Training language experts in translation in a transferability perspective

In recent years, there has been an unprecedented reappraisal of the role of translation in Foreign Language Teaching and Learning. Underpinning this reappraisal are largely the beliefs that languages are more easily learnt in association with one’s mother tongue rather than separately from it, and that the ability to move between one’s mother tongue and other languages represents a core component of a language user’s communicative competence in our increasingly multilingual societies. In light of this, translation activities can be seen as having considerable import both within and outside of education; in other words, they can serve as a language-learning tool and as a vehicle for the development of multiple skills to be applied in countless real-world situations in the learners’ personal, civic and professional lives. The paper will focus in particular on translation teaching in university foreign-language curricula and will discuss an approach based on the concept of ‘transferability’: this approach goes beyond the strictly vocational focus underlying common Translation and Interpreting curricula to encompass a wider spectrum of workplace usability. Finally, the project of an accompanying classroom textbook will be presented.