| The need of translation personnel calls great attention from the public. Translation Teaching in universities is the main means of translation personnel training in China. Therefore, Translation Teaching undoubtedly becomes a heated discussion. In referring to Translation Teaching, the preliminary task is to distinguish it from Teaching Translation. This is the precondition of carrying through Translation Teaching.The definition and connotation of Translation Teaching make a premise for the search into the social meaning and purpose of Translation Teaching. The definition determines the purpose of Translation Teaching, i.e., to cultivate students' translation competence. Thus, it is to cultivate qualified translation personnel.When viewing from students' perspective, we could find many problems in Translation Teaching. Current Translation Teaching can't meet students' need in many ways. This phenomenon indicates that there is disconnection between Translation Teaching and social demand. Teaching comes to nothing when it doesn't serve social need. To envisage this problem, we have to reorientate Translation Teaching so as to cultivate qualified translation personnel. This is the purpose of Translation Teaching too. The purpose of Translation Teaching should be the guideline of Translation Teaching activities. Just as Kant said, "all human activities are purposive". Purpose is the motive and impetus of human activities. Translation activities should be social demand oriented to avoid being aimless. The standards of a qualified translator could be adopted in translation personnel training, which will facilitate Translation Teaching. The problems in Translation Teaching and in students' translation activities as well as in their study could be solved by the reorientation of Translation Teaching and the course design. Furthermore, if we want to make Translation Teaching prosperous, we must set it free from the confinement of its subordination to Applied Linguistics or English Language and Literature and make it an independent discipline. Only by doing so may Translation Teaching gain enough attention. Also, teacher qualities are a premise of teaching. Therefore, teacher training should be taken into consideration in order to do Translation Teaching well. To sum up, Translation Teaching or any kind of teaching should have a clear purpose in order to live up to social demand. Social demand is the cause and impetus of teaching purpose, and thus it determines the purpose of Translation Teaching. The purpose determines the interrelationship of Translation Teaching factors. Purpose should be the center of all. The establishment of Translatology can set Translation Teaching free from the confinement of other disciplines and make it evolve freely. In this way, the present situation will be changed radically. And teacher training is a must in carrying out Translation Teaching too. |
