Perspectives
ISSN: 0907-676X (Print) 1747-6623 (Online) Journal homepage: http://www.tandfonline.com/loi/rmps20
TRANSLATION STUDIES AND TEXTBOOKS
Tao Youlan
To cite this article: Tao Youlan (2005) TRANSLATION STUDIES AND TEXTBOOKS, Perspectives,
13:3, 188-204, DOI: 10.1080/09076760508668991
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TRANSLATION STUDIES AND TEXTBOOKS
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Tao Youlan, Fudan University
[email protected]
Abstract
As Translation Studies becomes internationalised, the field expands and includes other
disciplines. This article suggests modifications of Holmes’ map of Translation Studies by locating
translation textbook work as a component in the “applied branch”. This is done on the basis of
a study of textbook work in China and in the West. The development and prodigious growth of
translation textbooks in China are worthy of a�ention because textbooks from English into Chinese
and from Chinese into English possess unique features that make them differ fundamentally from
textbooks dealing with translation between Indo-European languages. It is equally interesting
that they provide societal perspectives of Translation Studies: textbooks can be used for tracing not
only developments in Translation Studies but also political and societal changes in China. Given
the societal need for translation, these textbooks have an enormous market and exert an increasing
influence on Translation Studies as a discipline, as well as on the social and economic development
of China and the country’s status internationally.
Key words: English-Chinese; translation textbooks; translation teaching; national
development; teachers.
Introduction
Translation activities have a long history, but translation as an academic
discipline is new. In his seminal article ‘The Name and Nature of Translation
Studies’ (1972), James Holmes made the founding statement. The article placed
scholarly studies of translation on a map and provided a conceptual scheme
that identified and interrelated many areas in Translation Studies, envisaged the
future discipline, and stimulated its establishment. Holmes’ map is presented
on the next page (from Toury 1995: 10). Since the field and the activities of
Translation Studies are very dynamic, the map has been modified ever since
to allow for the emergence of new sub-branches that fall within Translation
Studies. (e.g., Lambert 1991; Snell-Hornby 1991; and Toury 1995)
Jeremy Munday’s modification of Holmes’ map
In view of the information and technology explosion, Jeremy Munday added
an “applied” part to the map of Translation Studies in 2001. Munday argues that
a�ention has been shi�ed to the applied practice of translation. This is shown
in Figure 2 (next page).
Munday’s modification illustrates how Translation Studies is becoming more
specific. With the rapid development of technology and information sciences in
the 21st century, technical applications will increasingly exert greater influence
on translation practice and theory. Munday broadens the scope of Translation
Studies so as to include psychological, educational, and sociological elements in
addition to purely linguistic features.
0907-676X/05/03/188-17 $20.00
Perspectives: Studies in Translatology
© 2005 T. Youlan
Vol. 13, No. 3, 2005
Youlan. Translation Studies and Textbooks.
189
Figure 1:
Holmes’ basic “map” of Translation Studies (from Toury 1991: 181)
Translation Studies
Pure
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Theoretical
General
Applied
Descriptive
Product
oriented
Partial
Medium
restricted
Area
restricted
Rank
restricted
Translator
training
Translation
aids
Process
oriented
Function
oriented
Text-type
restricted
Translation
criticism
Time
restricted
Problem
restricted
Figure 2:
Munday’ interpretation of translation studies (from Munday 2001: 10-14)
Translation Studies
Pure
Theoretical
General
Applied
Translation
criticism
Translator
training
Descriptive
Partial
Teaching
methods
Testing
techniques
Curriculum
design
Evaluation
Review
Translation
aids
Translation
so�ware
IT applications
Grammars
Online
database
Use of the
internet
Dictionaries
Revision
190
2005. Perspectives: Studies in Translatology. Volume 13: 3
Chinese scholars’ modification of Holmes’ map
Zhang Meifang (2000) comments on Holmes’ map in the light of Chinese
Translation Studies. She calls for scholars to widen their research by paying
a�ention to Descriptive Translation Studies and applied translation. In 2003, Liu
Biqing published Translation Teaching: Practice and Theory, in which he elaborated
on Holmes’ map. (Figure 3)
Figure 3:
Liu’s interpretation of Translation Studies (from Liu Biqing 2003: 356)
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Translation Studies
Translation history
Developmental
history
Translation theory
Translation information engineering
Theoretical
history
Basic theory
Interdisciplinary theory
Applied theory
General
theory
Textual
Cultural Meaning Aesthetic
understanding theory
theory
theory
and decoding
Realisation
theory
Procedure
studies
Methodology
studies
Strategy
studies
Value
theory
Translation teaching
studies
Translation
criticism
Translation
policy
Liu emphasises the history of translation and argues that this field should
be included in the framework of Translation Studies; secondly, he stresses that
interdisciplinary theory should be used, since Translation Studies may gain
from other disciplines such as linguistics, culture studies, and communication;
thirdly, he expands the scope of applied theory and claims that it should be
a key component, since translation is a practical activity concerned with
communication between two languages and two cultures. Therefore, he splits
“applied theory” into three branches: (a) translation teaching studies, (b) value
theory, and (c) realisation theory. Value theory includes translation criticism and
translation policy, and realisation theory is sub-divided into procedure studies,
methodology studies, and strategy studies.
