Alwazna Rafat Y
Professor of Translation Studies, TESOL and Legal Translation, Department of European Languages and Literature, Faculty of Arts and Humanities, King Abdulaziz University, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.
Front Psychol. 2023 Jan 6;13:1010704. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2022.1010704. eCollection 2022.
Translation theory is taught at a postgraduate level in Arab countries through the use of English as a medium of instruction (EMI). It is often studied as a theoretical course, which is a major part of any EMI postgraduate translation/interpreting program taught in Arab universities. The present paper examines whether or not Arab instructors use translation theory when they train students in practical courses to be translators/interpreters in EMI higher education in a selection of Arabic-speaking countries in the Middle East. It also investigates whether or not translation theory, if used by Arab instructors in the translation/interpreting training at a postgraduate level, is utilized through English only or through translanguaging. It adopts a mixed method, consisting of a questionnaire, which has been distributed to 60 Arab translation/interpreting instructors/trainers from the selected Arab countries alongside three semi-structured interviews with three Arab professors who have been chosen from the 60 instructors for their long experience of translation/interpreting training. The paper argues that most of the participants use translation theory when training postgraduate students in practical courses to be translators/interpreters. This is because the use of theory offers students a solid ground for their problem-solving, decision-making and the ability to explain the logic behind their choice. The paper also shows that the participants do not completely adhere to English as a medium of instruction, rather they exercise translanguaging while using translation theory in practical courses. This is due to the specific translation/interpreting terminology contained in such theories, which may not be easily comprehended by students through the use of English on its own. Finally, the paper claims that the majority of the participants use multiple theories through translanguaging in their training. They argue that each theory has its own use and students should be exposed to as many theories as possible in EMI higher education in the selected Arab countries through translanguaging. This paper offers a baseline for using translation theory for the purpose of the translation/interpreting training through translanguaging in EMI higher education in the selected Arab countries, which may have implications for bilingual instruction of translation theory in other similar contexts.
在阿拉伯国家，翻译理论是在研究生阶段通过以英语为教学媒介（EMI）来教授的。它通常作为一门理论课程来学习，是阿拉伯大学开设的任何EMI研究生翻译/口译课程的重要组成部分。本文探讨了在中东一些讲阿拉伯语的国家，阿拉伯教师在EMI高等教育中培训学生成为翻译/口译员的实践课程时是否使用翻译理论。它还调查了如果阿拉伯教师在研究生阶段的翻译/口译培训中使用翻译理论，是仅通过英语使用还是通过跨语言使用。本文采用了混合方法，包括一份问卷，该问卷已分发给来自选定阿拉伯国家的60名阿拉伯翻译/口译教师/培训师，同时对从这60名教师中选出的三位具有长期翻译/口译培训经验的阿拉伯教授进行了三次半结构化访谈。本文认为，大多数参与者在培训研究生成为翻译/口译员的实践课程时使用翻译理论。这是因为理论的使用为学生解决问题、决策以及解释其选择背后的逻辑提供了坚实的基础。本文还表明，参与者并未完全坚持以英语为教学媒介，而是在实践课程中使用翻译理论时运用了跨语言。这是由于此类理论中包含特定的翻译/口译术语，仅通过英语学生可能难以理解。最后，本文声称大多数参与者在培训中通过跨语言使用多种理论。他们认为每种理论都有其用途，在选定的阿拉伯国家的EMI高等教育中，应通过跨语言让学生接触尽可能多的理论。本文为在选定的阿拉伯国家的EMI高等教育中通过跨语言进行翻译/口译培训而使用翻译理论提供了一个基线，这可能对其他类似背景下翻译理论的双语教学有启示意义。
