Abstract
Translation is a form of transfer and an expression of a certain interaction between languages. In foreign language teaching and learning, translation and translation-related activities (bilingual or plurilingual activities) have several functions.
It can be a means of acquiring vocabulary, comparing and practising grammatical structures, and a focused study to analyse interference errors etc. It is also an objective.
Translation and the skill of translating, "from" or "into" a language, is a specific speech skill that needs to be developed like all other speech skills. Translation is also something towards which all systemic approaches to foreign language teaching (i.e. concepts, theories, methods, and methodological orientations) are defined in some way.
Some welcome it, for others it is a barrier, and some condemn it altogether. Current trends (i.e. digital teaching methods, online applications, and audiovisual learning) not only consider translation to be useful and important, but some teaching platforms and didactics are directly based on translation.
In this paper, the author attempts to conceptualize the role of translation in professional foreign language teaching in medical study programmes.