| Author(s) | Mohamed Nabil Nahas Homsi |
| Affiliation | Associate Professor, Department of European Languages and Translation, College of Languages and Translation, King Saud University, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia |
| Title | The Function of Translation in |
| Source | Journal of King Saud University. Languages & Translation. Volume 15, No 1. (2003/1423) |
| Abstract | When traditional methods of teaching foreign languages had been abandoned in the early twentieth century, translation was completely excluded as an aid in the teaching-learning process. Attempting to make learners acquire foreign languages as if they were native speakers, proponents of the new approach have overlooked an important fact, namely that these learners draw heavily on their native language as they gradually acquire the foreign language. The results, therefore, have been well below the expectations. The present paper argues that teaching foreign lsanguages should not aim to convert learners into bilinguals, but simply to enable them to comprehend and use the foreign language in reading and writing in an acceptable fashion. Hence, educational translation will indisputably help the learner to access and absorb the right information. The paper concludes that translation from and into the mother tongue is a useful method in teaching and learning foreign languages. |
