Languages Across the Curriculum (LAC): Translanguaging

Bilingual dictionaries and online translation tools are valuable for emergent bilinguals as they develop vocabulary and gain independence in learning. They provide students with resourceful ways to find meaning on their own, and engage in translanguaging even when others in the class might not share their home language. Bilingual dictionaries or access to online translation (Google Translate, Reverso.com, etc. or translation apps for tablets) should be on hand at all times for students to use, and teachers should remind and encourage students to use them. It can be useful for teachers to explicitly guide students in how to use a bilingual dictionary, and to model finding a word and negotiating whether the entry found is the “right” meaning for the given context. It is important to note that online translation is not always accurate, but this can be used a learning tool for students to “revise” the translations they find and engage in home language literacy practice.

Two explicit ways to use bilingual dictionaries in classrooms include:

• Developing “anchor concepts”: Through active engagement with bilingual dictionaries and online translation tools, students can develop their understanding of “anchor concepts” – the central words or terms needed to understand critical concepts in learning. To use bilingual dictionaries for this purpose, work with emergent bilinguals to be strategic about which words they take the time to look up, rather than every single new word they come across. This will enable students to both deepen their understanding of integral vocabulary, and to manage their time and self-monitor learning during independent tasks.
• Annotating text: Emergent bilinguals can annotate (mark up) a text as they are reading independently or collaboratively with the support of bilingual dictionaries and online translation tools. While they read, students look up words that are most central to their comprehension of a text and write the home language translation directly on the reading. Students will then be able to refer back to their bilingual annotated text for further reference as they write or discuss the reading, and draw from specific words or textual evidence in their home language and English to support their ideas.  

Bilingual dictionaries, glossaries, and online translation tools can be used daily with emergent bilinguals to develop language and independence in learning. Engaging with both hands-on texts and electronic media, translation tools and dictionaries are exceptionally important, both as translanguaging opportunities when others in the class might not share a student’s home language, and as a strategy for students to use in independent learning. These resources should be on hand at all times for students to use, and teachers should remind and encourage students to use them throughout a variety of tasks.

Here are some ideas for utilizing these resources successfully:

• Make sure sites such as Google Translate, Reverso.com, and ImTranslator.net are not blocked by Internet security
• Have translation apps on tablets, such as iTranslate, SayHi Translate, Word Lens, TapTranslate, Translate Professional, etc.
• Explicitly teach students ways to use bilingual dictionaries and online translation tools, modeling finding a word and negotiating whether the entry found is the “right” meaning for the context needed. (Wordreference.com is an excellent resource for translating individual words, and offers detailed explanations of the different contexts in which words might appear.) (122) 
• Engage students in creating multilingual dictionaries, glossaries, or online resources – emergent bilinguals can keep “personal dictionaries” in notebooks or mobile devices of home language translations for words of personal significance. These can be shared and used by other students, and are especially useful for a teacher to save a copy for the next year’s class and newcomers.
• Content-Area Bilingual Glossaries are available free online in a variety of languages: http://www.p12.nysed.gov/biling/bilinged/bilingual_glossaries.htm

In order to use the Internet effectively with EBLs, we need to approach it with multilingual goals in mind. Students can use the Internet to:

• Learn content and conduct research using the home language. For example, they can:
  • Gather information by researching a topic using websites in both their home language and English.
  • Use student-friendly websites written in the home language to have students learn about a content-area topic.
  • Watch media such as video clips or videocasts in both English and the home language to support and scaffold difficult content. Use websites with audio in the home language and English.
• Support language instruction. For example, students can use websites that: 
  • Translate from a home language into the target language and vice versa 
  • Provide visual support, like Google Images, to clarify the meaning of new vocabulary.
• Some websites that are particularly helpful for EBLs include:
• www.translate.google.com - This is a reliable website for both students and teachers. You and your students can translate words or whole documents from English into over 60 different languages. 
• www.2lingual.com - This site, powered by Google, allows you to search the Internet simultaneously in two languages. Available in 37 languages, search results are presented in side-by-side lists. 
• www.brainpop.com – This website provides over 1000 short videos on topics in all academic subjects. The website has ESL resources (www.brainpopesl.com) as well as separate sites for videos in both Spanish (www.esp.brainpop.com) and French (www.brainpop.fr).
• www.omniglot.com – This is the website for the Online Encyclopedia of Writing Systems and Languages. It is easy to navigate and has many words, phrases, and texts in multiple languages.
• www.wordreference.com - This translation website provides details about the many contexts in which words are used.

From The Center for Fiction, Literary Translations Clinics series: "Allison Markin Powell, Cedilla member and the 2020 recipient of the PEN America Translation Prize for The Ten Loves of Nishino by Hiromi Kawakami, joined Thierry Kehou, Writing Programs Manager at The Center for Fiction. They discussed how the translation clinics came together, the intersections between fiction, creative writing, and literary translation, and how to get started as a literary translator."