Writing and Writing Instruction in Different Academic Contexts
COMMON TRANSLATION ERRORS IN ACADEMIC TEXTS ON THE EXAMPLE OF FINAL THESES IN TALLINN HEALTH CARE COLLEGE
1 2 3 Ene Kotkas , Kateriina Rannula , Kalev Salumets
1
Tallinn Health Care College, Tallinn, Estonia. Tallinn Health Care College, Tallinn, Estonia. 3 Tallinn Health Care College, Tallinn, Estonia. 2
Students graduate from Tallinn Health Care College by writing a final paper in order to receive the professional higher education diploma. Diploma papers are academic texts written using English and sometimes Russian sources and translating them into Estonian. As the students in Estonian higher education establishments are very often nonnative Estonian speakers, writing academic texts in Estonian is very often problematic. Although varios research has been conducted on translating in general, there is a lack of papers in Estonia to describe the types of errors in students diploma papers, therefore emphasis of this study is on analyzing student papers in the light of translating difficulties. Suggestions are offered to better the academic writing skills of students in Tallinn Health Care College, which include a course in academic writing skills as well as elearning objects for independent practicing. Current presentation draws on the researches published on the topics of qualitative research and translation together with academic language and translation. According to R.R. Jordan (1997) study skills needed for writing academic texts are summarizing, paraphrasing, translating, and continuous writing in academic style, to name only few. The main problems referred to are the use of appropriate vocabulary, style, and grammar. (Temple et al. 2004). The focus of the presentation is on examining the choices and errors made in translating and writing academic texts using textbased method. Specifically, it explores three topics: word order, agreement of verbs, and meaning loss in translating into Estonian.
References
Jordan, R.R. (1997) English for Academic Purposes . Cambridge University Press
Temple, B., Alys Young. (2004) Qualitative research and translation dilemmas. SAGE Publications . 4 (2), 161178. available from ‹ http://coventry.ac.uk › [23 January 2015]