My perspective of the map
I shall focus on Figure 3, which suggests that translation teaching studies are
a branch of applied theory.
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Youlan. Translation Studies and Textbooks.
191
Holmes discussed translation teaching: “Actually, the teaching of translating
is of two types which need to be carefully distinguished. In the one case,
translating has been used for centuries as a technique in foreign-language
teaching and a test of foreign-language acquisition … in the second case, …
translating is taught in schools and courses to train professional translators.”
(Holmes 1975: 77)
In the last few decades, these two fields have become popular in China. Since
the 1980s, English learning has received very high priority, and in that context of
language acquisition, translation is considered an effective means for improving
proficiency in English. Mu Lei has commented that “ever since 1978, real and
official translation teaching has developed rapidly in Mainland China.” (Mu Lei
1999: 16)
Nowadays, many English departments offer courses in translation and these
translation courses are considered professional training in their own right.
Translation departments are found in Hong Kong, Taiwan, and Mainland
China. The foundation of the first Graduate Institute of Interpretation and
Translation at the Shanghai International Studies University (2003) was widely
seen as the beginning of professional translation teaching, and this example
has been followed by, e.g., Fudan University, Shanghai. These events highlight
the progress, but certainly also the need to analyse translator training and
translation teaching.
As Holmes put it, “translator training has raised a number of questions that
fairly cry for answers: questions that have to do primarily with teaching methods,
testing techniques, and curriculum planning. It is obvious that the search for wellfounded, reliable answers to these questions constitutes a major area of research
in applied translation studies.” (Holmes 1975: 77) Today, at the beginning of
the 21st century, these questions are becoming crucial to Translation Studies in
many parts of the world, not only in China. But the fact that China has joined
the World Trade Organization and will host the 2008 Olympic Games and 2010
World Expo clearly boost its need for professional translators and interpreters.
At present, China has more than 40,000 professional translators and interpreters,
but this figure is far too low to meet the demands of the market. Hence, there is
a pressing need to produce high-quality translators and interpreters: the case of
China commands interest as paradigmatic for many emergent nations that are
in the process of entering today’s globalised market place.
Some of today’s translators and interpreters are university graduates with
foreign language majors. Today, the universities and institutions are not the only
ones trying to meet the demand: there are currently three large-scale national
qualification tests for English-oriented translators and interpreters. From June
1995 on, three institutions organised the Shanghai Intermediate and Advanced
Interpretation Certificate Test. According to the Shanghai Daily (24/3/2005), 33,000
students from all over the country turned up for the exam for a certificate, and
within the last ten years, about 7,000 people have received accredited certificates.
Such certificates can also be issued by other national bodies.
One way of obtaining the certificate is by taking training classes. One problem
challenging students, and particularly trainers, is the choice of appropriate
textbooks. The training of high-quality translators, interpreters, and teachers
demands high-quality textbooks, which, in turn, affect the teaching methods
2005. Perspectives: Studies in Translatology. Volume 13: 3
192
used. The nature of the textbooks ties up curriculum design and the entire
system of testing.
In recent years, the number of translation textbooks published in the Republic
of China has increased prodigiously:
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1947-1965: 2 textbooks.
1966-1976: 0 textbooks.
1977-1989: 55 textbooks.
1990-1998: 41 textbooks.
1999-2005: 97 textbooks.
