To be able to translate and interpret is the final goal of second language learning, even if the learner never actually does this. This is self-evidently true. 

However, translation can be weaved in with the experience of language learning at every level, from beginner to advanced. Furthermore, even if students never become translators themselves, it should be part of their education to know how translation actually works: that it is always a craft, and very rarely something merely mechanical.

In this talk, I wish to present sight translation—reading a text and then speaking its translation—as a highly effective instrument for language teaching. Sight translation forces students to read a text carefully. It teaches them about how translation functions. It is a pairwork activity that harnesses cooperative learning. It ensures that all students, regardless of level, will fully comprehend a core text together. It is highly useful for ‘content’ modules where the linguistic objectives are vague. And finally, it is a way for teachers to include many of those classic complicated texts which all university students should be exposed to, but which defy easy graded reader treatment.

BIO: Rossa O Muireartaigh is an associate professor at Keiwa College in Shibata City. His research areas in ESL include the use of translation in language teaching, and the use of narrative in EAP. He is also an active researcher in Japanese philosophy and its history.