Abstract:
The present research work attempts to shed light on teaching language for
translation. According to Malmkjaer (2004), though language skills are very
prominent in translating, very little has been written about language teaching for
translators. This is the case because, most of the time, translation teachers are not
language teachers. Thus the subject still remains an issue requiring further theoretical
attention as well as experimental exploration.
It is common sense that linguistic competence is the founding component of the
translation activity; without a linguistic competence, no translation competence could
be achieved. Far from engaging into a debate over whether to teach translation and
language simultaneously or not, language enhancement, reinforcement or even
teaching per-se became a fait accompli. Most translation courses whether they are
international (at L’ESIT for instance) or national (in all our translation departments)
comprise language modules as part of their curriculum.
In an undergraduate translation course which combines language with translation
modules, it was assumed that these modules will support each other. In reality
however, students' translations showed little sign of applying language knowledge to
translation. Instead, students’ linguistic behavior in translation modules was
incompatible with their linguistic behavior in language modules concerning
previously learnt constructions.
Aware of the urgent need to disentangle this critical issue and to bring about a
modest contribution to translation teaching, we embarked on highlighting the status
of language teaching for translation in different translation teaching approaches. New
trends of academic research have emerged to explore innovative lines of language
