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Prior language knowledge and intercomprehension at the first encounter of Italian as an additional language. A translation task

Smidfelt, Linda LU and van de Weijer, Joost LU orcid (2019) In Moderna Språk 113(1). p.1-24
Abstract
The aim of the present study is to examine and describe Swedish upper secondary students’ use of their background languages while translating a text from Italian, a language unknown to them, into either their L2 English or their L3 French or Spanish. The assumption here is that searching for similarities between these languages is a natural feature of language learning and that intercomprehension can lead to at least limited understanding of an unknown language. The written translations were analysed quantitatively by calculating translation accuracy in the different languages and qualitatively by means of a retrospective questionnaire on the translation process. A psychotypology questionnaire was also included to examine the participants’... (More)
The aim of the present study is to examine and describe Swedish upper secondary students’ use of their background languages while translating a text from Italian, a language unknown to them, into either their L2 English or their L3 French or Spanish. The assumption here is that searching for similarities between these languages is a natural feature of language learning and that intercomprehension can lead to at least limited understanding of an unknown language. The written translations were analysed quantitatively by calculating translation accuracy in the different languages and qualitatively by means of a retrospective questionnaire on the translation process. A psychotypology questionnaire was also included to examine the participants’ perceptions of the similarities between the languages involved. The majority of the participants stated that they perceived Spanish to be more similar to Italian than any of the other languages involved in the study. Moreover, the results show that the students in the group that translated into Spanish translated the text more accurately than those who translated into French and English. The comments in the retrospective questionnaire show that the students reflected on similarities between the languages on a lexical level, but also on structural and phonological similarities. Contextual cues were also important for the participants’ inferences and translations. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
author
and
organization
publishing date
type
Contribution to journal
publication status
published
subject
keywords
intercomprehension, Italian, translation, psychotypology
in
Moderna Språk
volume
113
issue
1
pages
1 - 24
publisher
Lärarna i moderna språk
external identifiers
  • scopus:85073969512
ISSN
2000-3560
language
English
LU publication?
yes
additional info
Alternate title: The role of previous foreign language knowledge when translating from Italian as an unknown language into L2 English or L3 Spanish or French
id
e6a0ff20-9534-4bb9-9293-5fd4e3e9b107
alternative location
http://ojs.ub.gu.se/ojs/index.php/modernasprak/article/view/4673
date added to LUP
2019-04-04 20:11:50
date last changed
2023-10-07 00:13:54
@article{e6a0ff20-9534-4bb9-9293-5fd4e3e9b107,
  abstract     = {{The aim of the present study is to examine and describe Swedish upper secondary students’ use of their background languages while translating a text from Italian, a language unknown to them, into either their L2 English or their L3 French or Spanish. The assumption here is that searching for similarities between these languages is a natural feature of language learning and that intercomprehension can lead to at least limited understanding of an unknown language. The written translations were analysed quantitatively by calculating translation accuracy in the different languages and qualitatively by means of a retrospective questionnaire on the translation process. A psychotypology questionnaire was also included to examine the participants’ perceptions of the similarities between the languages involved. The majority of the participants stated that they perceived Spanish to be more similar to Italian than any of the other languages involved in the study. Moreover, the results show that the students in the group that translated into Spanish translated the text more accurately than those who translated into French and English. The comments in the retrospective questionnaire show that the students reflected on similarities between the languages on a lexical level, but also on structural and phonological similarities. Contextual cues were also important for the participants’ inferences and translations.}},
  author       = {{Smidfelt, Linda and van de Weijer, Joost}},
  issn         = {{2000-3560}},
  keywords     = {{intercomprehension; Italian; translation; psychotypology}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  month        = {{06}},
  number       = {{1}},
  pages        = {{1--24}},
  publisher    = {{Lärarna i moderna språk}},
  series       = {{Moderna Språk}},
  title        = {{Prior language knowledge and intercomprehension at the first encounter of Italian as an additional language. A translation task}},
  url          = {{http://ojs.ub.gu.se/ojs/index.php/modernasprak/article/view/4673}},
  volume       = {{113}},
  year         = {{2019}},
}