 involved a description of how a radio recording is performed.
The ³African Marriage Rituals´ (Item 7) text contained information on the Karo people¶s
marriage traditions, and the ³ Don¶t Let¶s Go to the Dogs T onight´ (Item 10) contained
information on the social situation of children in three different African countries.
As mentioned previously, two anecdotes contained bi-cultural information. The
instructor, being a native speaker of English, was able to offer this kind of information. The
³Bless you´ story and the ³Why not teacher?´ story describe two situations where cultural
differences create a degree of discomfort in the protagonists. It is probable that more information
of this type arose during the ³whiteboard talks´ or the class activities. Nevertheless, the
researcher is unable to clearly remember (and there are no documents).
5. Linguistic competences.
The three PACTE subcompetences of greatest interest are: (a) textual competence
(knowledge and mastery of the different text, or discourse genres) (b) and the sociolinguistic
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competence (related to the comprehension and production within contexts presenting differing
dialects, registers and jargons). The sociolinguistic aspects sometimes arose in relation to a text
(reflected in the material table) or formed part of whiteboard lectures typically presented at the
beginning of the class. (Self-Interview, p. 7, l. 39)
(a) Textual subcompetence.
One of the problems the instructor has detected in FIUV undergraduates is that they are
held back by a lack reading skills (Self-Interview p. 8, l. 6) partially due to their undeveloped
language abilities. Delisle (1988:85) observes that university students should be well versed in
grammar, but the reality is that they enter TT programs with undeveloped language skills.
Delisle, however, believes that a translation course should not be the place for systematical
language instruction. This view differs from that of the instructor, who pointed out that
translation programs should always strive to improve students¶ language ability. Furthermore,
she believes that language is acquired while trying to learn something else (Self-Interview p. 8
lines 13 & 47.)
Perhaps one of the reasons why B.A. students are many times unable to identify or re-
express discourse types, which vary from one assignment to another ±much less those varying
within a text itself²is due to their undeveloped language skills. Students are frustrated upon
confronting the whole text, which they generally fail to understand because they are little
experienced in reading in general, and also because they lack the linguistic and real-world
knowledge that would help them through (Self-Interview p. 8, l. 6) Students then retreat to the
sentence level and spend excessive time on word-searches (Self-Interview p. 7, l. 19). In my
personal experience of workshops, it has seemed to me that the text never quite recovers its
³wholeness.´ The instructor addressed this discoursal issue by asking students to read texts
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belonging to different diverse genres and written in different registers (see Course Materials
table for detailed information). The instructor complemented this strategy by delaying contact
with the written word, first providing extended information in the format of whiteboard talks
(Item 17, Course Materials). Subsequently, she created a glossary for the printed text later to be
translated by the group to undercut student tendency to solve any problem with a dictionary,
leaving them little time and energy to deal with the discoursal level. By giving this support, her
intention was to undercut students¶ usual sentence-level, word-search strategy, obliging them to
move on to the discourse level.
Another way of assisting students (and modeling how to translate a text attending to the
discursive level) consisted of the instructor¶s sight translating a given text prior to students¶
translating it outside of class. As she sight-read, some students felt stimulated to ³beat the
teacher to the punch.´ Other students, who depending on auditory rather than visual processing,
were given the option of listening only. In each case, the student became familiar with the
³whole text.´ (Self-Interview, p. 11, footnote 4; Items 6 & 17, Course Materials).
The ideal result of the foregoing approach is that students spend much less time looking
for words, which makes the task easier to do as well. The extended information at the beginning
of the class (or in the extended texts) also contributes to produce better understanding of the
contextual and cultural data of the text. Students, therefore, are able to give more accurate
translations of cultural items.
The instructor went beyond the concepts embedded in the PACTE Textual
Subcompetence. This happened because of her conviction that student translators need to
prepare themselves, not only as translators, but as competent bi- or multi-lingual text specialists.
She backed up this view with recommendations from L. Arencibia (a Cuban sociologist and
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translator-interpreter) and from Douglas Robinson. The instructor also asked us to take note of
the range of job descriptions on the ProZ website, involving text manipulations far beyond
translation, including interpretation, correcting, editing, register or dialect shifting, etc. (Self-
Interview, p.9, l. 42; p. 17, l. 40). In line with these views, the course materials were used, not
only for translation, but also for working on the types of text manipulation mentioned above.
