Explorations of Language Transfer

When learners of a new language draw on their native language (or on any other that they may know), this earlier acquired linguistic knowledge may influence their success. Such cross-linguistic influence, also known as language transfer, has long raised questions about what linguists can predict about success in the new language and about what processes are involved in using prior knowledge. This book lucidly brings together many insights on transfer: e.g. on the relation between translation and transfer, the relation between comprehension and production, and the problem of how complete any predictions of difficulty may ever be. The discussions also explore implications for future research and for classroom practice. The book will thus serve as a reliable guide for teachers, researchers, translators, interpreters, and students curious about language contact.

Professor Odlin is a world-renowned scholar of language contacts and second-language acquisition. In this book he puts his rare expertise in these two fields – too often perceived as separate from each other – to good use by presenting a unifying approach, based on an unusually wide repertoire of languages and contact situations. The book is also indispensable reading for students and scholars interested in contrastive analysis, sociolinguistics, and translation studies., This is a masterpiece that surpasses all other books in its treatment of both the historical dimensions and linguistic intricacies of language transfer. It corrects the record on several past claims related to transfer and illuminates the conditions under which crosslinguistic influence is most likely to be found. Everyone who works in this area needs to read this book., In this book, Terry Odlin takes us on an amazing journey showing how learners’ previously acquired languages influence their learning of new languages and vice-versa. His impressive survey of transfer studies will guide researchers for future transfer investigations and help enlighten language teachers’ understanding of how learners utilize their linguistic resources., The book succeeds in providing an accessible, but in-depth overview of language transfer in SLA. The content is presented in a manner of growing complexity, with Odlin presenting relevant background information at the start of each chapter before delving into the more specific, and complex, details of the topic at hand [...] Odlin also leaves room for questioning and offers both the implications of the research he presents as well as the gaps still remaining.

Terence Odlin is an emeritus faculty member of Ohio State University, USA. He continues to pursue his long-standing interest in language transfer, including relevant aspects of translation theory. His numerous publications on the subject include a collection titled New Perspectives on Transfer in Second Language Learning (co-edited with Liming Yu, 2016, Multilingual Matters).