Word-for-word translation: an activity with possibilities

Generally speaking, teachers discourage word-for-word translation from a students own language into the language they are learning. Sometimes they discourage it for the wrong reason – that translation or the use of L1 is just wrong. Sometimes teachers discourage it because they know it’ll end up in gobbledygook and they teach students that the correct approach is to translate whole phrases or collocations. On the whole, I agree with this second view. If students are looking up an unknown word from L2 text on Goggle translate (or similar), then it’s generally a good idea to include other words around the key word. In the same way, it’s usually best to avoid putting a single word from your L1 in a translator: better to include at least one collocate with that word. These are things we might need to train students to do.

However, the search for meaning is not the only reason for using translation in and outside class. We can also refer to Ss own language for learner training. For example it may help learners:

• get an understanding of the syntax of the language they are learning
• revise the target language
• recall the correct forms of phrases they are learning
• understand other foreign speakers better

Let’s look at how we might do that through a couple of different tasks, which I explored in my recent webinar on using L1 in the class.

Understanding the ‘odd’ syntax of the foreign language

The teacher might start by introducing a set of sentences from the target language students are learning (in the following case Spanish) which they have translated word-for-word into the home language (in this case English). So for example, the sentences all be might be part of a general dialogue:

• At what yourself dedicate-you?
• am a designer
• Where work-you?
• Google
• To you likes?
• Yes is OK. Carry-I twenty years working there

Or they could be somewhat more random and idiomatic.

• What want-you do? >Not me minds-it
• Saw-you the film? >Yes, finish-I of see it
• Me gave-they only a discount of 10 percent. >Well, not is snot of turkey

Students discuss what they think the correct English would be, In doing so, we are effectively pre-teaching some of the phrases students will hear and learn. However, we are also sensitising students to how words and syntax corresponds (or does not correspond) to the home language.

Limits on these direct translations

In the examples above, I have slightly cheated in my word-for word translation as I chosen to combine the subject pronouns at the end of the verb (with a hyphen). It’s a bit of a cheat because these represent inflections on the verb. In Spanish, subject pronouns are often absent because the end of the verb is inflected to show who/what the subject is. There are some languages where inflections on words (for example to nouns) may have no easy correspondence to the L1. That may make the task slightly more limited in making students aware of grammar, but I think the task is probably still worthwhile doing. One option might be to add the L2 inflection in brackets to the L1 word. For example: I read-I book(y).

Working in a multilingual class

A similar task is possible in a multilingual class, but I think it would work more effectively as a revision task. Here, you would first ask students to look for phrases from their notebooks or from previous units in the coursebook. They could also be sentences from a vocabulary task they studied.  The students, individually (or with a partner who shares the same language), translate the whole phrase meaning. They could compare this to an AI/google translation, which are usually quite natural these days. Students then do a word-for-word translation into English from their L2.  You might need to demonstrate this process with a language you know or work with one student in front f the class. You get them to write the first holistic translation on the board. Then point to each word and ask them to translate.

After students have written a few of their own word-for-word translations, they take turns to read out these ‘foreign’ English sentences or write them on the board. In groups, the students then discuss what they think / remember the original sentence was. In effect, they are doing a kind of language correction task (but with the support of having studied the language previously). From that point of view, it is a good check of students’ abilities in grammar and vocab which ALL students can take part in together whether they share a language or not.

Learner training & patience training?

Note that learners may not need to change a great deal from the direct translation. They might just need to change the order of an adjective and noun or add an article. That’s fine. In both tasks above we are also training students to understand the limits of word-for word translation from L1.

The tasks can also be a springboard for students to discuss differences between English and their own languages. Many of you may already do a bit of this at advanced levels when teaching idioms. It’s very common for students to translate (more or less word-for-word) a comparative expression. So when teaching push the boat out, a Spanish student might say – oh we say we’re going to throw the house out of the window! Sometimes there can be further discussion as to why there is a difference (Britain being an island nation?). Direct translations at lower levels with less obviously idiomatic language could still lead to similar cultural exchanges.

More broadly, regular tasks like these may help other students listen to and understand each other’s Englishes a bit better, or at least develop a little more patience in interactions. In fact, such tasks might be good for any person in a service role dealing with tourists, but maybe that’s being overly optimistic.

Flashcards & Recalling the exact words

The final way we might use direct translation is for revision when using flashcards or apps like quizlet. There is usually a gap between what we can understand receptively and what we can say accurately. From this point of view, it may be better to write the ‘incorrect’ word-for-word translation, such as those at the beginning of this post. Or when learning the Spanish idiom Matar dos pajaros de un tiro, I might write on my quizlet card ‘Kill two birds of one shot/throw’, rather than the actual English kill two birds with one stone. That way I might remember both the correct word (tiro) and the correct preposition (de). Of course, you could write both versions, if you want.

Thinking in the language

A final thought. One of the reasons given for excluding L1 from the classroom is that teachers want their students to be able to ‘think’ in the target language rather than translate. This is entirely unrealistic as research has shown learners constantly use the L1 in their internal thinking – especially at low levels (see section 6.4 in this article). However, it is possible that word-for-word translating from the L2 could help learners to adjust their ideas when they have to fall back on translating from L1. They may initially think of a direct L1 translation but may make some rearrangement of words based on how the L2 ‘sounds’. Learners may find there is a idiomatic chunk that is the native speaker choice, but it may help listeners understand the foreign speaker better.

You can still buy a recording of our webinar on using L1 along with the rest of this year’s webinar series. Or why not try one of our mini-courses based on last year’s series focusing on speaking and dealing with different levels.