Examples of text manipulation exercises include Item 2 (summarizing), Item 12 (editing), Item
13 (writing a radio script from a translation), and Item 14 (adapting the recipe to the Mexican
context, and the availability of the ingredients) in the Course Materials table.
(b) Sociolinguistic subcompetence
The PACTE model mentions comprehension and production within contexts presenting
differing dialects, registers and jargons. The instructor dealt with this subcompetence through the
use of teaching stories, and texts in different registers and dialects, enriched by whiteboard talks.
The instructor believes that the lack of language development in FIUV students also
prevents them from understanding accents and dialects e. g. as they appear in films. (Self-
Interview, p. 15, l. 21 & 27). According to the Self-Interview, she tackles this problem by giving
students sociolinguistics lessons at the beginning of the class (p. 7, l. 39; Item 18, Course
Materials). Teaching anecdotes often presented sociolinguistic lessons, e.g. the ³Silent Club
Story´ refers to the social relations deaf people form, and the term they prefer to use in referring
to themselves; the ³Why not µteacher¶ story´ presents a different way of addressing school
teachers in Spanish and English. I remember the ³Silent Club story´ came along in a class
discussion where students were reflecting on a more political correct term for deaf people (Item
8, Course Materials).
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The class texts were written in different registers (both in Spanish, and English, see
Course Materials), and some of them included different dialects and jargons. Examples of these
texts include the ³ Don¶t Let¶s Go to the Dogs T onight´ text (Item 10, Course Materials), where
students were confronted with African lexis and structures. Other examples include the two texts
on pulque (Item 9) , which contained historical lexical items, and Mexican sayings; the pumpkin
pie recipe (Item 14) included topic -specific vocabulary and lexical items from English recipes
and students were required to translate those to Spanish. The ³Crop Circle´ film (Item 16)
contained a broad range of English dialects, which students had to understand and translate
without the use of the film script.
Teaching anecdotes have proved again to be one of the instructor¶s main strategies for
passing on sociolinguistic knowledge. An abundance of class materials and activities also
complemented these anecdotes.
6. Psychophysiological Competence
This competence was perhaps the one the most consistently developed during the
workshop. All three subcompetences mentioned in the PACTE were present in the workshop,
although to differing extents. The following analysis will be organized into three subsections,
each one dealing with a particular subcompetence: (a) cognitive capacities (memory and
attention) (b) psychological aptitudes (intellectual curiosity, critical spirit, self-confidence, and
rigor) and (c) capability to develop creative processes.
(a) Cognitive capacities of memory, and attention
Although these two skills can be seem very straightforward, attention, for example, can
be ambiguous. Its meaning can range from concentrating on external phenomena to
concentrating on internal phenomenal such as translator¶s feelings. Nonetheless, PACTE offers
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no explanation with respect to either attention or memory. Therefore, this analysis will be
centered on the memory skill, as I was unable to find a direct connection between the workshop
activities and the development of the attention skill in the students (unless it is the multimodal
aspect, discussed later).
If the attention skill is to be understood as self-awareness²focusing inward-- then this
analysis can point out several important efforts to develop it. One of the instructor¶s premises
behind her pedagogy is that translation depends much on the individual¶s cognitive preferences
(self-interview, page 9, line 18)²a posture shared with Douglas Robinson in his Accelerated
Course (1997:42-44). To the purpose of better self-understanding, the instructor devoted time to
teaching Ned Herrman¶s quadrant schema (1993), forming groups to validate each student¶s
perception of their cognitive organization, and checking the individual¶s cognitive processing
preferences against the translation problems that arose in class work.
Regarding memory, the instructor tested student recall by setting extensive examinations
requiring detailed information from the texts, the glossaries, the teaching stories, vocabulary
activities, and even white-board information which arose from class discussion or whiteboard
talks. These demands, of course, developed students¶ memory (page 8, line 45). The
memorization was supported by recycling the old materials²anecdotes, texts and vocabulary
(self interview, page 1, line 28; page 9, line 46.) The professor used Ned Herrmann¶s Four
Quadrant Theory to raise awareness about cognitive preferences, but also to make suggestions
about how they might improve their learning process and facilitate memorization and recall.
