No learning happens without comparing the new and the known!

Here, Guy Cook gives us at last a less rigid view on translation as a tool for language teaching/learning… Translation understood as a comparison intellectual exercice, not as a « let me check in Google Translate » move.
Translation « allows learners to relate new knowledge to existing knowledge (as recommended by many learning theories), promotes noticing and language awareness, and highlights the differences and similarities between the new and existing language »

http://oupeltglobalblog.com/2011/10/20/translation-in-language-teaching-and-learning/