Some Basic Challenges and Strategies in Teaching Translation to Chemistry Majors Iazyka (Pp
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Training, Language and Culture doi: 10.29366/2018tlc.2.3.4 Volume 2 Issue 3, 2018 rudn.tlcjournal.org Some basic challenges and strategies in teaching translation to Chemistry majors iazyka (pp. 48-56). Moscow: Agraf. Svetovidova, I. V. (2000). Perenos znacheniia i ego ontologiia by Elena E. Aksenova and Svetlana N. Orlova Schwanke, M. (1991). Maschinelle Übersetzung: v angliiskom i russkom iazykakh [Transfer of meaning Klärungsversuch eines unklaren Begriffs [Machine and its ontology in English and Russian]. Moscow: Elena E. Aksenova Moscow State Institute of International Relations (MGIMO University) [email protected] translation: Clarifying the unclear term]. In Lomonosov Moscow State University. Maschinelle Übersetzung (pp. 47-67). Berlin, Toury, G. (2012). Descriptive translation studies and beyond: Svetlana N. Orlova Peoples’ Friendship University of Russia (RUDN University) [email protected] Heidelberg: Springer. Revised edition (Vol. 100). John Benjamins Publishing. Published in Training, Language and Culture Vol 2 Issue 3 (2018) pp. 71-85 doi: 10.29366/2018tlc.2.3.5 Schweitzer, A. D. (1988). Teoriia perevoda: Status, problemy, Venuti, L. (2017). The translator’s invisibility: A history of Recommended citation format: Aksenova, E. E., & Orlova, S. N. (2018). Some basic challenges and strategies in aspekty [Theory of translation: Status, issues, aspects]. translation. Routledge. teaching translation to Chemistry majors. Training, Language and Culture, 2(3), 71-85. doi: Moscow: Nauka. Vinay, J. P., & Darbelnet, J. (1958). Stylistique comparée de Shaitanov, I. (2009). Perevodim li Pushkin? Perevod kak l’anglais et du français [Stylistic comparison of English 10.29366/2018tlc.2.3.5 komparativnaia problema [Is Pushkin translatable? and French]. Paris and Montreal: Didier/Beauchemin. Efficient teaching of English for Specific Purposes (ESP) requires substantial effort which includes fostering the skills of Translation as a comparative issue]. Voprosy literatury, Vinogradov, V. S. (1978). Leksicheskie voprosy perevoda scientific texts translation. The study deals with the methodology of teaching translation to MA and post-graduate 2, 5-26. khudozhestvennoi prozy [Lexical issues in translating students specialising in Chemistry and possessing little or no knowledge of translation techniques, reviews discussions Snell-Hornby, M. (1995). Translation studies: An integrated fictional prose]. Moscow: Moscow University Press. on translation theory and practice to illustrate their evolution and attempts to make a contribution to this discussion by approach. Amsterdam: John Benjamins Publishing Wu, J. (2008). The analysis of cultural gaps in translation and offering some new perspectives of interest in the field. The study lists translation strategies to be applied with non- Company. solutions. English Language Teaching, 1(2), 123. language majors and tests them out with MA and post-graduate students in the Chemistry Department of Moscow Technical University with experiment and control groups further evaluating students’ progress via quantitative and qualitative methods of analysis. KEYWORDS: translation, translation technique, non-linguistic faculties, competence in translation This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited (CC BY 4.0) 1. INTRODUCTION wall competency or even art (Chukovsky, 1984), Over the last decades, many researchers have but came to be referred to as an altogether spoken in support of the idea that teaching affordable skill to be mastered (Calvo, 2011). translation to university students should incorporate both theoretical and practical While studies in translation have in many ways components, taking this idea forward in numerous taken a quantum leap, translation as a discipline is studies and textbooks intended for students still considered a priority of language majors, with majoring in linguistic disciplines (see, for example, non-majors enrolled in non-linguistic faculties and Komissarov, 1997; Latishev & Semenov, 2003; universities still lacking adequate translation Cook, 2010; Gambier, 2012). For one thing, lack training, for with them it only comes down to of theoretical background was proved to checking basic reading skills at best. somewhat devalue the practical skill, while beyond that, adequate translation proficiency at This poses an issue that needs to be addressed for some point ceased to be perceived as an off-the- a number of reasons. Most crucially, the © Elena E. Aksenova, Svetlana N. Orlova 2018 70 Training, Language and Culture This content is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License Training, Language