[See Appendix (c) for a detailed explanation of the Four Quadrant Theory].
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The instructor had a strong conviction that learning occurs through the senses too, and
that the information can be retrieved through body memory (self-interview, page 1, footnote 1).
Robinson, citing Goleman, points out that the amygdala records feelings (as opposed to the
hippocampus which records facts) and its arousal adds force to all learning (1997:53). Robinson
(1997) proposes his own complex model of understanding and developing emotional memory.
He emphasizes the fact that translators should pay attention to their visual, auditory and
kinesthetic inputs and the way they like to process those inputs.
The instructor utilized what she calls a ³multi-modal approach´ (self-interview page 13,
lines 1, 14, & 16), a technique for aiding information processing through several sensory
channels. Her multi-modal approach is a way of applying Robinson¶s idea on multiple sensory
inputs. The ³multi-modal´ strategies reported in the research documents include: eating a
pumpkin pie after students translation of the recipe (Item 14, Course Materials), tasting pulque
curado when we read the article on Alcoholic Beverages in Colonial Mexico (item 9 in materials
table), and singing songs related to an apparently transparent children¶s text [in this case, the
traditional children¶s song Caballito Blanco, related to the ³ La borrega que vivía en una
manada´ story] (self-interview, p.4, l. 29 and p.13, l. 16).
Apart from using multiple sensorial channels, the self-interview revealed that, for
instance, infusing language with emotion is a key strategy for enhancing memory. The instructor
used to ask questions such as ³how does such and such word (usually a bad word in Spanish) feel
in your body?´ so as to connect the feeling of the word to its meaning, and to try to re-evoke the
sensation to retrieve the meaning. The instructor reported in the self-interview that some students
have no particular feelings for words (page 1, line 45); she found that this information is also
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relevant in finding out how students processed texts. I remember she would ask students about
their way of processing a text, e.g. ³Do you hear a voice inside your head telling you the story or
do you rather see images like if it were a text?´ These simple questions aimed at helping students
increase their awareness of their personal style of approaching and understanding texts.
The foregoing reveals that the cognitive capacities present in the PACTE model were
dealt with intensively during the workshop. Nevertheless, it is difficult to determine to what
extent they were instilled in the students, or if they could have been developed further.
(b) Psychological attitudes (intellectual curiosity, perseverance, critical spirit, self-
confidence, rigor, etc.)
The psychological attitudes in the PACTE are very straightforward (with the sole
exception of rigor, which can be interpreted in more than one way) and they require little
interpretation. All these qualities identified by the PACTE as ³attitudes´ were dealt with to
differing extents in the workshop. The instructor displayed enormous concern regarding these
attitudes during the workshop sessions, and this concern was reflected in the self-interview as
well. The psychological attitudes were dealt with quite comprehensively in the workshop. Due
to the multifarious aspects of this subcompetence, this section will be divided into the following
subsections: (1) intellectual curiosity, (2) critical spirit, and (3) self-confidence, and (4) rigor.
Perseverance was excluded from this study because the activities of the case under study
were not particularly aimed at developing it. Notwithstanding, the entire workshop activities
covered a large volume of material, and placed heavy demands on the students¶ perseverance.
Ultimately, I was unable to devise a way of studying the perseverant attitude.
(1) Intellectual curiosity
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Can intellectual curiosity be developed in a classroom? To me, intellectual curiosity
seems to be more of a personal trait than an attitude that can be the developed systematically.
Objectively measuring the instructor¶s success in cultivating the students¶ intellectual curiosity
would be rather difficult; however, the instructor did her best to describe the curious attitude of
the translator through the use of anecdotes (Self-Interview, p.2 l. 41), and through at least one
text from the Course Materials (Item 1).
As mentioned in the previous paragraph, anecdotes were the instructor¶s main strategy for
making students aware that translators need to be very curious (especially about words). One
kind of anecdote is what the instructor called ³word adventures´ in the self-interview (page 1,
line 39); this genre had a game-like quality and the instructor used it to raise awareness of the
fact that translators are usually emotionally bound to words and language, even to the point of
quarreling about them (page 2, line 2).
