Verify (by Fernanda) http://www.mikeswan.co.uk/elt-appliedlinguistics/influence-second-language.

htm Using a translation corpus to teach English to native speakers of Portuguese 1

Working with Portuguese learners of English has brought to my attention a considerable number of errors of English which have to do with my students prior knowledge of Portuguese. Identifying those errors and interpreting them in the light of contrastive linguistics can help indicating ways in which a PortugueseEnglish translation corpus can be harnessed to prepare English as a second language teaching materials for native speakers of Portuguese. This paper reports on a few typical examples of Portuguese-English crosslinguistic influence and explains how they can be used as a key to extracting from a Portuguese-English translation corpus comparable facts of linguistic performance which are particularly relevant to Portuguese learners of English.

1. Introduction An area which has much to gain from computerized analyses of translation corpora is that of second language instruction for learners who share a single first language background. Although the idea of developing second language materials specially designed for specific groups of learners is not novel (Lado, 1957), it has remained unpopular among those who feel languages should be acquired rather than learnt (Krashen and Terrel, 1983) and impracticable in classes where learners have different native languages, as is normally the case in English as a foreign language classes conducted in Britain and the USA. Since it is also from these two countries that the majority of EFL teaching materials originate, it is not surprising that most of such materials have been conceived for language learners in general rather than for learners of a single first language background in particular. Anyone working with monolingual classes, however, will have noticed that students who share the same native language experience quite a significant number of second language problems that can be traced back to the influence of their first language. In these cases, feedback on the second language problems that the students have in common can have an especially important role. Tomasello and Herron (1988, 1989) demonstrated that students learned more when the influence of the native language upon the target language was openly discussed in class than when instruction focused only on the target language. Frankenberg-Garcia (ongoing research) has collected data in support of the claim that native and target language contrastive grammar exercises that focus on problems of crosslinguistic influence promote second language learning. In view of these findings, it would be a waste for second language teachers working with monolingual classes to limit themselves to the use of general, all-embracing second language teaching materials conceived for multilingual classes. In addition to the excellent multilingual materials currently available in the market, second language

teachers working with monolingual classes should not close their eyes to the opportunity of using their students first language as a supplementary tool for teaching the second language (see Atkinson, 1993 and Frankenberg-Garcia 1999). It is through this prism that translation corpora become especially important to second language instruction. Because computerized translation corpora enable us to carry out detailed and systematic comparisons between languages, they can be a very useful source of raw materials for exercises that will help learners become aware of areas in which they tend to get the first and the second language mixed up. Before pursuing this issue any further, however, a word or two of caution need be said. To begin with, it is extremely important not to forget that second language learners experience a considerable amount of developmental problems which do not bear any relationship with the first language, many of which cannot be understood within the framework of first and second language contrasts nor can they be mapped onto a translation corpus. The second point that must be clarified is that not all differences between languages are relevant to second language learners (Ellis, 1986; Odlin, 1989). There is no point in seiving through a translation corpus to make second language learners focus on language differences that do not affect their learning 2. So I cannot overly stress that it only makes sense to resort to translation corpora in the second language classroom when addressing issues that have to do with the influence of the first language3. Having said this, in order to determine which comparisons between languages might be useful to the language learner bearing in mind that traslation corpora enable us to access so many comparable facts of linguistic performance that it is very easy to lose sight of the kind of information that really matters - one must first find out, through observation, which parts of the first and the second language do indeed get mixed up. 2. From Crosslinguistic Influence... Working with Portuguese learners of English has enabled me to identify a number of ways in which my students English is influenced by their knowledge of Portuguese (Frankenberg-Garcia & Pina, 1997)4. This is especially true for areas in which Portuguese and English seem to be similar but are not5. An example of this is the way prepositions are used in the two languages, especially when it comes to their use in complementation of certain verbs and adjectives. A typical error by a Portuguese learner of English is to say [1]*She is married with a Frenchman6. instead of [1a] She is married to a Frenchman. This seems to occur because, in Portuguese, you say casar com, i.e., you get married *with someone instead of to someone. Or, to put it differently, because in most situations the meaning of accompaniment expressed by the Portuguese preposition com is equivalent to that of the English preposition with, Portuguese learners of English tend to think that whenever they have to use com in complementation of Portuguese verbs and adjectives, they can use with in complementation of semantically similar English forms. Examples [2] and [3] and their literal translations into Portuguese (in italics) illustrate this point further:

