New framework for the systematization of translation problems analysis and its implementation in legal translation training

Abstract

Translation problem analysis is a recurrent activity in the Translation Classroom used by most trainers to help their students develop their problem-solving skills. This kind of activity, however, is usually carried out ad hoc, as there do not seem to be a significant number of transferable and systematic methodologies that can be adopted in the classroom for different kind of texts and for didactic purposes. The main challenge to design such methodology is that the concept of translation problem itself is a complex and elusive notion which seems to be approached and understood in different ways by translation scholars. Although the study of translation problems is a recurrent research topic within Translation Studies (Wilss, 1977, 1996; Krings, 1986; Nord, 1988/2005; Hurtado-Albir, 2001/2011; Mayoral, 2001; González Davies and Scott-Tennet, 2005; PACTE group, 2011; Pym, 2017), there is not a considerable number of works that explore this concept in detail. To address this methodological void on the analysis of translation problems in the Translation Classroom, the ProblemTrad methodology is designed to offer a specific framework for the detection and analysis of translation problems. The methodology itself is based on De la Cova’s (2017) operational notion of localization problem, which stems mainly from Nord’s (1998/2005) and Toury’s (2010) theories on translation problems. De la Cova’s work also included a classification of translation problems for the localization of online help, which has served as a basis to design more transferable categorizations for various kinds of texts. The ProblemTrad framework has been implemented and validated in various classes of the Translation and Interpreting Degree of the University Pablo de Olavide (Seville, Spain) as part of a teaching innovation project (Proyecto de Innovación Docente-Acción2). The project was initially implemented in the academic year of 2019-2020 in localization-related classes, with web and software translation projects. Given the positive results, it has been launched again in the current academic year (2020-2021) and has been tested with different kind of texts and languages. The present study focuses on the results of the implementation of the ProblemTrad methodology in a Specialized Translation class where students followed this approach to translate legal texts. Using this methodology to detect and classify translation problems with legal texts was a major challenge, as these texts are very different from the content where the methodology was initially implemented (localization and technical texts). However, the results were satisfactory. The methodology was carried out in the form of projects. Thus, students, after going through the training material (explanatory video of the project, dossier, and examples), proceeded to apply the translation problems detection approach in a fragment of an End User License Agreement from a software company. Following this project, most students confirmed that this methodology helped them detect problems and think upon the implications of their decisions, which validates the transferability of this methodology.