Another anecdote illustrating this view is the ³Columbarium Story´ (p. 3, l. 55), where the
instructor describes how she became interested in the word ³columbarium´²since she had
neither heard the word nor seen the object previous to her arrival in California. The fact that she
quickly apprised herself of translations, roots and applications of the word enabled her to enter
into a heated discussion with a historian concerning the meaning of the word. Another example
of the instructor¶s effort in illustrating translators¶ curiosity was the ³Silent Club Story´ (page 2,
line 41), where she described how an unknown term could linger in the translator¶s mind for
many, many years until the meaning finally become clear. The ³ La borrega que vivía en una
manada´ (page 4, line 27) is a very good example the translators need to have an unusual
degree of curiosity, being ready to question the obvious. In a conversation she mentioned that a
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study showed that professional translators spend much time looking up things that ³they already
know.´
There is no conclusive evidence proving that the students actually developed their intellectual
curiosity. The Self-Interview and the materials themselves, however, suggest that students had to
develop certain curiosity to succeed in the course²due to the multifarious nature of the topics.
(2) Critical spirit
Critical spirit seems somehow related to intellectual curiosity, as the latter leads to
constantly questioning reality. The self-interview mentions that the ³ La borrega que vivía en una
cabaña´ dealt with translators¶ habit of constantly doubting words they seemingly know. The
instructor¶s belief is that translators are required to spend a great deal of time looking for things
they already know, and that they should always doubt nearly anything that seems obvious (self-
interview page 4, line 36). This conviction is also reflected in another anecdote: the ³µGo West,
Young Man Story´ where the instructor emphasizes the fact that translators often do their job
according to their personalities, preferences, and even the moment where they are translating.
Therefore, they may unconsciously mistranslate the text, or even add information not present in
the source text, requiring constant vigilance and a permanent critical spirit.
A way of stimulating the critical spirit was through class discussion on topics such as
political correctness (in the case of item 8 in the Course Materials table), or the pulque
readings²in which students looked for evidences that text a was a double translation, and
contrasted it to a second text (text b) to look for ideological differences. In item 2 (Course
Materials) students were asked to discuss the findings of the article writer to see if they were,
indeed, applicable to Mexican reality.
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The instructor would also feed class discussions with anecdotes about translators (or
interpreters) behaving in an ³inappropriate´ way (such as the interpreter who ³interpreted´ a
non-existent Korean welcome speech, page 1 line 34). In item 15 in the Course Materials
students reflected on the nature of text edition, and the truism that translation is ³what the client
wants, ´ echoing what Douglas Robinson claims (1997, p. 17) She went a step further to touch
on an increasingly popular theme: customer education. Inside and outside the classroom she
repeated: ³The translation is what the customer wants, or something better if you can convince
him or her.´ Thus, the instructor opposed the fidelity notion set forth by many translation
theoreticians throughout the centuries, labeling it ³irrelevant´ in everyday translation.
The instructor also became a model insofar as rigor and critical spirit were concerned.
True to her promise, she defended her proposals with hammer and tongs, and vigorously
criticized student proposals. (Self-Interview, p. 7, l. 10). As far as the instructor was concerned,
the key factor in becoming critical about words is ³owning´ one¶s words. In order to being able
to do so, the translator needs to become emotionally bound to his/her own words (self-interview,
page 7, line 14).
The emotional bonds to words are also related to the development of student self-
confidence. The next sub-section deals with self-confidence, and infusing language with
emotion.
(3) Self-confidence
The PACTE speaks specifically to this point in recognizing the translator¶s ability to trust
in his/her capacities. This point can be interpreted simply as self-confidence. The instructor was
very concerned about students¶capability to recognize their own abilities (agreeing with Sabaté-
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Carrové that lack of self-confidence prevented student translators from performing like
professionals). According to the instructor, students were often unable to translate fluently (and
sometimes comprehensively) due to their over-concern regarding theoretical constructs,
dictionary searches, and painstaking sentence analysis (page 7, line 19). She offers a metaphor,
which she says is borrowed from Douglas Robinson: ³And when the centipede, who had been
walking quite happily along, was asked µMr. Centipede, how do you coordinate your 100 feet?¶
he thought about it for the first time²and immediately flopped helplessly down on the floor in a
tangled mess.´
My own feeling, as a student translator, is that because we are unable to recognize our
own strengths we submit²to our own detriment²to the hegemony of authors, rules, and
theories²especially in an educational system that has traditionally encouraged teacher
predominant environments.