[2] *We were surprised with the news Ns ficmos surpresos com a notcia [3] *I am worried with my brother Eu estou preocupado com o meu irmo There are many other uses of prepositions which Portuguese learners of English find confusing. Examples [4] to [6] show how learners tend to think that whenever they use em in complementation of Portuguese verbs or adjectives they can use in in complementation of corresponding English word forms. [4] *Im going to vote in the socialists Eu vou votar nos [em + os] socialistas [5] *Im good in Maths Eu sou bom em matemtica [6] *I insisted in staying Eu insisti em ficar The above seems to occur because the Portuguese preposition em is very often, but not always, semantically equivalent to the English preposition in. Not only that, but in this particular case it is also worth noting that the two prepositions are also phonetically rather similar. Examples [7] to [9] below are typical of yet another problem with prepositions: [7]*Have you read that book of Saramago? J leste aquele livro do [de + o] Saramago. [8]*Where is the key of that door? Onde est a chave daquela [de + aquela] porta? [9]*He depends of me Ele depende de mim The above errors can be explained by the fact that the unmarked equivalent of the Portuguese preposition de is the English preposition of. Portuguese learners of English therefore tend to think that whenever they have to use de in Portuguese, they can use of in English. A rather different problem of English that is very common among native speakers of Portuguese is that they tend to use too many nouns when they are writing in English. This often makes their prose sound stilted. For example, it is not uncommon to see them write a sentence like Technology makes the dissemination of information easier instead of the far more digestible Technology enables information to be more easily disseminated. This probably occurs because written Portuguese seems to require a greater proportion of nouns than written English, where verb, adverb and

adjective forms are often preferred. Examples of this stilted, artificially nominalized English together with their perfectly plausible literal translations into Portuguese (in italics) are given in [10] to [11] below: [10] Although she had a photography course, her framing was uneven. Apesar de ter um curso de fotografia, os seus enquadramentos eram irregulares. [11] The company did not have capacity to recycle aluminium. A empresa no tinha capacidade para reciclar alumnio. There is no room in this short paper for an exhaustive description of the hundreds of other problems of English that are common among native speakers of Portuguese, and it is not my objective to give one. The few examples of Portuguese-English crosslinguistic influence that have just been presented, however, should serve to indicate how this kind of data can be used as a key to extracting from a translation corpus of Portuguese and English, information which can be particularly relevant to Portuguese learners of English. 3. ... to using translation corpora to produce second language teaching materials Based on an analysis of the English problems presented the previous section, it is possible to predict that: a. Portuguese learners of English tend to find it confusing when the Portuguese preposition com is not equivalent to the English with (c.f. errors [1] to [3]). A translation corpus can thus help locate numerous sentences in which com is equivalent to a preposition other than with, for example 7:
Esta foi uma breve panormica de uma anlise muito completa com cerca de 600 pginas. - Parece-me que no estou a compreender o que que o senhor deputado quer dizer com "mudana de critrios". Por isso, estamos muito animados com o que o Governo blgaro est a fazer, que louvvel sob muitos aspectos. This has been a brief overview of some 600 pages of thorough analysis. - I am not sure I understand what the honourable Member means by "changing the approach". So we are very much encouraged by what the Bulgarian Government is doing which is laudable in many respects.

b. Portuguese learners of English tend to make mistakes when the Portuguese preposition em is not equivalent to the English in (c.f. errors [4] to [6]). A translation corpus can thus help locate cases in which em is equivalent to a preposition other than in, for example:
Em conjugao com este relatrio espero que o Parlamento apoie o meu pedido de realizao de estudos sobre sistemas de gesto regional, como questo prioritria, com vista implementao dos mesmos numa (em+uma) escala mais alargada nas (em+as) regies da Comunidade. O seu empenhamento no (em+o) ideal europeu continua vivo neste relatrio apresentado ao Parlamento. Se pensarem nas (em+as) redes de malha quadrada que poderiam resolver o problema da conservao em muitas regies, vero que j estamos na (em+a) via da uma poltica de regionalizao. In tandem with this report I would hope that Parliament would support my call for studies on existing regional management systems as a matter of priority, with a view to implementing them on a wider scale within Community regions. His commitment to the European ideal lives on in this report to Parliament. If you think of the square mesh which could solve the problem of conservation in many areas, you will see that we are already on the road to a regionalisation policy.

