A Study On Theoretical Construction Of English-chinese Translation Course Books For Undergraduate Students (1999-2008)

In the era of globalization, China is in an urgent need of qualified translators. Undoubtedly, translation teaching plays an important role in cultivating and training translators, and translation course books play a pivotal part in transferring translation knowledge and developing students'translation skills and competence.In her book entitled English-Chinese Translation Course Books in China (1949-1998), which might be considered the most systematic work on translation course books at present, Professor Zhang Meifang indicated that translation course books were flourishing, but translation theories compiled in the course books failed to follow the latest development of translation studies. In addition, another influential figure in translation teaching studies Professor Mu Lei in 1999 pointed out that too many translation course books were doing their own ways, and low-quality ones were being repeatedly produced but could hardly motivate the learners to actively participate in the learning process.Actually, a large number of western translation theories have been gradually introduced to China since 1980s, including theories of Eugene Nida, Cartford, Newmark, Welsh and Bassnett, etc. And in the past ten years, more new translation theory systems have engaged the interests of Chinese scholars, such as Polysystem theory, Descriptive Translation Studies, Skopos Theory, Hermeneutic and Deconstructionist approaches to translation, Post-colonial approach to translation and Feminist Approach to translation, etc.Ten years have passed since Professor Zhang Meifang made the research on English-Chinese translation course books in China (1949-1998). With the fast development of the translation studies home and abroad, are there changes in the situation of translation course books in China now? Have the latest academic study results been applied to compiling English-Chinese translation course books? Do the translation course books published after 1999 meet the learners'practical needs? What are the features in their theoretical construction compared with those published before 1999?With these questions in mind, the author made a review of CNKI Chinese key periodicals from 1999 to 2008 but found only 29 articles on translation course books. And few correlative monographs were available. It's clear to see that contrasting with the booming situation of translation course books in China, systematic research on translation course books have not got due attention.The present author attempted to make a more comprehensive study on the translation course books for undergraduates (1999-2008), especially in terms of theoretical construction, by firstly categorizing and analyzing the translation course books collected by various means, and secondly surveying on the use of translation course books with questionnaires to 200 English majors and 50 teachers from 10 different universities. Then a comparative analysis was made on the theoretical construction of translation course books published before and after 1999.Finally, based on the findings of the study, the author put forward suggestions on composing more up-to-date and practical translation course books.