Übersetzung im DaF Studium

Abstract

Translation in German as a Foreign Language Studies

Translation plays an important role, be it in DaF (teaching German as a foreign language) as a subject area, or as a teaching method, or as part of the DaF curriculum.
In this paper, all three of these areas are discussed as forms of collaboration between translation theory and foreign language didactics. At the same time, a more conscious use of translation lessons as part of the DaF curriculum is advocated. This contribution will also treat the process of translation development and raise questions about translation studies, whether it is a subfield of linguistics or draws from different fields of linguistics, such as contrastive linguistics that we discuss and analyze in details.
We concluded that the translation lessons proved to be extremely motivating for our students as there is an obvious transition between study and the world of work (be it the practical part of translation or the academic of translation analysis). At the same time, interest in greater competence in the foreign language and in intercultural competence increased. Thus, translation can be understood as a linguistic contribution to intercultural sensitization, since the comparative analysis of the target and source languages includes the analysis of the target culture in comparison to one's own culture.
Besides these positive effects of translation classes, students would be given the opportunity to develop an interest in translation acts at different levels. The University of Natal (Durban) offers a (Graduate) Certificate of Proficiency in Translation recognized by the South African Translators Institute (SATI). This would not only offer foreign language students a job-related qualification but perhaps another step towards the protection of such an important professional group that is often still little recognized in South Africa.