B2.1 WRITTEN MEDIATION Mediation is a technique used to express relevant aspects of a text in another language. In written exams you are most often asked to mediate a Spanish text into English. Do not translate literally!! You have to process the text. The task is given in a specific situation, e.g. you help a tourist to understand information in Spanish, you write an article for an American newspaper using a Spanish source, and so on. Step 1: Read the task carefully to find out what information your addressee needs. Step 2: Read the text given to get its meaning and intention. Step 3: Highlight or underline keywords. Don’t panic if the text is long and /or complex – Concentrate on the points relevant to the addressee and leave out the rest. Step 4: Take notes in English to process the relevant passages from the Spanish text. Use your own words. Sometimes it is useful to simplify or paraphrase important words or phrases. Step 5: Structure your notes according to the task – if necessary, rearrange the structure of the original text. Step 6: If there are passages in the text which need explanation to be clarified, add further information. Don’t forget to explain concepts that are typical of one culture but not of the other. Step 7: Write your text summarising your notes. Adapt your language (style, register) to the task and addressee. In an article for a newspaper, you use relatively formal language; in an email to a friend, you write more informally. B2.1 WRITTEN MEDIATION RENDERING INFORMATION FROM L1 TO L2 What is it? Mediation texts in which you render information from Spanish to English are usually informal or semi-formal e-mails where you give information about your own country to an English-speaking person. FORMAT: SALUTATION TAG Dear friend, OPENING PARAGRAPH How are you? I’ve been looking into what you asked me in your previous e-mail and I think the following info may be helpful for you. CENTRAL PARAGRAPHS A summary of the information at hand. You don’t have to translate everything. Pick and choose 3 main ideas you consider to be relevant to help the person you are writing to. and write down one paragraph per idea. Clarify any relevant aspects of Spanish culture which could be useful to a foreigner. CLOSING PARAGRAPH Well, that’s all I can think of. I hope this info be helpful for you. Please write back and let me know what you did in the end. Looking forward to hearing from you. CLOSURE TAG Best wishes, FIRST NAME B2.1 WRITTEN MEDIATION DON’TS: 1. 2. 3. 4. don’t use bullet points , use paragraphs. don’t use brackets ( ), use connectors. don’t use colons : , use connectors. don’t use formal words and expressions when writing an email to a friend (e.g. don’t use ‘furthermore’, use ‘besides’) 5. don’t split words at the end of a line, write full words. REMEMBER: advice (noun) advise (verb) an advice / some advices / a piece of advice A tip / some tips
