The Concept of Text Type and Its Relevance to Translator Training

Isabel García Izquierdo
Universitat Jaume I, Castellón (Spain)

Abstract

The aim of this paper is to show the relevance that a correct interpretation of text types in the mother tongue has for the correct development of the translating activity by translator trainees. This paper briefly analyzes the results of a classroom activity in which students were asked to identify the text-type ascription of two texts. They were first-year students in the Translation and Interpreting program at the Jaume I University in Castellón (Spain). The results confirm, on the one hand, existing differences in the comprehension and interpretation of text types and, on the other hand, that the confusion that exists in practice between the concepts of text type and genre (Hatim and Mason 1990) may also be observed in the case of these students.

Table of contents

The identification of the text types characteristic of individual languages figures prominently among the concepts developed in the field of Translation Studies over the last four decades. Such identification is relevant to translation-oriented analysis and, as a result, plays an important role in translator [ p. 284 ]trainees’ comprehension and interpretation of texts too.

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