AWEJ Special issue on Translation No. (2) 2013                                                       pp.5-25
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Translator Training: A Mirror Image of EFL Pedagogy Inadequacies

Omar F. Atari
Department of Translation Studies
Faculty of Humanities & Social Sciences
United Arab Emirates University – Al Ain, UAE

Adel A. Radwan
English Department College of Arts & Social Sciences
Sultan Qaboos University, Oman

Abstract

This study shows that, although EFL pedagogy and translation teaching share a common communicative orientation, the interaction between the two is not entirely positive (Colina, 2002). The paper attempts to characterize the inadequacies of a sample of undergraduate translator trainees’ L2 reading strategies, L2 genre writing conventions, and other translation-related problems. Through a study of undergraduate translator trainees’ translations of a number of texts, the paper shows, first, how the trainees failed to employ bi-directional top-down and bottom-up text processing in their reading of the source texts; second, how they failed to recognize the genre conventions in both language systems (i.e., Arabic and English); third, how they misconstrued the theme/rheme arrangements in their production of target texts by failing to make the necessary modifications to produce an accessible text for the target readers. The authors suggest a set of pre- and mid- translation exercises to guide trainees to use their background knowledge employ top-down and bottom-up text processing strategies while interacting with the source text, analyze thematic structures properly, and render the theme/rheme arrangement accurately in the target text.

Keywords: Translator training, linguistTranslator trainingic competence, translation competence, top-down processing, bottom-up processing

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