Innovation in Language Learning

Translation is a type of activity seldom proposed by modern teaching materials which emphasize comunicative methods. Yet  the needs of opera singers studying italian as a foreing language differ completely from  those of students‘ studying Italian for other purposes and must indeed include translation. The process of teaching how to translate opera is influenced by several factors; both linguistic and extralinguistic aspects such as the quality of used scores or musical texts, specific vocabulary, poetic word order, as well as the specific curriculum and the accessibilty of didactic tools, influence the process. The aim of this paper is to overview the research which has already been conducted with the aim of finding out the advantages and disadvantages of traditional and ICT tools for musical texts translation. Comparing both types of tools, examples of their use are given. In accordance with the hypothesis,some of the tools are found to be completely unsuitable for such specific translations. Although it is not obvious at first, the results of this research suggest that in order to become an autonomous user of any kind of tool it is essential to learn how to use it without regard to the type of tool. These results are of significance for teachers and students alike. Finally, the paper suggest that further research into tools used for musical text translation is needed.