In conclusion, the main strategy of the workshop instructor for promoting self-confidence
was giving students authority over their own strengths and making them responsible for
developing them. (page 7, line 14 & 22). In order to achieve the foregoing, the instructor put
forward the need for infusing language with emotion. The rationale supporting this idea is that
words become more meaningful when they evoke emotions, and therefore are more easily
recalled. The translator emotionally ³owns´ his/her words even to the point of arguing with
other people about them (the ³`Mogs Story,´ page 3, line 18, provides a good example). Giving
students authority over their words certainly gives a degree of empowerment against the
hegemony of the rules (such as the Translation Procedures which, in my personal case at least,
hindered instead of assisting in the development of confidence in my abilities).
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Once again, the use of teaching anecdotes was a tactic for transmitting the idea of student
empowerment. The first story subgenre the professor cited in the self-interview (page 1, line 39)
is ³word adventures´; the instructor seems to use it as a sort of diagnosis of the students¶
relationship with words. This genre involves students choosing a favorite word, and explaining
what makes that word so special. This first stage reveals that some students already have a
³passionate relationship´ with words, whereas others feel confronted with an alien vision of
language (page 2, line 1). Other examples illustrating how words can become emotionally
meaningful are the curious ³Mogs story´ (page 3, line 18), and the painful ³Why not µteacher¶´
story. The instructor points out (page 4, line 49) that the stories contain archetypes (protagonists,
antagonists, questers, etc.) that seem to inspire students. I believe some of them may have felt
identified themselves with such characters.
Sometimes the instructor herself plays the role of the antagonist as she motivates students
to catch her non-native mistakes and to defend their own translation proposals (page 7, line 10),
thus obliging students to prove their authority as native speakers. When students win these
disputes, the instructor gives full credit, something which students find very empowering (page
7, line 11). In the case under study, she required students to criticize a couple of her translations
(items 5 & 15, Course Materials). Some teaching anecdotes illustrate that professional
translators sometimes commit truly absurd mistakes or behave ³unethically´ (One interpretation
the Korean speech, page 1, line 33; and the ³Watermelons´ anecdote, page 1, line 35). This type
of anecdote is aimed at inspiring confidence among students.
According to the instructor, giving students a degree of freedom in class choices is
important for empowering them (page 7, line 23). The best example of this was the free-
translation (item 17, Course Materials); students chose their text according to their preferences
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and knowledge. The idea was to let the students choose subjects on which they could speak with
a certain amount of authority, and to provide an opportunity for sharing knowledge when
receiving instructor feedback. In spite of occasionally allowing students to choose their own
topics, the instructor admits that the margin of freedom is small indeed: she allows students to
choose either one of two preset options regarding class materials, but the unchosen material will
usually be worked on later in any case (the ³Eriksonian false option´ on page 12, line 9).
The foregoing proves that this subcompetence was dealt with extensively in the case
under study. The degree of success of the instructor¶s strategies is difficult to measure, as in the
other subcompetences dealt with in this paper. I found, however, that this subcompetence was
very important in my own learning process.
(4) Rigor
This attitude was not treated in a unique way in the case under study. The best example of
how it developed was the recycling of the course materials throughout the workshop. Students
had to keep track of all the information that was contained in the texts, anecdotes, and
whiteboard (self-interview, page 8, line 25), as they would be tested on it. Though this may have
not been the sole example, neither the self-interview, nor the Course Materials table showed
specific measures to develop the attitude of rigor.
(c) Capability to develop creative processes
This subcompetence was developed in the form of translating, guessing the meaning of
unknown words by context, summarizing and adapting a radio script and presenting it (see
Course Materials table for detailed information). These were the only examples of creative work.
No direct exercises (e.g. brainwriting, blue slip, or scampering) were reported either in the self-
interview or in the Course Materials. Creativity, however, requires a good deal of imagination.
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The instructor seemed to have tackle creativity in an indirect way. The self-interview repeated
the NLP (Neurolinguistic Programming) truism: if you want to be something (doctor, lawyer,
teacher, etc.) you start by imagining yourself as one and behaving like one. (Self-Interview page
11, line 9).