However, in the scholarly area of Translation Studies, translation textbooks
are largely ignored in China, which has seen a total of only thirteen articles
published in the whole country from 1949 to 1994 (Mu Lei 2001), and only six
of these appeared in the key journal Zhongguo Fanyi (Chinese Translators Journal)
from 1980 to 1997 (Zhang Meifang 1997). From 1994 to 2005, the number rose
to thirty-one (Tao Youlan 2005), which still means that such studies are few
compared to the wealth of textbooks published. I believe that in the present
epoch, Translation Studies must be viewed in a global framework and that
translation-textbook studies should be seen as an emerging empirical field that
can be tackled in a larger social context, enlarging the scope of application and
enriching the content of Translation Studies.
This is why I propose that work on textbooks should occupy a key place in
the framework of Translation Studies, as indicated in Figure 4.
Figure 4:
Tao’s interpretation of Translation Studies (2005)
Translation Studies
Pure
Theoretical
General
Applied
Descriptive
Translator
training
Translation
aids
Translation
criticism
Partial
Translator
training
Textbook
compilation
Teaching
methodology
Testing
engineering
Curriculum
design
Translation textbooks in China
Defining textbooks
Encyclopedia Americana (1990: 563) states that “in the strict sense of the term,
a textbook is a book that presents a body of knowledge in an organized and
usually simplified manner for purposes of learning,” whereas the Modern Chinese
Dictionary (1998: 639) defines it as “a book specially compiled for students for
Youlan. Translation Studies and Textbooks.
193
learning and providing overviews of a specific field in classroom”. In China,
teachers previously used to follow set textbooks, covering a set number of pages
or units every week. The textbook provided the contents of the course and
controlled the teaching schedule for the year. This has changed, and nowadays
textbooks are expected to have other functions.
A translation textbook, then, focuses on providing students with general
knowledge. It fulfils the following functions:
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1)
2)
3)
4)
it is a teaching tool for pedagogical purposes,
it is systematically organised to reflect the main points in Translation
Studies,
it tends to be comprehensive, “extending from general principles
to guidelines, suggestions and hints” (Newmark 1988: 9), including
translation strategies, similarities and differences between two or
more languages, and possibly a number of translation exercises
covering various features, and
it must be informative, operative, and enlightening, and leave enough
space for the users’ personal development.
A brief history of translation textbooks in China
In the People’s Republic of China, the history of translation textbooks can
easily be divided into five periods according to stages in modern history: 19491965; 1966-1976; 1977-1989; 1990-1998 (Zhang Meifang 2001: 1-13); and 19992005. This article will focus on English-Chinese translation textbooks in these
periods.
1949 to 1965 (1976)
In the first years of the Republic, from 1949 to 1965, Russian was the favoured
first foreign language at school. The first English-Chinese translation textbook,
Translation: Its Principles and Techniques, was published in 1958 by Loh Dian-yang,
who advocates Yan Fu’s three-character principle of translation: “faithfulness”,
“expressiveness”, and “elegance” (as originally expounded by Yan Fu in 18962).
However, he also adds the concept of “smoothness”, which was introduced by
Lu Xun in 1931. The textbook is wri�en in English and comprises two volumes.
The first volume is organised on the basis of words and sentences. The opening
chapter introduces general principles of translation and the nine subsequent
ones are devoted to the translation of words and expressions. The focus is on
comparisons between English and Chinese words and grammar in sentences
and it drives home standardised translations of words; the second volume lists
the respective characteristics of the Chinese and English languages, elaborates
on what is considered adequate translation, and introduces six principles:
“omission”, “amplification”, “repetition”, “conversion”, “inversion”, and
“negation”. The last chapter discusses the training of translators. “These two
volumes deal extensively with translation theories and provide numerous
examples in order to illustrate translation techniques”, as stated in the preface.2
In the organisation of contents, this textbook is much like traditional grammar
books, such as A Practical English Grammar, by Zhang Daozhen, in terms of
lexical classification and syntax. (Zhang Meifang 2001: 61)
194
2005. Perspectives: Studies in Translatology. Volume 13: 3
The textbook was “very normative, special and insightful. It emphasized
grammatical comparison and served as a model for most textbooks in Hong
Kong, Taiwan, and the Mainland for the next 30 years.” (Zhou Zhaoxiang 1987)
However, it was also characterised by the ideology of the epoch in which it was
wri�en and many examples are now dated. Look at the following examples, in
which sentence (a) is source sentence and sentence (b) is target sentence.
