Translation and language learning : the role of translation in the teaching of languages in the European Union : summary.
Date: 2013-12-16
Institutions: Directorate-General for Translation
Subjects: foreign language, language teaching, multilingualism, teaching method, translation

Translation and language learning:  
The role of translation in the teaching of languages in the European Union 

A Study 
15 July 2013 

Executive summary 

This  study  asks  how  translation,  both  written  and  spoken,  can  contribute  to  the 
learning  of  a  foreign  or  second  language  (L2)  in  primary,  secondary  and  higher 
education. It is based on questionnaire surveys that were responded to by a total of 
963  experts  and  teachers;  the  qualitative  research  process  further  benefited  from 
input  by  101  contributors.  The  study  includes  case  studies  of  the  institutional  and 
pedagogical  relations  between  translation  and  the  preferred  language-learning 
methods in seven Member States (Croatia, Finland, France, Germany, Poland, Spain 
and  the  United  Kingdom)  and  three  comparison  countries  (Australia,  China  and  the 
United States).   

The  general  finding  is  that  L2  teachers,  in  Europe  and  elsewhere,  prefer 
‘communicative’  teaching  methodologies  but  often  do  not  see  that  translating  is  a 
communicative act. In many cases translation is frowned upon in the L2 classroom, 
along with the use of L1 generally. If stakeholders believe that L1 should be excluded 
from the L2 classroom, in tune with ideals of ‘immersion’ and the teacher as a ‘native 
speaker’,  then  translation  activities  are  automatically  excluded  as  well.  Translation 
nevertheless remains present as scaffolding to help learners initially, as a traditional 
means  of  checking  on  acquisition,  and  in  learners’  ‘mental  translation’  processes, 
when  they  internally  relate  L2  to  L1  even  when  L1  is  not  used  in  class.  The 
predominant  ideologies  of  language  learning  can  create  a  sense  of  guilt  associated 
with the use of translation – it is something teachers and learners do, but they feel 
they  should  not  be  doing  –  and  there  may  even  be  a  sense  of  translation  as  a 
retrograde  pedagogical  activity,  a  remnant  of  the  nineteenth-century  grammar 
translation method.  

However,  we  have  found  no  strong  empirical  evidence  that  communicative  uses  of 
translation  in  the  L2  classroom  have  a  detrimental  effect  on  language  learning, 
whereas there is empirical evidence that translation can enhance the learning of an 
L2,  particularly  writing  skills  in  both  L1  and  L2.  A  number  of  countries  where 
translation is used with relatively high frequency in the L2 class have very high levels 
of L2 skills, whereas some countries where translation is used rarely have low levels 
of  L2  skills.  A  number  of  studies  also  show  high  levels  of  student  motivation  in 
classes  where  translation  is  used  as  a  communicative  activity.  Further,  there  is 
growing  theoretical  and  research  interest  in  the  relation  between  communicative 
translation and language learning, as indicated in a spectacular rise in the number of 
publications on this issue since 1990.  

In  view  of  this,  it  is  unfortunate  that  translation  has  a  marginal  status  in  language 
learning at present. In the ten-year period from 2002 to 2012, none of the European 
Union  policy  documents  on  language  learning  mentioned  translation  as  a  way  of 
teaching  or  testing  a  language.  In  the  same  period,  the  policy  documents  on 
multilingualism  recognised  the  importance  of  translation  for  the  maintenance  of 
diversity but did not relate translation to improving language learning. Translation is 
instead  presented  as  an  opposite  of  language  learning,  as  something  done  when 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
members of society generally do not know an L2. The result is that language learners 
and trainee translators are seen as belonging to quite separate worlds. Nevertheless, 
the  only  policy  document  that  does  relate  translation  to  language  learning  in  any 
systematic way is of considerable importance: the Common European Framework of 
Reference  for  Languages  (2001)  recognises  that  all  language  learners  ‘are  also 
enabled to mediate, through interpretation and translation, between speakers of the 
two  languages  concerned  who  cannot  communicate  directly’  (2001:  43;  emphasis 
ours).  In  keeping  with  this  trend,  in  most  countries  translation  is  not  explicitly 
mentioned  in  the  official  curricula  for  teaching  L2,  although  the  term  ‘mediation’  is 
occasionally  borrowed  from  the  Common  European  Framework.  Translation  is  not 
generally seen as a language-learning method in itself; it is at best combined with a 
number of general teaching approaches.  