The instructor believes that in order to be a translator, it is necessary to make imaginative
leaps; that is, to impersonate the journalist, writer, scientist behind the text (self-interview page
11, line 6), i.e. like an actor interpreting different roles. This concept is very important to
succeeding and making the profession more enjoyable. Douglas Robinson notes that most
successful professional translators view their work in more human and imaginative terms. He
depicts the translator in apparently romantic terms: ³The translator, even of highly technical
texts, is more of a poet or a novelist than like a machine translation system [«] Imagine yourself
a machine with no feelings, a computer processing inert words, and you quickly begin to feel
dead, inert, lifeless´ (1997:44).
The instructor has the impression that students are often unable²or unwilling²to make
imaginative leaps, as that would imply abandoning their comfort zone (page 11, footnote 5). That
is also a reason why they are frequently unable to connect to a text and to go beyond the sentence
level (page 11, line 11). This was true in my case. I thought translation was a mechanical and an
almost impossible task to do; I soon became frustrated and regretted having chosen the
translation area.
The instructor dealt with this problem by stimulating students to carry out semi-
spontaneous not-quite-sight-translation exercises (which they had previously prepared and then
read without notes for support). She also called on students to translate intuitively without the
help of dictionaries and with little, or no analysis at all. The principle behind this concept is that
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too much rationalization paralyzes performance (page 18, line 32 & 39). This very concept is a
commonplace in acting workshop, as I subsequently learned through my own experience. If the
comparison is valid, translators, like actors, need to synthesize and perform before analyzing.
Similarly, some FL pedagogues believe that language learners should first start producing, and
then learn grammar rules.
Another way in which the instructor addressed the problem of imaginative behavior was
by putting forward Robinson¶s concept of translators as actors. Instead of explaining, she
enunciated this concept in a Sufic or Zen way at the very beginning of the course, just after
giving the course¶s guidelines: How is the translator like an actor? Do you think that it is
possible that a translator can be, in some ways, like an actor? No answer was given by the
instructor. Instead, students were invited to reflect on the question and arrive at their own
conclusions. As often happens with Sufic stories, I myself at least, could not understand how a
translator is like an actor until years later. Nonetheless, this idea of translators as actors lingered
in my mind until, thanks to my most recent job as an actor, I was finally able to understand that
translators interpret in the same way an actor does.
Commentary
The foregoing analysis offers clear evidence that in the 2007 workshop, the instructor¶s
methodology aimed to develop many of the competences described in the PACTE model. Of all
the competences in this study, the Psychophysiological Competence appeared to be the best
developed during the workshop. The rest of the competences were developed to a significant
degree as well.
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In my view, the debunking of myths surrounding translation and the development of the
self-confidence subcompetence were especially helpful; they contributed in eliminating many
seeming misconceptions and useless prescriptions from older translation theory which had
prevented me from feeling confident when translating.
Unfortunately, the results of this research are partial, since the voices of other former
students remain unheard. It remains to construct an objective means of evaluating the degree of
success achieved in the use of these didactic strategies. This needs to be done in future
workshops. Fortunately, on the other hand, the results of the analysis showed a significant
quantity of strategies for TT. It was possible to describe, and in some cases, even to begin to
classify them. These strategies can be put to the test in future research to check their
effectiveness and to perfect them.
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Conclusion
Before undertaking the analysis of the Workshop, I had already suspected that the
instructor¶s methodology covered all the competences described in the PACTE holistic model for
translator competences. My suspicion was confirmed. Nonetheless, while all of the competences
studied in this paper were attended to in the Workshop, some were developed to a greater extent,
most notoriously, the Psychophysiological Competence. What surprised me most was the
discovery that what had seemed at the time random, if helpful, actions on the part of the
instructor, upon analysis proved to have a high degree of internal coherence and systematization,
as well as a basis rooted in theory. I consider that the teaching methods described in the analysis
are a very valuable contribution to the translation pedagogy discussion because many of them lay
a foundation for the development of didactic exercises for teaching particular aspects of
translation.
