From text to stage: Exploring performance-based language work with wtudent translators
Béatrice Costa
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Title
From Text to Stage: Exploring Performance-Based Language Work with Student Translators
Abstract
In response to the growing influence of artificial intelligence and post-editing on the translation market, the Faculty of Translation and Interpreting at the University of Mons (FTI) has integrated digital tools into its curriculum. Yet, despite this significant reform, future language professionals remain inadequately equipped to navigate the complexities of real-world mediation, particularly the interactional and emotional dimensions of such practice. This article presents a case study from a second-year course in German as a second language (L2), taken during the second year of a five-year translation programme (comprising both bachelor’s and master’s levels). The students – who will later receive mandatory training in Public Service Interpreting at the beginning of their master’s studies – participated in a theatre-based project staging Wolfgang Herrndorf’s Tschick. This project explores how performative practices – particularly Meisner’s repetition exercises – can support the development of pragmatic awareness, subjectivity, and emotional resilience at a formative stage in translator training. Drawing on an anthropological perspective as proposed by Henri Meschonnic, the study emphasises the dynamic interplay between discourse and life, positioning the translator as an “experiencer of language.” It builds on Meisner’s principle that a truthful connection to emotion is essential for aspiring actors – an idea extended here to encompass future translators, cultural mediators, and dialogue interpreters. In doing so, the study demonstrates how artistic interaction can function as a form of in-language translation and offers new insights into bridging the gap between theoretical instruction and embodied practice in the training of professionals for both written and spoken language mediation.
Keywords
Performance-based language, cultural mediation, repetition exercices, Meisner-method