Translation certainly does have its place.

However, that place is not in bilingual studies. To the contrary, translation may conflict with bilingualism. It is certainly problematic when raising a bilingual child.

There is a logical reason for this problem. Translation demands children think in both languages. This prevents him from realizing that each language has its own constructs. Children should not think that one concept equals another, but rather that language is an independent, free-flowing, and fluent concept. Translation may indicate to a child that both languages are equal, and that there are matching and equivalent words. That will cause the child to struggle to find the "right" word in the other language. It may also give the misapprehension that one language is "better" than the other.

This problem is exacerbated by the fact that concepts are rendered differently in each language and many concepts in one language have no equivalents in other languages. A child should not try to think in terms of a one-to-one relationship that does not exist in reality.

To the contrary, bilinguals should think naturally in both languages. Each language should be completely independent of the other. The child should not match or find equals, equivalents, or comparisons between any two languages.