Functional Approaches to Translation Teaching and Trainingat Tertiary Level in Chinese Mainland

Abstract

This study takes functional approaches to translation teaching and training in Chinese Mainland. As translation education is getting prosperous in China, translation teaching and training have gained priorities and call for new teaching models in the new century. As Christina Nord has proved that functional approach into translation teaching and translator training is very effective, this approach is suggested to be applied into Chinese context of translation teaching and training and thus we may figure out a new functional teaching model in Chinese tertiary institutions: (1) assign realistic translation tasks with a translation brief in order to motivate students to do active translating; (2) analyze the source text from top to down: i.e., from pragmatic level, cultural level to linguistic level; (3) introduce a variety of translation strategies, including cultural adaptation, paraphrase, expansion, reduction, modulation, transposition, substitution, loanword, literal translation or even omission. Student translators are encouraged to use their editorial skills, writing skills and knowledge of parallel texts to rewrite the source text in line with the conventions of the target text and expectations of readers; (4) define translation errors more globally and evaluate translations more flexibly. The functional appropriateness is considered the yardstick to assess translation quality. The real-world criteria should be incorporated within a curriculum for translation teaching and training. Applying functional approach into translation teaching and translator training can assure that the trainees commit fewer grammatical and pragmatic mistakes and learn more about cultures and conventions. Therefore, introducing this approach to translation classroom in Chinese mainland will bring us great innovations in translation pedagogy and benefit our translator and interpreter training.