The use of translation as a pedagogical resource in teaching Spanish for business and economics (SBE): a teaching experience with Italian-speaking university students

Abstract

In this paper we aim to investigate the potential of translation as a pedagogical tool in the field of Spanish language teaching, with particular reference to business Spanish taught to Italian-speaking university students. For many decades, translation as a teaching technique has been hampered by the fact that it was not in line with the communicative approach that has long characterised language teaching. Following the publication of the Companion Volume (2020) of the Common European Framework of Reference for Foreign Languages, the concept of translation as a pedagogical tool has come back into focus. In particular, our aim is to examine the extent to which translation can contribute to the process of learning Spanish as a foreign language by addressing a specialised area, namely business Spanish. We will present the results of an experiment carried out with students of the university degree in ‘Commercio estero e Turismo’ at Ca' Foscari University of Venice, in order to observe what difficulties they have encountered when carrying out translation tasks for pedagogical purposes between two cognate languages (Spanish-Italian). In this way, we will be able to dwell upon the efficacy of translation as a pedagogical tool in the field of business Spanish.