Even though this workshop was very ambitious insofar as it was holistic and covered a
large amount of material, a few gaps were left unattended. The instructor was reluctant to supply
discrete-point solutions (where they might have been helpful) and she had trouble with some
aspects of classroom management, e.g. keeping track of assignments and the proper sequence of
activities. Using the Ned Herrmann model, it was easy to find activities and approaches keyed to
quadrants B, C, and D²especially the D, which has to do with ³the big picture.´ But in terms of
quadrant A, where logic, rules and tradition prevail, there was a lack.
The purpose of this trabajo recepcional was to describe the teaching methodology in the
2007 Translation Workshop, and to determine how it measured up to the PACTE holistic model
proposed by A. Hurtado-Albir and her group. For a second time, I was to be surprised by the
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amount of promising information that was generated and which surpassed my ability to process
within the limits of this TR. On one hand, it was amazing to discover the broad range of thinkers
cited in the instructor¶s self- interview. While there were twice as many translators cited as
members of any other professional category, there were also equal numbers of philosophers,
psychologists, educators, and linguists as well as a few others. Perhaps the multiple perspectives
that informed this holistic workshop explain why the range of approaches to didactic problems
was also so vast. It was impossible in this essay to even mention the 26 thinkers, much less
discuss them.
Another aspect of the instructor¶s teaching that became conspicuous upon analysis was
the instructor¶s use of modeling (behaviors and products) and scaffolding4. These two
characteristics led me to believe that the Workshop procedure resembled, basically, those of the
Cognitive Apprenticeship teaching model proposed by Allan M. Collins. Further, the use of
teaching stories to transmit a broad range of information and attitudes was found to be central to
the course. Although I was familiar with teaching stories as objects of contemplation with
multiple layers of meaning (as in the Sufi tradition), I had not imagined that they constituted an
important focus of interest for contemporary educators, going back to Jerome Bruner in the last
century, for example. Obviously, there was no time to theorize about the teaching stories. The
temptation to do so was great, because I discovered that they could be analyzed in terms of
several different theorizations, including Bloom¶s taxonomy.
After finishing this essay, I asked the instructor if she felt that anything important had
been omitted, or if there were anything else she would like to add. She replied that she had never
imagined that her Workshop had so much theoretical underpinning and that she felt, now that all
4 Giles is of a like mind when he suggests that trainees need tools to accompany them in theirautonomous progression along the learning curve (2004)
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the mechanisms had been exposed and described, that if she gave Translation II she might meet
the fate of the centipede who, once conscious of the complicated coordination of his many feet,
promptly collapsed on the ground. The one thing that she wished to add was the phrase she most
often repeated during the course: ³The meaning is in the context!´ (By context she meant both
³context´ and ³situation´²as in the Geneva Conference Story, page 15, line 51). ³Just recently
I was pleased to discover,´ she said, ³that µThe meaning is in the context¶ sums up cultural
translation theory! So that makes me very up-to-date in my concepts, you see.´
This experience has encouraged me to continue research in the area of TP. Along the way
I have picked up a lot of theory of translation, and an agenda to follow in my search for a TP
model adaptive to our environment. The next step in developing the didactic approaches studied
in this TR would involve carrying out classroom observation and delving into education theory.
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R eferences
y Angeli, E., Wagner, J., Lawrick, E., Moore, K., Anderson, M., Soderland, L., & Brizee, A. (2010,
May 5). General format. Retrieved from
http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/560/01/
y Baxter P. & Jack S. (December, 2008). Qualitative Case Study Methodology: Study Design
and Implementation for Novice Researchers. The Qualitative Report Volume 13 Number 4.
Retrieved from http://www.nova.edu/ssss/QR/QR13-4/baxter.pdf
y Carrové Sabaté M. (2000). Towards a theory of translation pedagogy based on computer-
assisted translation tools for Catalan and English non literary texts. Retrived from TRD
Tesis Doctorales en Red . (L-1623-2009)
y Delisle J. (1988). Translation: An Interpretive Approach. Ottawa: University of Ottawa
Press.
y García Yebra V. (1983). E n torno a la traducción. Madrid: Gredos
y Giles Danielle (2004). Blablablablablablablablablabla
y Hurtado Albir A. (2001) Traducción y Traductología: Introducción a la Traductología.
Madrid: Cátedra.
y Llácer Llorca, E. (2004). S obre la traducción: ideas tradicionales y teorías contemporáneas.
