ABSTRACT
This chapter reviews the uses of translation in the teaching of modern languages from the grammar-translation to the audiolingual and communicative approaches. It understands translation as both a text-centred phenomenon, and as the mental and verbal shuttling between languages that learners and teachers often engage in. Recent developments show that translation, conspued by the communicative approach, is making a comeback in different forms – transpositions, transmodalities, translingual and transcultural practices – in response to the ‘multilingual turn’ in Applied Linguistics. The presentation of one pedagogic example of a translation module shows how the notions of overt and covert translation can be applied to the in-depth teaching of Paul Celan’s poem Todesfuge in the elementary German college-level classroom. The positive results of this experimental module strongly support -arguments for the pedagogic and educational value of translation in modern language study. As digital technology is transforming what we mean by language and language use, and is changing the ways of making and transforming meaning, it is good to remember the subtle thrills that cross-lingual and cross-cultural translation can bring to students of modern languages in the present day beyond the instrumental benefits of Google Translate.
