Creating a group profile through error analysis in advanced L2 translation training

Error analysis and product assessment are increasingly viewed as reductive procedures in translation pedagogy. In the current paper, a case is made for ‘rehabilitating’ error analysis, especially in advanced L2 translation teaching. Attention is drawn to its usefulness in creating a group profile for L2 translation trainees, particularly as regards the scope it offers for showing how aspects of linguistic transfer frequently considered marginal, when taken individually, are, on the contrary, significant if viewed cumulatively. In the course of the article it is suggested that error analysis can be used dynamically to show that apparently sporadic and ‘low level’ aspects of transfer are among the most frequent problems, and that they consistently interlock with ‘higher-level’ textual and contextual (if not cultural) considerations. Far from encouraging a transmissionist stance on the part of the L1 teachers normally responsible for L2 translation courses, error analysis can be used to empower L2 students. One way in which this can be done is through a focus on technologies that address the issues emerging from the analysis. This should make students increasingly independent of the intuitive, internalized knowledge of their trainers, both in the short term and in the course of their professional careers.