Valencia: Universitat de València.
y Robinson, D. (1997). Becoming a Translator: An accelerated course. New York: Routledge.
y Vázquez Ayora, G. (1977). Introdcción a la Traductología. Curso básico de traducción.
Washington: Georgetown University School of Languages and Linguistics.
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and II contained the following items: multiple choice, error correction, fill-in-the-blanks, matching, definition,translation, essay questions.
accustom ss. to demonstrate acqand linguistic kntake a really chaover-reached thean additional lea
type tests.) Syllabi
21 Official syllabus Provided by the Academy. I partiallyrecruit the technicin dubbing anywaconceived as doc
22 Instructor
syllabus
(Post-syllabus: see materials table) I usually course. I like to ufeel more live to mgermane for one material was morunconscious.
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Appendix (b) The PACTE Model Chart
Transfer Competence
Linguistic Competence Extr
Psychophysical Comptence P
Strategic CompetenceAdapted from Hurtado-Albir
(2001:397
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Appendix (c) Ned Herrmann¶s Whole Brian Model
Extracted from: http://www.12manage.com/methods_herrmann_whole_brain.html
Analyzing personal and organizational thinking preferences. Explanation of Whole Brain
Model of Herrmann. ('76)
What is the Whole Brain Model? Description
The Whole Brain Model from Ned Herrmann is a technique that can be used for analyzing
personal and organizational thinking preferences.
People have markedly different ways that they perceive and assimilate information, make
decisions, and solve problems. Once an individual understands his or her thinking style
preferences, the door is open to improved communication, leadership, management, problemsolving, decision making and other aspects of personal and interpersonal development.
The Whole Brain Model is a mental model that describes thinking preferences. These are theways of thinking that satisfy us the most and seem natural for us at this point in our lives. These
ways of thinking can change, often as a result of significant emotional experiences, lifetransitions and other important insights. Thinking preferences describe the patterns of what we
prefer to pay attention to and what we don't prefer to pay attention to.
Thinking preferences can be different than our skills or the content of our work or our behavior,depending upon the situation. When we think or function differently than our preferences, even if
we have excellent skills, it's more likely that we'll find it somewhat uncomfortable andconsuming more of our energy.
The four thinking styles in the Whole BrainModel are:
1. Logician. Analytical, mathematical,
technical and problem solving.2. Organizer. Controlled, conservative,
planned, organized and administrativein nature.
3. Communicator. Interpersonal,emotional, musical, spiritual and the
"talker" modes.4. Visionary. Imaginative, synthesizing,
artistic, holistic and conceptual modes.
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At the core of the most recent book of Ned Herrmann, lies his belief that the functioning of the
human brain is driven by a four-quadrant interconnected set of mental processing modes. Thesefour thinking styles, says Herrmann, originate in the brain's left and right cerebral hemispheres,
and in the left and right half limbic systems, each resulting in significantly different and distinct behavioral characteristics in human beings. How this complex brain interaction determines
thinking mode dominance and thinking style preferences, and how individuals and organizationscan benefit from such understanding, are the main themes of Herrmann's book (see below).
Herrmann's work is widely used by training and development specialists. The Whole BrainModel supersedes "left brain/right brain" thinking in earlier models. Also it has advanced new
concepts of thinking research and their applications in business settings. Dominant thinking inone of the four thinking styles, causes the development of thinking preferences. Then these
thinking preferences establish our interests, foster the development of competencies, andinfluence our career choices and ultimately our work. Argues Herrmann.
O
rigin of the WholeB
rain Model. History
In 1976, Ned Herrmann researched the brain as the source of creativity. At that time, he learned
of the pioneering brain research of Roger Sperry, Paul MacLean, Joseph Bogen and MichaelGazzanaga. From their work it is clear that the brain has four distinct and specialized structures.
Inspired by this research, Herrmann worked with EEG scans and, later, paper-and-pencilquestionnaires to identify four distinct types of thinking, each roughly corresponding to one of
the brain structures. The result of this research is the Herrmann Whole Brain Model. In August,1979, after many tests, in-depth research, and mountains of data, Herrmann had developed a
valid self-assessment that enables individuals to understand their own thinking style preferences
- the HBDI (Herrmann Brain Dominance Instrument.)