Dear All,
It would certainly be true, for a professional translator, that he or she would be absolutely fluent in their ‘B ’ (other) language as well as their ‘A’ (native) language. But Salesian translators, for the most part, would not call themselves ‘professional’ translators. It is just one task they do, among many others, ‘for the greater glory of God and the salvation of souls.’ They will certainly want to be able to claim familiarity with the B language, and it is entirely possible that the very act of translating it into their A language is in fact another way of improving their knowledge and fluency in the B language. To learn it, use it!
I have always maintained that Don Bosco was a translator (https://www.bosco.link/sc/92696), even though he is rarely described as being such. In so many ways he was a language professional. He had some strong ideas on how to learn a language, and had thoughts about language policy both at Valdocco and for those going abroad to the missions. In 1876, a year after the first missionary expedition, for example:
> I foresee that soon we shall have language courses here at the Oratory for the missions. We could proceed this way: all those desiring to work in the foreign missions would add to their curriculum the study of the Spanish, French or English languages and customs in that order during their first, second or third year of secondary schooling. These languages could also be taught as electives in philosophy and theology. Thus, I hope, we might achieve our goal with little trouble. (MB 12, 5).
And again in the same year:
> For quite some time Don Bosco had cherished the thought of establishing missions in India and Australia. Undismayed by the difficulties of the English language, he felt that his sons could manage it through practice rather than theory. For a few months they were to master a vocabulary of common words; then they were to practise conversation in gradual steps; finally they were to perfect their pronunciation under a teacher. Substantially, it was the Berlitz method which later became so popular. (MB 12, 4).
Then there was his own little technique as a schoolboy:
> Take note. The walk to and from school afforded me some time to study. When I got home I would take the hoe in one hand and my grammar in the other, and along the way I would study “when qui quae quod you’d render” until I reached the place of work. (MO, 45).
How would you finish that quote? Pretty obviously you might choose ‘gender’!
And then, by now from long experience he addressed the question of how to learn a language:
> “Do you really want to learn Latin?” Don Bosco would ask them, and Michael Rua in particular. “Do this: translate a paragraph from a classic author into Italian. Then, without looking at the original text, put your translation back into Latin, and then compare. Do this every day for a month. You‟ll be surprised how you'll begin to depend less and less on your dictionary”. (BM 4:204.)
As Fr Roberto Spataro tells us (and those of you who studied at Ratisbonne in Jerusalem will recall him with affection):
> This is the so-called “retro-version‟, a laborious but very effective exercise that allows acquiring both a passive comprehension of the Latin texts and the skill to compose in Latin. It was in vogue until the last half of the 19th century before other methods prevailed. This exercise prefers the active use of the language and has been typical of the ecclesiastical tradition and recommended by the Roman Pontiffs. Some have recently begun switching back to it, because of its positive, even excellent, results. This method includes the indispensable study of grammar in a larger learning process in and by which the active use of language plays an important role (R. Spataro, ‘DON BOSCO'S LOVE FOR LATIN, An Unknown Aspect of his Life and Work’, Divyadaan 26/3 (2015) 395–410).
I think there is enough in the above quotations to suggest the value of translation as a language learning activity. See Best Practice 26 on this for more.
