Translation method (Latin class)

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In Latin lessons, translation methods refer to the decoding and recoding of Latin texts . H. Process to develop these texts linguistically, grammatically and possibly stylistically and to translate them into the target language (German) .

On the history of the translation method

Translation as the central goal of Latin lessons is a complex and creative process. With the abandonment of the Latin school essay in 1890 as a high school diploma requirement and the gradual decline in German-Latin translation in the classroom, the problem of the appropriate teaching method for Latin-German translation arose . For a long time the construction method prevailed, which was also considered a logical thought exercise of the mind. Critics clashed with the purely formal analysis without understanding the meaning, the action against the word order and the lack of a holistic view of the sentence , which was torn into individual parts from the start. They preferred a sentence analysis that starts from the meaning of the whole and reveals the details from it, often in connection with an understanding that initially precedes word for word and penetrates the presumed sentence sense.

In the discussion after 1945, these two didactic principles were essentially opposed to one another: purely successive methods (word for word understanding), which found little resonance in teaching practice, and pragmatic combinations of construction methods, sentence analysis and successive methods to cope with the diversity of the possible Difficulty mastering the translation. In teaching practice, combinations were more likely to prevail ; the curricula generally do not intervene in the methodology.

Another discussion, especially in the 1990s, revolved around the use of phrastic methods (from gr. Phrasis), which only cover a single sentence, or transphrastic methods, which cover an entire text, in order to take into account that many things are not used until a later stage Text becomes understandable.

Phrastic and transphrastic methods

In contrast to the intuitive understanding of spoken foreign languages , the understanding of texts from ancient languages ​​that are in written form can often only be achieved with the help of several development and translation steps. This usually applies to complex sentence periods . The following methods are roughly described for teaching Latin:

  • Methods of sentence development (phrastic methods)
    • the word-for-word method: word for word is immediately transferred in the correct form in the sentence.
    • The construction method: First the sentence core ( predicate and subject ) is determined, then the other words are determined according to form and meaning as well as their position in the sentence. This happens first for the main clause , then for the clauses .
    • the linear decoding ( Hans-Joachim Happy ): First, determine all verbal forms in order, then all connectors ( Kon - and subjunction , relative pronoun ), then the corresponding subjects, unique objects and adverbs , etc., typical Latin sentence structures (accusative and infinitive , ablativus absolutus , participium coniunctum ) up to the coarse index of the sentence. Then the more difficult parts of the sentence are determined in a detailed indexing.
    • the three-step method (DSM by Dieter Lohmann , also pendulum method from the beginning of the sentence to the end of the sentence to the rest): The first part of the sentence is determined, then the personal form of the predicate, then the other parts of the sentence in the order of occurrence. Modified applies to clauses: first the introductory word, then the subject or personal ending of the predicate, then the remaining parts of the sentence, at the end the predicate.

It is viewed critically that many students do not acquire the necessary form security to apply the methods. The construction method is still the most common method.

  • Methods of holistic text indexing (transphrastic methods). The starting point is a text made up of several sentences. The holistic development was particularly advocated in 1967 by Werner Emrich . The text can be made accessible through
    • Analyzing: first non-directional recording of the sense of the text by listening or reading, then analysis of further text features by means of additional questions, e.g. B. for relationships and correspondences in the text, proper names, punctuation marks
    • the combination of analysis and construction method
    • The “natural reading method”: The starting point is the understanding of the individual words according to their order in the sentence, which leads to the understanding of the sentences and the whole text through the recognition of dependencies and relationships.
    • the "understanding reading": In several passages, the text in the given sequence of words is increasingly better understood and only translated at the end.

Many critics of the transphrastic methods see excessive teacher guidance or the relative lack of results as problems.

It does not make sense to introduce all methods in one learning group, as otherwise no methodological security can be achieved. It is crucial, however, that the level of mere guessing is abandoned and a systematic approach is found in order to get ahead with difficult texts.

literature

  • Werner Emrich: The holistic method in Latin lessons , in: Altsprachlicher Studium 10/4, 1967, pp. 68–86
  • Werner Meincke: Handouts for indexing sentence and text in Latin lessons , in: Altsprachlicher Studium 36/4 + 5, 1993, pp. 69–84
  • Article Translation methods , in: Rainer Nickel : Lexikon zum Latinunterricht , Buchner, Bamberg 2001, p. 293f ISBN 3-7661-5691-8
  • Stefan Kipf : Classical Classes in the Federal Republic of Germany. Historical development, didactic concepts and basic methodological questions from the post-war period to the end of the 20th century. Buchner, Bamberg 2006, ISBN 3-7661-5678-0
  • Stefan Kipf: Historia magistra scholae? Historical educational research as a task of ancient language didactics , PegOn 1/2009
  • Rupert Farbowski: Historia magistra scholae! Constructing - defense of an indestructible method , in: Forum Classicum 4/2009, pp. 280–291