A Study Of English Major's Thinking Potence In Translation Process

Mistakes found in translation exercises of English majors have been explored by scholars from the angles of linguistics, intercultural communication and translation skills, but with not so ideal results. The author has noticed the mistakes made in terms of grammar, wording and sentence structure are similar and repetitive in English-Chinese and Chinese-English translation exercises, which reflects the characteristics of "thinking potence". Therefore, the author tries to explore the underlying reasons of making mistakes by analyzing the English-Chinese translation test results of TEM-8 in 2003 from the angle of Noetic science.People are always influenced by their past life experiences and pre-existing thinking modes while thinking. If one or two thinking mode reoccurs over time, it will form certain thinking model. In the long-term of thinking practice, everyone forms their habitual and formative thinking model which they employ without hesitation when facing realistic problems, this is thinking potence. Authority tendency, experience tendency and group psychology are the main causes of thinking potence. Thinking potence has great habituation, namely, it will become difficult to change once it has formed. Thinking potence can be helpful in solving average problems. But thinking potence may restrict one's thought and get one in trouble when one faces unusual problems. Similar to most mental activities, "thinking potence" dominates most translators'translation behaviors in translation process, which inevitably influences the quality of the translated texts by helping or restricting translator s' understanding of the original text and choosing of translation strategies.The author analyzes the mistakes that the students made in English-Chinese translation of TEM-8 in 2003 and translation exercises and makes comparison with ordinary translators'thinking quality. Then in virtue of the theories related to thinking potence in Noetic Science, the author makes thorough analysis of the causes of "thinking potence" and the positive and negative influences of "thinking potence" on translation. Finally, the author tries to put forward ways of cultivating good thinking quality to break through "thinking potence" in the hope of providing a new perspective for improving translation teaching.