NeMLA 2019: Using Translation to Teach College Writing (Roundtable)

Translators and Teachers of Writing and/or College Composition are encouraged to present how they use, or think they could use,Translation as a tool to teach writing, especially--though not necessarily exclusively--to students whose first language is not English.

Remembering back to the then-mandated six years of Latin and four years of Greek through which I struggled in French high schools as we translated Homer and Aristophanes, Seneca, Cicero and Caesar, I can still hear my professeur: “We don’t expect you to speak Greek or Latin, nor even to remember Cicero’s speeches by heart; but we do know it will help you understand how language works.” Was he correct? Is there something about the discipline of translation that rewires the brain to better understand how meaning is derived, achieved and conveyed?

More importantly for those of us who teach writing to native speakers of languages other than English, is it possible that Translation is a lower-stress, higher-yield starting point for our teaching methodologies?

In your submission of abstracts, please be as theoretical or concretely pragmatic as you are comfortable being; the aim of this panel is to compare ideas, methodologies and experiences and to share them with each other and our audience members.