Lexical and Grammatical Interference in Translation from Albanian into English

Abstract

This study aims to investigate lexical and grammatical interference in translation from Albanian into English. The study raised the questions: To what extent students rely on their mother tongue when learning a foreign language grammar? In which cases does mother tongue interfere in translation from first into a foreign language? To reach the objective of the study and answer these questions, the research examined students’ errors in translated sentences from Albanian into English. Results demonstrated that the problems that occur from interference are lexical and grammatical. The results also proved that these kinds of interference occur as a result of students’ lack of knowledge of the source and target languages. For the purposes of this study it was designed a translation test and it was used with students whose native language is Albanian. The aim is to show that native language interferes to a high extent in learning L2 grammar, especially when the two grammars differ in structure.