A study compared student performance on oral and written French translation tasks by students exposed to either a related written text or a related tape recording. The written task was completed comparably by both groups, but the oral task was performed better by those having aural/oral instruction. (Author/MSE)

Discussion of the preservation of language and culture in small linguistic societies focuses on Iceland. The history of the Icelandic language is explained, problems with translation from English are described, the use of native languages in education is discussed, and the role of the English language is considered. (LRW)

The merits and weaknesses of major language teaching methods in China are examined, along with the characteristics of Mandarin, Chinese students' learning disposition, and current social needs. An eclectic approach to teaching, including the grammar translation method, is advocated over the communicative approach. (nine references) (Author/LB)

It is proposed that while interest has focused on specialized professional vocabulary as an object of language instruction, the same vocabulary can be viewed as a tool for teaching. The exchange of concepts and terminology between student and teacher improves student understanding of the language and the problems of translation. (MSE)

After surveying the ways in which translation is currently used in teaching Italian in British and U.S. universities, an approach is suggested that focuses on using translation activities that are authentic and allow students to develop not only their linguistic and metalinguistic skills but also their sociocultural competence. (CFM)

Discusses the role of the nonprofessional native-speaking teacher of English as a foreign language in a non-English-speaking country. Points out the pros and cons of hiring nonprofessional native speakers in the Brazilian context. (Author/VWL)

Examined the roles of learning method, word frequency, and cognate status in the learning of 80 Italian words by 56 adult Dutch learners previously unfamiliar with Italian. Two learning methods were contrasted: word learning, where the Italian word was presented with its translation in Dutch, and picture learning, where it was presented with a…

The Chinese Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory-Adolescents (MMPI-A) was applied in Hong Kong to a normative sample of 565 male and 664 female students aged 14 to 18. In conjunction with previous research, findings support the possibility of cultural differences in item interpretation, which should be considered in clinical interpretations…

Describes a working model used to determine the target language use in a language for specific purpose test project: the Listening Summary Translation Exam in Taiwanese (LSTE/T). The purpose of the LSTE/T was to evaluate the summary translation ability of applicants who want to work as linguists in law enforcement agencies in the United States.…

A trait of the scholarly tradition of France is explication de texte, associated in the past with philology and the translation of classical texts. This tradition reemerges as a compromise between demands of the communicative approach for practical language skills and the broader linguistic and cultural objectives of foreign language learning.…

Presents abstracts of a session that discussed cross-language information retrieval (CLIR) on the World Wide Web. Topics include CLIR research in Chinese-English, German-English, and Japanese-English involving machine translation, semantic indexing, domain concepts, integrating new technologies, large-scale multilingual lexicons, and international…

Presents the results of a research project subsidized by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council in Canada. The research constitutes one project of a number in a strategic research network "EvNet" on the evaluation of computer technologies. The focus here is on the impact of voice recognition software on the language…

Highlights new editions of work on multiculturalism; reissues of significant works on multiculturalism that had been out of print; translations; recommended additional volumes in a publisher's series; and previously published works that have been reissued in a new form such as compilations of folktales on CDs from around the world. (SM)

Federal legislation (White House Executive Order 13166, 2000) mandates that language services be provided to limited English proficient populations by health care providers receiving federal funding. In order to do this, some basic resources have been developed to administer medical services. Nevertheless, the translation aspects of these…

Due to globalization in recent years, organizations and the government in Taiwan take developing human expertise more seriously than ever before. However, human resource development evaluation practices in Taiwan have somewhat overlooked connecting training to transfer and organizational results. To help close the gap, organizations in Taiwan need…