and Culture 71 Training, Language and Culture doi: 10.29366/2018tlc.2.3.5 Some basic challenges and strategies in teaching translation to Chemistry majors Volume 2 Issue 3, 2018 rudn.tlcjournal.org by Elena E. Aksenova and Svetlana N. Orlova overwhelming expansion of international relations roadblocks can be associated with a cross- (1998), the latter being one of the first scholars to ‘The theories on translation tried inevitably generates voluminous written language mismatch giving rise to issues such as define the concept of translation in a more to give insight into the communication, with research publications as one lexical interference, which remains relatively systematic manner, claiming that translating translation process and analyse of its major constituents, and ongoing global unexplored in terms of the methodological aspects involves reproducing in the receptor language the networking more than ever before involves involved (Malyuga et al., 2017). closest natural equivalent of the source-language the relations between thought ensuring expedient translation services. As the 21st message in terms of both meaning and style (Nida and language, culture and century has been dubbed ‘the era of translation This study explores how scientific post-graduates, & Taber, 1982). The author referred to translation speech’ and translators’, fostering the corresponding skills Chemistry students in particular, can successfully as a ‘science’, the statement being rather has become one of the priorities in higher manage foreign language texts and reviews the revolutionary for that time as it contradicted the the new theories, a new discipline of translation professional education. most recent perspectives in the field of translation. so-called ‘grammar translation’ method which was studies emerged. By the end of the 20th century, widely used in the first half of the 20th century communicative and sociocultural approaches Both undergraduate and postgraduate university 2. MATERIALS AND METHODS and focused on learning the grammatical rules of were at the centre of attention, and so translation students are required to read and translate a fair This paper assesses the ability of Chemistry the target language as a cornerstone for successful came to be viewed as nothing short of a cultural amount of scientific papers in order to pursue their students on MA and other post-graduate courses at literal translation (Munday, 2009). Translation phenomenon. Thus, the concept of the ‘cultural own research objectives, meaning that they also Moscow Technical University who are non- exercises were considered critical for learning a turn’ was another crucial advance in translation need to develop a range of skills underlying their language majors and evaluates their progress in foreign language and reading foreign texts. The studies that warranted further investigation. It was ultimate translation competency, the latter using quantitative and qualitative methods of method later lost its popularity as the proved that translation could not develop without including a number of sub-competences analysis in translation. Quantitative evaluation was communicative approach emerged in the late culture studies, since translations enrich nations representing a range of skills to be developed in premised on a questionnaire completed by the 1960s – early 1970s. The communicative with the cultural values of other peoples. The both their mother tongue and the foreign students while delivering on their term task, and approach focused on the natural ability of students theories on translation tried to give insight into the language. the qualitative method relied on scientific article to learn a foreign language and attempted to translation process and analyse the relations analyses and students’ short reports, which were represent the daily classroom routine keying in on between thought and language, culture and Notably, ESP students invariably face a number of due one week before the final test. The resulting the spoken language instead of using sentences speech. While many theories are widely discussed problems having to do with translating procedures. data were summarised and analysed per group, that were out of context. As a consequence, the in scientific literature, the argument is mostly To address these, the teacher will have to be on revealing the key problems encountered in new approach rejected the method of grammatical concerned with the distinctions between texts the lookout for potential difficulties and be able to translation as well as the percentage ratio of translation in its classic form. types or genres and speech types within written or apply appropriate coping techniques. First and common mistakes made in translation.