Students Learning to Translate Through Serving an NGO: A Preliminary Project Report

Katarzyna Klimkowska; Konrad Klimkowski

doi:10.18290/rh257310.3

Published : 2025-12-29

Vol. 73 No. 10 (2025)

Students Learning to Translate Through Serving an NGO: A Preliminary Project Report

Katarzyna Klimkowska

https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6388-274X

Konrad Klimkowski

https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9835-635X

DOI: https://doi.org/10.18290/rh257310.3

Abstract

In this preliminary project implementation report, the authors showcase how service-learning is used as a pedagogy underlying translation projects. The main objective is to argue in favour of the method in the academic context. In the case under analysis, the students of applied linguistics at Maria Curie Sklodowska University in Lublin translated and localized content that was crucial for the educational mission of a Lublin-based NGO – Fundacja Sempre a Frente. Out of the three translation projects, two were text-based (a text variety on youth employment challenges and a brochure on project management for NGOs). The third project involved the beneficiary’s website localisation. Analysing project design, implementation and assessment, the authors pinpoint how these were planned to relate to the core tenets of service-learning. Also, the pedagogical concepts of polyphony and communicative learning are employed as instrumental in better understanding and implementing the communicative dimension of service-learning projects. Even though the project is not complete, partial conclusions are presented, mostly in the form of recommendations for educators contemplating service-learning for their teaching experience.

Keywords:

service-learning, translation project, multiple voices (polyphony), communicative learning, formative (communicative) assessment

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This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

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