As a supplementary learning activity, translation can be used as scaffolding in initial 
L2 learning and as a complex communicative task at higher levels. These two kinds 
of  activities  are  quite  different  and  have  different  relations  to  language  learning. 
Translation  tends  to  be  used  less  in  primary  education  (where  it  is  mainly  used  as 
scaffolding),  more  in  secondary,  and  even  more  in  higher  education  (as  a  complex 
communicative  activity),  although  there  are  variations  between  countries.  We  have 
found  no  systemic  relation  between  the  use  of  translation  and  the  bilingual  or 
multilingual  nature  of  the  surrounding  society:  translation  is  used  with  some 
frequency  in  bilingual  Finland,  for  example,  but  far  less  frequently  in  bilingual 
Catalonia or Spanish-English regions of the United States, where ‘immersion’ policies 
enjoy  political  prestige.  In  Germany,  where  the  reported  use  of  translation  in 
secondary and higher education is particularly low, the data are complicated by the 
use  of  ‘mediation’  as  a  term  that  covers  translation,  interpreting,  gisting  and 
explaining  information  in  another  language.  Some  teachers  in  Germany  note  with 
irony that they now legitimise the use of translation in class by calling it ‘mediation’.  

Across  Europe,  there  are  quite  different  concepts  of  what  the  term  ‘translation’ 
means,  both  in  research  and  among  teachers.  Some  practitioners  and  theorists  see 
translation as a sentence-level search for equivalence, useful mainly for checking on 
grammar  learning  and  perhaps  to  explore  the  differences  between  languages,  but 
not  to  gain  intercultural  competence  or  to  communicate  messages  in  interactive 
situations.  Others  agree  that  translation  is  a  ‘fifth  language  skill’  (in  addition  to 
speaking, listening, writing and reading), but only in the sense that it is a separate 
skill developed exclusively for professional translation services, after the other skills 
have been learned. Similar numbers of teachers nevertheless agree that translation 
‘brings the other language skills together’, which would suggest that translation can 
contribute to language learning in a dynamic way, with skills that have been learned 
while engaged in one activity subsequently being applied to other fields (for example, 
in the way translation can help develop writing and communication skills in both L1 
and L2). The notion of translation as a set of transferable skills nevertheless remains 
without firm empirical evidence and is an area that deserves to be explored further. 
In  general,  the  more  the  operative  concept  of  translation  involves  communication 
and  intercultural  competence,  the  more  favourable  the  attitudes  to  it  tend  to  be, 
among  both  researchers  and  teachers.  Many  sterile  debates  could  thus  be  resolved 
by carefully defining what the term ‘translation’ means in each case. 

The arguments used against translation in the L2 class, both in the literature and in 
the  responses  by  teachers  to  our  questionnaire,  revolve  around  presuppositions 
concerning  the  overall  aim  of  language  learning.  It  is  commonly  assumed  that  the 
objective of L2 learning is to become like a ‘native speaker’, a mythical creature who 

 
 
 
knows an L1 perfectly. On this view, translation is often understood as an additional 
activity  that  does  not  contribute  to  the  main  learning  objective  but  instead  takes 
valuable time away from the more essential language skills – ‘lack of time’ is indeed 
one  of the main reasons given by teachers for not using translation. This argument 
errs not only in its false assumption that L1 speakers know their language perfectly 
and that L2 is learnt like L1 (there is abundant evidence of ‘mental translation’ in L2 
learning), but also in its view of what learners will eventually be doing with their L2s: 
if there are already 500 million or so L1 speakers of English in the world, for example, 
the aim of learning English as an L2 is perhaps not so much to add to their number 
but  to  produce  people  who  can  move  between  English  and  other  languages, 
producing  and  working  with  multilingual  resources  in  ways  that  go  well  beyond  the 
systemic  nature  of  any  one  language,  any  one  language  skill,  and  any  one 
communication medium. On this second view, translation skills would be involved in 
the numerous ways people use languages  without requiring full fluency in  entire L2 
systems,  whether  it  be  grasping  information  with  the  help  of  online  machine 
translation  (where  it  helps  to  know  the  limits  of  machine  translation),  processing 
military  intelligence,  enhancing  the  symbolic  status  of  threatened  languages,  or 
simply  constructing  everyday  life  in  a  multilingual  environment.  That  is,  translation 
skills could be involved in most of the ways in which people actually use L2.  

Remarkably few experts in English as a second or additional language were willing to 
respond  to  our  detailed  questions  about  translation.  Most  assumed  that  the  issue 
was  settled  –  ‘everyone’  knows  translation  is  detrimental  to  language  learning,  so 
why go back to that? However, the current research and discussion, coupled with the 
changing landscape of the way language resources are used in multilingual societies 
and  social  media,  indicates  that  the  question  is  far  from  settled,  and  that  the 
communicative use of translation has much to offer the L2 learner.  

It would thus be desirable for  steps to be taken to foster a view  of translation as a 
goal-driven communicative activity and to  encourage the creative use  of translation 
in the classroom, in all communication media. This should involve giving L2 teachers 
at  all  levels  access  to  a  communicative  and  interactive  view  of  translation,  through 
publications, online materials or short training courses.