c. Portuguese learners of English tend to go wrong when the Portuguese preposition de is not equivalent to the English of (c.f. errors [7] to [9]). A translation corpus can thus help locate all cases in which de is equivalent to a preposition other than of, for example:
No estamos a falar da (de+a) posio geral da Europa; O senhor presidente leva em conta que os agricultores das (de+as) regies perifricas da Europa - Irlanda, Grcia, Espanha e outros pases - no podem vir at c? O prprio funcionamento de uma Unio Europeia alargada ir depender das (de+as) respostas dadas s questes levantadas neste relatrio. A aco no domnio da liberdade, da segurana e da justia deve ser acompanhada das (de+as) necessrias garantias democrticas e judiciais. Mas a tudo est dependente de a PESC passar ou no a ser, finalmente, uma verdadeira poltica externa e de segurana comum. We are not talking about Europe's general position; Do you take into account farmers on the periphery of Europe Ireland, Greece, Spain or wherever - who cannot get here? The very functioning of an enlarged European Union will depend on the answers brought to the questions raised in this report. Action in the field of freedom, security and justice must be accompanied by the necessary democratic and judicial guarantees. But there everything depends on whether the CFSP finally becomes a real common foreign and security policy.

d. Portuguese learners of English tend to use too many nouns when writing in English (c.f. examples [10] and [11]). A translation corpus can thus help locate cases in which Portuguese nouns have been transposed to English verbs, adverbs or adjectives, for example:
Em conjugao com este relatrio espero que o Parlamento apoie o meu pedido de realizao de estudos sobre sistemas de gesto regional, como questo prioritria, com vista implementao (N) dos mesmos numa escala mais alargada nas regies da Comunidade. Espero que todos os deputados desta assembleia aceitem o facto de que nem eu nem os meus colegas do sector dos transportes descuraramos essas questes aquando da preparao (N) de propostas. com satisfao (N) que vejo serem includos no programa os pases candidatos adeso, juntamente com Malta e Chipre. O relatrio que estamos a debater o seguimento (N) lgico do relatrio Fraga, que debatemos em Novembro. Registei com toda a ateno (N) as palavras do senhor Comissrio relativamente Eslovquia - e falo na qualidade de segundo vice-presidente da comisso parlamentar mista. In tandem with this report I would hope that Parliament would support my call for studies on existing regional management systems as a matter of priority, with a view to implementing (V) them on a wider scale within Community regions. I hope that everyone in the House will accept that neither I nor my colleagues in the transport sector would neglect such issues when preparing (V) proposals. I am pleased (Adj.) also to see the inclusion of the applicant countries, together with Malta and Cyprus. The report we are discussing follows (V) logically on from the Fraga report which we discussed in November. I noted very carefully (Adv.) the words of the Commissioner in relation to Slovakia - and I speak as the second vice-president of the joint parliamentary committee.

The above information from a translation corpus can then be used to prepare specific excersises for Portuguese learners of English that will help them become aware of problems that have to do with their prior knowlegde of Portuguese. Appendix I and II contain two different worksheets for Portuguese learners of English that were prepared out using the above corpus. The first one focuses on the discrepancies between the prepositions com and with, while the second one deals with Portuguese nouns that have been transposed to other word forms in English8. 5. Conclusion

