STUDENT A's QUESTIONS (Do not show these to Student B.)
| (1) | What comes to mind when you hear the word ‘translation’? |
| (2) | Are there words in your language that you think are almost impossible to translate? |
| (3) | What problems have you had with translating English idioms? |
| (4) | Have you ever had great fun using an online translation service? |
| (5) | Would you like to work as a translator? |
| (6) | Do you think someone will invent an instant speech translation machine one day so we can always understand what people are saying in other languages? |
| (7) | Have you made any funny mistakes because of translation? |
| (8) | Do you think a country’s slang is difficult to translate? |
| (9) | Jonathan Miller said: "What makes literature interesting is that it does not survive its translation." Do you agree? |
| (10) | Umberto Eco said: "Translation is the art of failure." Do you agree? |
STUDENT B's QUESTIONS (Do not show these to Student A.)
| (1) | How important is translation in learning a language? |
| (2) | Are you always satisfied with how easily words can be translated? |
| (3) | Do you use translation tools to learn English? |
| (4) | If two speakers of different languages fell in love, could they ever make each other understand exactly how they feel – is love lost in translation? |
| (5) | Why is it that translated jokes are rarely funny? |
| (6) | Do you need an in-depth knowledge of the other culture to be able to do a good translation? |
| (7) | How well do you think a term like “democracy” is translated and understood in countries that have no democracy? |
| (8) | Are movies in English always translated well into your language? |
| (9) | The poet Robert Frost said: "Poetry is what gets lost in translation." Do you agree? |
| (10) | George Borrow said: "Translation is at best an echo." Do you agree? |
