A Practical Example of a Japanese Translation Module for Undergraduate Students at a British University: ―Characteristics and challenges―

Translation has long been neglected in second or foreign language classrooms because it was considered an inadequate reminder of old teaching methodologies (Fernandez-Guerra 2014: 154). In recent years, however, there has been a re-examination of the significance of translation activities within the sphere of language education (e.g. Cook, 2007, 2010, Tsagari and Floros 2013). Yet, in many instances of Japanese language education in the UK, translation is only lightly touched upon within the wider context of classes focusing on writing and reading comprehension, with independent modules teaching basic translation theory and skills being extremely rare. With this in mind, this paper provides a practical example of a specialised module on Japanese-English bi-directional translation offered to undergraduate students at the University of Leeds.