Cook challenges the tyranny of the native speaker. He argues that in a globalized world, most L2 users will act as mediators between languages. Translation is the professional skill of the 21st-century multilingual citizen.
Proponents argued that translation interferes with natural language acquisition, mimicking how a child learns a mother tongue. Cook counters that adult learners are not children; they have a fully formed L1. Ignoring that existing linguistic architecture is inefficient, not pure. Translation In Language Teaching Guy Cook Pdf
Critics claim that learners will make errors by translating directly from L1 to L2. Cook flips this argument: Translation reveals interference. It is a diagnostic tool, not a disease. By comparing the two languages, students become consciously aware of false friends, structural differences, and collocational errors. Cook challenges the tyranny of the native speaker