TEACHING TRANSLATION SKILLS TO EFL LEARNERS: CHALLENGES AND SOLUTIONS

Translation is an essential skill for English as a Foreign Language (EFL) learners, particularly in multilingual contexts where students frequently move between their first language and English. Despite its importance, teaching translation presents numerous challenges, including linguistic interference, limited vocabulary, insufficient cultural knowledge, and overreliance on machine translation tools. This study investigates the major difficulties encountered by EFL learners in translation courses and explores effective pedagogical solutions. A mixed-method approach was employed involving questionnaires, classroom observations, and translation tasks administered to undergraduate EFL students. The findings indicate that lexical and cultural translation issues represent the most common challenges. The study suggests that task-based translation activities, collaborative learning, authentic materials, and guided use of technology can significantly improve learners’ translation competence. The findings contribute to translation pedagogy by offering practical recommendations for instructors seeking to enhance translation instruction in EFL settings.