Enhancing translation competence through a corpus-based bank of epistemic adverbs
Keywords:
translating, scientific texts, corpus linguistics, adverbsAbstract
Epistemic adverbs pose significant challenges in scientific translation due to their nuanced expression of certainty and cultural-linguistic variations. This study examines their treatment in the Translation II subject at Universidad Central "Marta Abreu" de Las Villas, where students struggle with these markers. By analyzing the English-Spanish parallel corpus ParaCorp2020, the research develops a pedagogical bank of 26 epistemic adverbs and their translations, accompanied by 12 classroom exercises. The methodology combines corpus analysis with mixed-method research to diagnose student difficulties and validate the resource. Results highlight the tool’s efficacy in enhancing translation competence while promoting active learning. The bank’s structured approach, categorizing adverbs by translation strategies, bridges theoretical and practical gaps in the Translation II curriculum. Specialists confirmed its accuracy, applicability, and potential to reduce reliance on instructor intuition. This work contributes to translation pedagogy by leveraging authentic corpus data to address a critical, often overlooked aspect of specialized text translation.
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