1.1. 1. The problem is the methodology that separates language from its communicative function. Indeed, translation does take place in the real world is essentially linked to a communicative purpose.
1.2. 2. "Learners of a foreign language do refer to their mother tongue to aid the process of acquisition of L2 or, in other words they "translate silently""
1.3. 3. Questionnares as the one conducted by Carreres (2006) concluded that learners overwhelmingly perceive translation exercises as useful for language learning.
1.4. 4. Students ask for translation exercises and enjoy them a lot.
1.5. 5. It helps learners grasp a particular L2 structure. As such, stylistic considerations are set aside. The focus is on the communicative value of a given text.
1.6. 6. "if taught in a way that resembles the real life activity of translating, can bring into play the four basic language skills and yield benefits in L2 acquisition"
1.7. 7. "translation extremely important for foreign language teaching simply because it allows conscious learning and control of the foreign language, and as a result, it reduces native language interference."
2. DISADVANTAGES
2.1. 1. Translation involves thinking in one language and translate into another, that opens the window to interference.
2.2. 2. Impedes both teacher and students to work in a single language.
2.3. 3. Gives the false idea that there is a one-to-one correspondence between language.
2.4. 4. Slows the achievement of the main goal of stimulate spoken language.
2.5. 5. Translation has no utility in most real life situations, and limits the learning to explore only reading or writing skills.
2.6. 6. Translation exercises work well with students who are really competent in grammar and lexis of a language, so those activities won't work for the average learner.
2.7. 7. Using translation forces students to spend time using the L1. That time could be better used using the L2.