I hope to have been able to demonstrate how crosslinguistic influence can be used as a key to extracting from translation corpora second language teaching materials that are particularly suited to monolingual classes. By observing how language learners who share the same native language get the language they are learning and their native language mixed up, one can use this information to sieve through a translation corpus so as to locate an enormous quantity of parallel texts containing language contrasts that are likely to be confusing to these learners. Those very same texts can then be adapted into exercises that will force the learners in question to focus on their own, native-language specific second language difficulties. As Granger and Tribble (1998:203) put it, Exercises of this type should be particularly motivating for learners as they have to do not just with any old grammatical or lexical problem but with their own attested difficulties Notes 1. A translation corpus is understood here as being a bilingual collection of texts held in machine2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. readable form such that each original text is aligned with its respective translation for automatic processing by text-retrieval software programs. The fact that not all differences between languages are problematic to second language learners is one of the major reasons for the downfall of contrastive analyses in the seventies (Ellis, 1986). This does not mean to say that second language problems that do not bear any relation to the first language cannot gain from the recent advances in corpus linguistics. In fact, as the COBUILD and other projects in the area prove it, quite the opposite is true. The analysis in Frankenberg-Garcia and Pina (1997) is based on classroom observation. Several studies indicate that transfer is more likely to occur when there is some degree of similarity between languages. For example, see Kellerman (1987). This and all other examples of crosslinguistic influence presented in this paper were obtained among Portuguese university students pursuing a degree in translation. The present corpus is based on the translation into Portuguese of the English part of a random selection of debates held in the European Parliament. The texts were processed with the help of the Lingua Multilingual Concordancer. Exercises like the ones presented here are based on the principle of data-driven learning. For a discussion and further examples, see the Virtual DDL Library maintained by Tim Johns at: http:// sun1.bham.ac.uk/johnstf/ddl_lib.htm.

References Aitkinson, D. (1993) Teaching Monilingual Classes. Longman. Ellis, R. (1986) Understanding Second Language Acquisition. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Frankenberg-Garcia, A. (1998) Using Translation Traps to Sort Out Portuguese-English Crosslinguistic Influence. Paper delivered at the 7th Brazilian Translators Forum and 1st Brazilian International Translators Forum, University of So Paulo. Frankenberg-Garcia, A. (1999) Using Portuguese in the Teaching of English. In A. Pina, J. Flor & M.H. Serdio (eds.) Do Esplendor na Relva: lites e cultura comum de expresso inglesa. Lisboa: Cosmos. Frankenberg-Garcia, A. & Pina, M.F. (1997) Portuguese-English Crosslinguistic Influence. Proceedings of the XVIII Encontro da APEAA, Guarda, Portugal, 1: 69-78. Granger, S. and Tribble, C.(1998) Learner Corpus Data in the Foreign Language Classroom: formfocused instruction and data-driven learning. In Granger,S.(ed.) Learner English on Computer. London & New York: Addison Wesley Longman, 119-131. Kellerman, E. (1987) Aspects of Tranferability in Second Language Acquisition. Unpublished doctoral dissertation. Katholieke Universiteit te Nijmegen, Holland.

Krashen, S. and Terrel, T. (1983) The Natural Approach: Language Acquisition in the Classroom. Oxford: Pergamon. Lado, R. (1957) Linguistics across Cultures. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press. Odlin, T. (1989) Language Transfer: cross-linguistic influence in language learning. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Tomasello, M. and Herron, C. (1988) Down the Garden Path: inducing and correcting overgeneralization errors in the foreign language classroom. Applied Psycholinguistics, 9:237-246. Tomasello, M. and Herron, C. (1989) Feedback for language transfer errors: the garden path technique. Studies in Second Language acquisition, 11:385-395.

Appendix I

Apesar de a preposio portuguesa com ser na maior parte das vezes equivalente preposio inglesa with, isso nem sempre se verifica. Observe os textos abaixo (debates do parlamento europeu) e sublinhe, nas tradues inglesas, as preposies correspondentes a com.
Se conseguir tomar decises, sero decises lentas, cheias de dificuldades e com base no menor denominador comum. O que eu defendo que se a Unio Europeia admite a entrada de nacionais de pases terceiros com o propsito de servir as necessidades especficas de determinados Estados-Membros que tm escassez de mo-de-obra, seria repugnante adoptar uma "poltica de porta giratria", renovando constantemente essa mo-de-obra e no assumindo a responsabilidade pelo contributo econmico palpvel que dado pelos trabalhadores de pases terceiros. Precisamente porque a Irlanda atravessa neste momento um perodo de desenvolvimento econmico sem precedentes, no devemos esquecer os nossos deveres de carcter humanitrio para com os outros. Esta era a nica maneira de ser justo, de ser visivelmente justo para com todos os pases. Esta nova situao tambm vem possibilitar a perspectiva da abertura de negociaes, com a condio de se confirmar o funcionamento normal, estvel e democrtico das instituies. Esta foi uma breve panormica de uma anlise muito completa com cerca de 600 pginas. - Parece-me que no estou a compreender o que que o senhor deputado quer dizer com "mudana de critrios". Por isso, estamos muito animados com o que o Governo blgaro est a fazer, que louvvel sob muitos aspectos. claro que h, de certo modo, uma zona cinzenta, se se disser o seguinte: estou muito bem impressionado com as melhorias significativas que se efectuaram, mas se analisar a interaco entre, por um lado, os parmetros econmicos do requisito relativo economia de mercado e, por outro, a competitividade, quero mais provas concretas para ter a certeza de que os requisitos esto, de facto, a ser cumpridos. If it can take decisions, they will be slow, cumbersome and on the basis of the lowest common denominator. I would argue that if the European Union admits third country nationals for the purpose of servicing the specific needs of individual Member States' labour shortages then it would be repulsive to adopt a "revolving door" policy by taking no responsibility for the tangible economic input of workers from third countries.

