An original-text reconstruction method for composition practice

I have just tried “原文復元法.” It is a method for composition practice. First, you read an original text and translate it into your language. Second, you reconstruct the original text from your translation. Are you familiar with this method?

[Original text]
Saunders argues that privatized consumption is of increasing social importance. There is a new division of interest between those who are able to purchase products and services individually on the market, and those who are forced to rely on state welfare. This new division or ‘cleavage’ leads to the decline of social class and its replacement by consumption differences as the main axis of social conflict.

[Translation]
ソーンダーズは、個人化された消費は社会的重要性を増していると論じている。利害関心の新たな分裂が、生産物とサービスを個人として市場で購入することができる人々と、国家福祉に頼ることを強いられる人々との間に生まれる。この新しい分裂あるいは「裂け目」は、社会階級の衰退につながるとともに、消費差がそれにかわって社会的闘争の主軸となる。
[Reconstruction]
Saunders argues that privatized consumption is of increasing importance. There is a new division of interest between those who are able to purchase products and services individually on the market, and those who are forced to rely on state welfare. This new division or ‘cleavage’ leads to the decline of social class and its replacement by consumption differences as the main axis of social conflict.

[Reconstruction]-- six hours later
Saunders argues that (there is) privatized consumption [is] of increasing importance. There is a new division of interest between those who are able to purchase products and services individually on the market, and those who are forced to rely on state welfare. This new division or ‘cleavage’ leads to the decline of social class and its replacement by consumption differences as the main axis of social conflict.

"Saunders argues that there is privatized consumption of increasing importance. " Is this unnatural?

In reply to your original question: I, for one, am not really familiar with this method, although I vaguely remember doing something like that while I prepared for the final exams for the Institute of Linguists many, many years ago.

As to your last question: I don’t think your sentence is unnatural, but it has changed the meaning of the original sentence “Saunders argues that privatized consumption is of increasing social importance” to a sentence stating that “there is (somewhere) privatised consumption of growing importance (important to whom?)”.

Somebody more familiar with your field of interest may be able to give you a much better answer!

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Thank you, SanneT.
Your explanation about the presupposed condition included in the expression “there is/are …” was very convincing and useful.

Tora3,
My exposure to this method is my acquaintance with a gentleman born in Germany in 1921. He was in the German army and captured in North Africa during WWII. Sent to England and later to the US as a prisoner of war. He spent his free time learning English by the very method you are describing. He would take a book in German, translate it to English and then translate from English back to German. He and his family emigrated to the US in the mid 1950’s. I have known this gentleman since 1976. He would never pass for a native English speaker due to his German accent, none the less, his command of the English language is excellent due to the method you are describing.

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This approach is at the heart of Luca’s Full Circle method: http://goo.gl/1QvSO

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This method or approach is very similar to the “Benjamin Franklin’s principle.”

Improve English writing Skills Applying Benjamin Franklin’s Principles http://bit.ly/l0YNdC

I don’t like this method.

Translation is completely different from learning a language. One of the things that hampers people from learning to speak a language is that they translate in their heads from their native language to the second language, which makes it hard to speak (and write).

Often many concepts just don’t translate between languages.

Translation is a skill, but it’s different from language learning.

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Translation is only a part of this method. The gist is to try to “reconstruct” the original text. It might be considered as a variant of “Benjamin Franklin’s Principles.”

翻訳は、この方法の一部分に過ぎず、全体ではありません。その眼目は、翻訳を手がかりにして原文を再構築するところにあります。この方法は、ベンジャミン・フランクリンの「諸原則」の1つの変形(variant)と見なすことができると思います。

The above was translated from my last post, so I will not try to reconstruct the “original” text.

The question is , native langue > target language , you think (through) direct in language that you translantion.

I am now interested in this method again. The first post of this thread was made in 2011.
Incidentally, the Forum Search box was quite useless for me to find this thread.

“Dude snickered and stood behind a chinaberry tree so nobody could see him. Ellie May watched him from behind the pine stumps, smiling because she had heard what Bessie had said.”–TOBACCO ROAD by Erskine Caldwell

デュードは、クスクス笑ってセンダンの木の後ろに立ったので、誰も彼を見ることはできなかった。エミリー・メイが、松の木の切り株の背後から彼の様子をほほえみながら見ていた—彼女は、ベッシーが言ったことを聞いていたからである。

“Dude, since stood chuckled behind a tree shear, nobody could not see him. Emily Mei, — she had seen with a smile his appearance from behind the pine trees of the stump, because he has heard that Bessie said.”

Google Translate reverse-translated my translation in this way. Of course, it does not know the original text.

A while later I translated the Japanese text into English.

“Dude chuckled and stood behind the something tree so nobody could see him. Emilie May was watching him from behind the pine tree, smiling because she heard what Bessie had said.”

You can notice some differences between the reverse-translated text and the original one by Erskine Caldwell.

“Dude chuckled[snickered] and stood behind *the something [a chinaberry] tree so nobody could see him. Emilie May *was watching[watched] him from behind the pine tree[stumps], smiling because she heard[had heard] what Bessie had said.”

“Full circle: Target language (source files) => Native language => Target language”

Kimojima wrote like this:
"It is perfectly ok to think in English (or your L1) most of the day and then when you watch a movie, read a book, people speak with you in the L2, or you speak with somebody in the L2, you immediately switch to L2-mode. Not a clumsy translation mode.
“The reason why thinking all day long to yourself in an L2 is difficult is because it requires streaming your L2 alter-ego thoughts to your L1 receptor ego. The L1 ego is stronger, so it will eventually thwart these efforts as inefficient and overtake your thoughts.”

I think that original-text reconstruction is effective for improving your language and style of writing.

  1. I don’t think you should “think all day long to yourself in an L2”–I agree with Kimojima on this point. If you try to do so, your ability related to L1 might deteriorate. Generally speaking, your intellectual productivity will also go down.
  2. The more you understand the difference between your L1 and L2, the more properly you can express yourself in both L1 and L2. Think of the case of competent professional interpreters. Although not everyone is expected to speak as they do, you don’t need to suppress any “Ego” of your own.

“People who are ‘trying to be helpful’ by interjecting English explanations during L2 conversations are actually not helpful at all; they are annoying.”

You don’t have to detest using your first language and try obsessively to think in a foreign language. It isn’t impossible for you to speak in a foreign language while listening to someone speak to you in your native language, even if you are not a very competent simultaneous interpreter.