The articles in this volume are the proceedings of a conference on
'Translation in Second Language Teaching and Learning' that took place
at the National University of Ireland, Maynooth, in March 2008. The
papers delivered at the conference, the subsequent discussions in
Maynooth and the articles in this volume have clearly demonstrated that,
after some decades of marginalising or even excluding translation from
second/foreign language methodologies and classroom practices, the time
is ripe for a re-evaluation of the benefits translation can bring to the
process of learning a second language and its cultural context.
Translation exercises are interpreted as processes of negotiation, as
constitutive acts for identities and (inter-)actions, based on
increasingly emerging 'third spaces' between the dominant
conceptualisations, values, norms, beliefs, rules, traditions and
discourses of the languages and cultures involved. The enterprise of
translating between languages, cultures, individuals, societies and
discourses thus assumes a central place of relevance for anyone involved
in the complex project of interculturality, including, and foremost,
foreign language learners.