The very fact that Ireland is currently experiencing an unprecedented economic boom must mean that we do not forget our humanitarian duty to others. This was the only way to be fair, and to be seen to be fair, to all countries. This new situation also allows for the prospect of opening negotiations on condition that the regular, stable and democratic functioning of institutions is confirmed. This has been a brief overview of some 600 pages of thorough analysis. - I am not sure I understand what the honourable Member means by "changing the approach". So we are very much encouraged by what the Bulgarian Government is doing which is laudable in many respects. There is of course a certain grey zone if you say: I am very impressed by the significant improvements which have been made but if I look at the interaction between the economic parameters of the market economy requirement on the one hand and competitiveness on the other, I want more track record to be sure that these requirements are really being met.

Deixmos inteiramente claro que, no que respeita s datas de encerramento, contamos com o encerramento dessas centrais na base dos acordos de segurana nuclear que j tinham sido estabelecidos. Concordo com o relator que grande parte do problema se prende com o fosso existente entre as condies de mercado livre de que actualmente desfrutamos e a falta de harmonizao das normas relativas s condies de trabalho. H umas horas atrs, John Prescott, vice-Primeiro-Ministro britnico, estava a falar neste edifcio com os deputados trabalhistas britnicos. Por ltimo, gostaria de referir tambm o facto de que a Comisso dever emitir orientaes em 1999, a fim de ajudar os Estados-Membros na preparao dos seus futuros programas que vo ser cofinanciados com verbas dos fundos estruturais.

We have made it perfectly clear that as far as closing dates are concerned, we count on the closure of these plants on the basis of the nuclear safety agreements entered into earlier. I agree with the rapporteur that much of the problem is linked to the gap between free market conditions we now enjoy and the lack of harmonisation of rules on working conditions. Earlier tonight Mr John Prescott, Deputy Prime Minister, was speaking in this building to the British Labour members. Finally, I should like to mention also the fact that the Commission should issue guidelines in 1999 to help Member States in the preparation of their future programmes to be co-financed by the structural funds.

Agora faa um glossrio, com base nos exemplos acima, de expresses portuguesas que levam com e expresses inglesas equivalentes que exigem preposies diferentes de with. Com base em... On the basis of

