Teaching specialized translation in Romania in a Francophone context at Master’s Degree Classes on Translation and Terminology

Abstract

The present article proposes an analysis of the didactic strategies employed in teaching translationin a francophone context at postgraduate Master’s degree classes on Translation and Terminology at the Universityof Iasi, more specifically on specialized translation of religious Orthodox Christian texts. It focuses mainly onthe didactic strategies deployed by the teacher in this field with a view to developing the students’ readingcompetence in order to achieve translation (while displaying a proper representation of the distinct featuresof the presence of religion/the religious, and especially of Orthodoxy in France), as well as their specializedcomprehension skills in the religious, Orthodox Christian conceptual field, conducive to appropriate rephrasingat the level of the target text and to the construction of a cultural confessional competence. The study also dwellson the biographic and didactic, professional history of the teacher (who is, at first, involved in teaching Frenchas a foreign language in Romania), on his/her formation as a trainer in specialized translation, on the wayhe/she manages the (due) neutrality in relating to the religious nature of the source texts, on the manner he/sheedifies students to manage their own “emotions” during the translation process, when they are triggered bypersonal religious convictions. Last but not least, the present analysis considers the very stances adopted bythe teacher of specialized, francophone translation in his/her role as an evaluator of the students’ translativetechniques (and abilities), as well as the impact of the latter on the efficacity of his/her overall approach topedagogical strategies.