ERIC Number: EJ1377500
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2022
Pages: 20
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-1949-4270
EISSN: EISSN-1949-4289
Translating the CEFR Companion Volume (2020) into Turkish: The Real Experience Unraveled
Çelik, Servet; Kirkgoz, Yasemin; Irgin, Pelin; Salli-Copur, Deniz; Erbay-Cetinkaya, Sakire; Kurt, Mustafa; Makaroglu, Bahtiyar; Karaca, Bilal; Kavgaci, Hasan; Özturk, Ayhan; Gokturk-Tuney, Nazlinur
Educational Policy Analysis and Strategic Research, v17 n4 p274-293 2022
The Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (CEFR) is one of the most widely consulted reference works that define international standards for the learning, teaching, and assessment of languages. Since its appearance in 2001, the CEFR has been translated into more than 40 languages, including Turkish, making it the second most-translated document of the Council of Europe (CoE) after the European Convention of Human Rights. The CEFR was complemented by the Companion Volume with New Descriptors in 2018. This provisional version was later replaced by the CEFR Companion Volume (CV) in 2020, which includes added descriptors for mediation, online interaction, plurilingual/pluricultural competence, and sign language competences, ensuring modality-inclusive formulations in adapted illustrative descriptors for sign languages and gender-neutrality in all descriptors. The CEFR CV has already been translated into French, Arabic, Italian, Spanish, and Turkish, and translations to several other languages are underway and expected to become available shortly. The Turkish translation was completed in October 2021 by a committed team of scholars with the initiative and coordination of the Turkish Ministry of National Education (MoNE) in cooperation with the CoE. The translation of the CEFR Companion Volume into Turkish is an excellent example of how hard work and perseverance pay off. The translation team and others who have contributed to the work have demonstrated a fine example of sheer dedication, patience, and multidisciplinary collaboration to create a reader-friendly text to guide anyone involved in language teaching and testing--from teachers, learners, and material developers to educational institutions, researchers, and employers. This paper uncovers the background story, events, and actions behind this text for users to better understand its intricacies, nuances, and complexities. It is anticipated that the "backstage information" shared here will provide insights for prospective translators of the CEFR CV into other languages.
Descriptors: Foreign Countries, Second Language Learning, Second Language Instruction, Translation, Native Language, Turkish, Guidelines, Language Variation, Social Influences, Cultural Influences, Communicative Competence (Languages), Global Approach, Language Usage
International Association of Educators. Egitim Fakultesi Dekanligi, Canakkale Onsekiz Mart University, Canakkale 17100, Turkey. e-mail: secretary@inased.org; Web site: https://inased.org/epasrpi/
Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Descriptive
Education Level: N/A
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Identifiers - Location: Turkey
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A