Appendix II Sabe-se que o portugus uma lngua mais nominal do que o ingls. Isso significa que na lngua portuguesa h uma tendncia para se utilizar uma maior proporo de substantivos do que na lngua inglesa. 1. Observe os exemplos abaixo (tradues de debates do parlamento europeu*) e sublinhe, na verso inglesa, as formas equivalentes aos substantivos em negrito da verso portuguesa. Mas ainda por cima, o prprio funcionamento da Unio Europeia pode com toda a facilidade ser paralisado por um nico governo que decida fazlo. De momento - e este um aspecto que sempre sublinhei com grande insistncia no nosso hemiciclo continua a no se conseguir incorporar Schengen no primeiro pilar. - No preciso de recordar ao senhor Presidente em exerccio do Conselho como essencial o cumprimento do calendrio, no apenas para garantir a necessria legitimidade democrtica para o pacote de medidas Agenda 2000 mas tambm para permitir que os programas e as polticas sejam executados em tempo til e com eficcia. Nos pareceres do ano passado, a Comisso concluiu que todos os pases candidatos, com excepo da Eslovquia, cumpriam, em termos gerais, o critrio poltico para a adeso. Registei com toda a ateno as palavras do senhor Comissrio relativamente Eslovquia - e falo na qualidade de segundo vice-presidente da comisso parlamentar mista. Aguardo com grande expectativa que o Primeiro-Ministro da Eslovquia nos diga claramente quais so os seus planos a este respeito. Estamos a trabalhar em estreita colaborao com as autoridades daquele pas, e inclusivamente com as instituies financeiras internacionais, para tentar que a mquina das reformas volte a funcionar a toda a velocidade. essa a situao no que se refere Letnia, com excepo de um certo nmero de pontos concretos que mencionmos no relatrio e nos quais gostaramos que fossem introduzidas mais melhorias. Como afirmei com toda a franqueza, at agora a nossa concluso que esta no uma prioridade poltica suficientemente importante no mbito But on top of that the very functioning of the European Union can so easily be brought to a halt by a single government if it choses to do so. For the time being - and this is a point I have always emphasised very strongly in this hemicycle - there is the continuing failure to incorporate Schengen into the first pillar. - I do not need to remind the President-in-Office of how essential it is to meet the timetable, not only to secure the necessary democratic legitimacy for the Agenda 2000 package but also to allow programmes and policies to be implemented in a timely and effective manner. In last year's opinions the Commission concluded that all the candidate countries, except Slovakia, broadly met the political criterion for membership. I noted very carefully the words of the Commissioner in relation to Slovakia and I speak as the second vicepresident of the joint parliamentary committee. I expect very much that the Prime Minister of Slovakia will make clear what his plans are in this respect. We are working very closely together with the authorities there, including the international financial institutions, to try to get the engine running at full speed again. That is the situation with Latvia, except for a number of concrete points that we have referred to in the report where we would like to see some further improvement. As I said quite frankly, so far our conclusion is that it is not enough of a political priority in the policies of the countries concerned.

das polticas dos pases em questo. Precisamos dessas aces e precisamos de calendrios, e com grande satisfao que oio dizer que est a avanar o trabalho de desenvolvimento de indicadores. Tambm partimos do princpio de que todos os medicamentos homeopticos s so utilizados quando controlados por profissionais com qualificaes reconhecidas. Este Parlamento, por um lado, disse, com razo, que precisamos de apoiar muitos projectos e operadores pequenos, porque os vemos actuar no terreno. Portanto, o que a deputada Nana Mouskouri tentou alcanar, e a razo por que obteve o apoio da nossa comisso, foi desenvolver os programas ARIANE, RAFAEL e CALEIDOSCPIO e o que de melhor eles tm, mas tambm reflectir as opinies da Comisso com a criao de uma perspectiva horizontal que leva em conta a mesma proposta feita pela Comisso para conseguir a criao de redes, projectos interdisciplinares e grandes projectos simblicos. - Senhora Presidente, votei a favor deste relatrio mas fi-lo com extrema relutncia. 2. Complete o quadro abaixo: We need these actions and we need timetables and I am very pleased to hear that the work on developing indicators is going ahead. We would also assume that all homeopathic remedies are used only on the basis that they are handled by qualified practitioners. This Parliament, on the one hand, rightly said that we need to support many small projects and operators because we see those on the ground. So what Nana Mouskouri attempted to achieve, and why she won support in our committee, was to build on Ariane, Raphael and Kaleidoscope and the best of that, but also to reflect the views of the Commission in creating a horizontal perspective which takes into account the same proposal the Commission has made to achieve the creation of networks, interdisciplinary projects and big symbolic projects. - Madam President, I voted in favour of this report but extremely reluctantly.

Verso portuguesa Facilidade (N) Insistncia (N) Cumprimento (N) Eficcia (N) Excepo (N) Ateno (N) Expectativa (N) Colaborao (N) Execpo (N) Franqueza (N) Satisfao (N) Qualificaes (N) Razo (N) Criao (N) Relutncia (N)

Verso inglesa easily (Adv) strongly (Adv) to meet (V)

3. Concluindo: Muitas vezes, ao traduzir de portugus para ingls, precisamos de transformar substantivos em..........................................................................................; e ao traduzir de ingls para portugus, comum termos de transformar........................................................................ em ................................