One of my students - a restaurant manager - asked me if I could spare 5 minutes at the end of class to check his translation of a Spanish menu.

“Don’t worry too much,” he says. “It doesn’t have to be perfect.”

I’m sure that this is a common scenario for all those who teach English to working professionals. In their minds, the fact that we are language teachers automatically raises us to the status of linguistic jacks of all trades. Perhaps I should be grateful for such unfounded faith but the truth is that I am a pretty bad translator. And the thought of having to do it under pressure hurts my brain.

For me, translation involves a lot of deliberation and frustration in knowing that the answer to the question, “how would that read in English?” lies on the tip of my tongue but is unwilling to move from there. I suppose that although I am an English teacher, I am not a particularly wordy person (I also hate crosswords and Countdown).

It takes a lot of time and experience for an individual to be able to translate efficiently. Consider also that such professionals will often find themselves specialising in chosen fields (Jo, a friend of mine is currently involved in translating texts for clients who work in the beauty product industry for example).

But the worst part of all is that when language teachers are exploited as translators, they are expected to take over someone else’s work. Imagine if the same thing was asked of a sculptor:

“I have spent 9 hours chiselling this block of marble into the shape of Marcus Aurelius. Could you take over the job and make the necessary fine adjustments? It shouldn’t take more than a couple of minutes. As you can see, I have already carried out the bulk of the work.”

Don’t get me wrong - I love addressing translation in the classroom. I think that activities in which learners are required to compare their own language (or languages) with English may contribute to an enhanced linguistic understanding.

Translation can be one of the keys to `seeing´ how language works. If my student had given me the original menu and told me he needed it translated, I would have been very happy to design a lesson plan around it, even if this had meant the need for me to translate it into English in preparation.

So please students, be kind to your teachers. Do not assume that they may be used for your translation needs.