Part 1 of this series is available here: https://www.facultyfocus.com/articles/effective-classroom-management/teaching-through-translation-part-1/
This is the second article on Teaching through Translation, based on material adapted from the work I presented on in, Teaching across Cultures (Shaw 2021, used with permission). In the first part, I introduced you to the translation process, the instructor-translator relationship, and the before, during, and after elements of the process. In this second part, you will be guided through key issues in classroom discussion through translation, what to avoid, engaging with simultaneous rather than consecutive translation, and some final words of advice in the journey of effective teaching through translation.
Classroom Discussion through Translation
Classroom discussion is always valuable but is particularly helpful for sustaining student attention and engagement when a lesson is being translated. However, conducting a discussion through translation presents a number of unique challenges – in particular, the extent that you as the instructor needs to be involved in the discussion, and what role the translator should play. If you want translators to play a role in leading the discussion, you should make public to the students that you are giving them this right. You obviously want to be a part of the discussion, but also want the students to enjoy a smooth and engaged discussion.
When translators are known and respected by the students, they can be given more freedom to lead the class, as they are likely to have greater authority and influence with the students. If the translator is less experienced or unknown by the students, you may need to take a stronger leadership role in the classroom. However, where translators are known and respected locally, particularly if they are teachers at the school, you may find that students defer to the translator rather than you as the teacher. It is important that you retain your leadership role in the class, for example, in soliciting student responses rather than having the translator do this. Particularly if things are getting unsettled, it is your responsibility to take control of the discussion rather than expecting the translator to do so. Negotiating with your translator is very important as you seek the best dynamic for smoothing classroom dynamics.
You should be very cautious with students who are bilingual. If they communicate with you in your language, you may be excluding the rest of the class. It is often best to speak in the language of the other students, and leave the translator to do the translating. Do not allow a conversation between you and a bilingual student to run without frequent stops for the translator to enable the rest of the students to know what is being said. If it is a private discussion between you and the student, always respectfully arrange a meeting or office visit.
What to Avoid
For translation to be effective, there are certain practices you should minimize or exclude as much as possible:
- Do not speak quickly. At all costs resist the urge to speak as quickly as possible to cram more in because your time is limited.
- Avoid figures of speech, alliterations, puns, jokes, and any points that depend on understanding the language that you are speaking.
- Do not use idiomatic terms and slang languages. If you find yourself using idiomatic or slang terms, you should carefully explain the meaning to the translator. Remember that most translators have only studied formal language – not slang.
- Proverbs and jokes generally do not translate from language to language. The notion of what is funny varies from culture to culture. Many societies have no understanding of sarcasm or irony.
- You need to be sensitive of what is culturally acceptable or culturally unacceptable. For example, certain jobs are despised in one culture but respect-worthy in another. Animals that are kept as pets in one culture are seen as dirty in another. In particular “dog” is seen as an insulting term in many parts of the world.
- Avoid illustrations that are foreign to your audience. If you are teaching in a hot, tropical country, that brilliant illustration about shoveling snow will fall on deaf ears (Dahlfred, 2011).
- Do not publicly compliment the translator. This places the translator in a very difficult situation.
Simultaneous Translation
The general advice given above for classroom teaching assumes consecutive translation. If you are invited to speak at a conference, you may encounter simultaneous translation. Trying to hear and speak at the same time is a very challenging task for a translator, and if you want a quality translation, you need to be sensitive to the needs of the translator. In particular, it is virtually impossible to simultaneously translate a person who speaks quickly. It is particularly important in these contexts that you speak slowly and enunciate clearly.
When there is simultaneous translation, you should give as much material as possible in advance. It is virtually impossible to translate a lecturer who reads a paper which the translator has not received beforehand. It is best to have a full manuscript in the hands of the translator well in advance of the presentation. Even if you don’t follow the manuscript exactly, the translator will have time to go through the material, and perhaps clarify certain terms with you. This is particularly important for deep and complex material.
If you are planning to take an interactive approach with plenty of explanation along the way, then an outline may be adequate – but even this should be sent beforehand. It is important that you include key terms in the outline and ensure that the flow of your presentation is clear. As much as possible, you should seek to follow the flow of your outline in your actual presentation. However, even if the translator has an outline, but you then read word for word from a manuscript, you need to be aware that perfect translation is virtually impossible.
Be aware of the need to minimize distraction for the translator. If you can find an isolated and quiet situation for the translator, you are more likely to get quality translation. The best is a designated soundproof booth.
Some Final Words on Teaching Through Translation
Be aware that your time will be cut in half by translation. If you present complex material that needs explanation in the translation, you may have even less than half the time. You therefore need to dramatically reduce the quantity of material you would normally seek to cover in class. Group discussions are a good use of time, especially if the visiting instructor eavesdrops with the help of the translator. If you use a lot of small group discussion, you will lose less time than if you are predominantly reliant on lecture as a methodology.
Certain accents are easier for translators than others. For example, translators generally find the American accent easier than other English accents due to exposure to movies and television. Although people applaud an “Oxford accent,” it is not as readily understood as the American mid-West accent – characterized by a fairly “flat” American tone but with the American articulation of the “r.” You may like to enunciate the “r” at the ends of words even when this seems unnatural. The most difficult to translate are those for whom the translated language is not the native language. If you are being translated from a language other than your own, it is important to speak slowly and enunciate as carefully as possible.
Listening to lecture through translation becomes boring and tiring for students much more quickly than it would without translation. Particularly if your translator becomes bored, you are unlikely to get a good translation! Consequently, you need to make a special effort to have interesting content when being translated – perhaps with illustrations and appropriate stories. When you are being translated, you should probably be more animated than you normally would and give plenty of opportunity for student engagement. A good translator should seek to mirror your animation, and this gives life to the classroom dynamics. An animated presentation involves both physical expressiveness and varied tone in your speech.
Be aware that translation is an exhausting task for the translator. It is therefore important to ensure that translators have plenty of opportunities to rest. For example, if the teaching session is three hours, it is preferable to break it into three periods of 50 minutes rather than two periods of 80 minutes. You should also expect that the quality of translation will be better at the beginning of the session than at the end. It is a good idea to plan for more engaged student activities and small group discussion towards the end of the session when the translator is tired.
A tangential but important word of caution: You should be particularly cautious of students who have good fluency in your language. It may be natural for you to show these students a level of favoritism, giving them more of your time and attention, and even subconsciously viewing them as more intelligent or more effective. In most cases this is not the case. Consciously try to give time to those with little or no ability in your language, as these encounters hold great potential for significant mutual growth.
Perry Shaw is Honorary Research Associate at Morling College (Sydney, Australia), and author of Transforming Theological Education. Prior to moving to Australia Perry and his family taught in the Middle East from 1990-2019.
References:
Shaw, P. 2021. Communication, language, and cross-cultural teaching. In P. Shaw, C. Lopes, J. Feliciano-Soberano, & B. Heaton, Teaching across Cultures: A Global Christian Perspective (Carlisle: Langham, 2021), 47-62.
Dahlfred, K. 2011. Ten tips on teaching through translation. Blog posted at https://www.dahlfred.com/en/blogs/gleanings-from-the-field/440-ten-tips-on-teaching-through-translation.