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Example 1a 以首的和平万！ (Book One: 170)
Example 1b Long live the camp of peace headed by the Soviet Union!
Example 2a If you had a job you bent your back for the capitalist or landlord
(Book One: 256)
Example 2b 有，就得本家或地主力操作。
Example 3a Let us keep neck and neck in our economic construction with our
forerunner, the Soviet Union. (Book Two: 160)
Example 3b 我在建上向先的（老大哥）看。
Example 4a [passage translation] 中友好同盟互助 (Book Two: 302-303)
Example 4b Sino-Soviet Treaty of Friendship, Alliance and Mutual Assistance
(Book Two: 377-378)3
Example 5a [passage translation] 于无政的史 (Book Two: 322-323)
Example 5b Concerning the Historical Experience of the Dictatorship of the
Proletariat (Book Two: 323)
The first series of uniform national textbooks for English majors was published
in 1962. Comprising a total of eight books, the first four were compiled by the
Chinese celebrated translator and teacher of English Xu Guozhang and became
known as Xu Guozhang English. These four volumes dominated the teaching of
English at Chinese universities for nearly forty years. In a strict sense, they are
not textbooks for teaching translation, but since each lesson has many exercises
ranging from translation of words, via sentences, to paragraphs and entire texts,
they improve translation competence. Some translators such as Zhang Peiji, Lu
Gusun, and Huang Yuanshen, who are well-known in China, have been taught
in accordance with these books. This pa�ern for systematising translation
exercises has been a model for many subsequent textbooks. Even today, Xu
Guozhang English is central to teaching students translation skills because of its
focus on basic language learning.
From 1966 to 1976, no translation textbooks were published, since the Cultural
Revolution brought education to a halt.
1977-1989
In the period from 1977 to 1989, the policy of opening up to the outside world
prompted the publication of a number of translation textbooks: Zhang Meifang’s
survey of this period (2001) lists 32 comprehensive basic translation textbooks
and 22 translation textbooks on scientific and technological translation. The most
widely used textbooks by English departments were A Course in E-C Translation
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Youlan. Translation Studies and Textbooks.
195
(Zhang Peiji 1980) and A Course in C-E Translation (Lv Ruicang et al. 1983). This
la�er book uses “faithfulness” and “smoothness” as the favoured criteria for all
translation work and comprises six chapters: the first is a brief introduction of
the history of translation in China; the second discusses a number of basic issues
in translation, such as criteria for, as well as the process of, translation; the third
chapter systematically compares English and Chinese in terms of phonology,
grammar, and lexical items, identifying similarities and differences; the fourth,
fi�h, and sixth chapters introduce fi�een methods and skills for translating
words and sentences by listing and analysing a long series of sentences given in
both English and Chinese. There are translation exercises for each chapter and
the keys to these exercises are offered in the appendix.
The authors assert that “our distinctive feature is to present translation
theories, skills, and techniques by contrastive methods; by means of detailed
contrasts of English and Chinese, the similarities, differences, and specifics of the
two languages are illustrated fully so that we can solve the problem of expressing
the same idea in different languages.” (Zhang 1980: 339) Reflecting descriptive
grammar, this book also discusses translation of both words and sentences. But
all the sentences selected to illustrate translating skills are independent of the
source texts. We know that “it is impossible to render isolated sentences into
good target-language ones when they are treated without being connected to a
certain context or the main idea of a paragraph and a text in the original, but it
is a general belief that a comparative study of those universal, typical features
and differences between two languages at the syntactical level is of great benefit
to those translation learners.” (Zhang 1980: iii)
Many of these decontextualised sentences do not improve translation
skills, but rather serve merely for comparison. For instance, “There is a man
downstairs who wants to see you.” (138) “John is your friend as much as he is
mine.” (77) The book describes linguistic differences in meaning, collocations,
and syntactical structures, etc., in abstract terms. For all the phrases used
about translation skills, it is still organised like a basic language or grammar
book. Societal developments also date much material and make it inapplicable
today:
Example 6a The proletariat and the peasantry must unite! (97)
Example 6b 无必和民合起！
Example 7a There will come a day when people all over the world will live a
happy life under the sun of socialism. (136)
Example 7b 全世界人民在社主光下幸福生活的一天是到的。
Another drawback is that translation of paragraphs and entire texts is not
covered.
1990-1998
From 1990 to 1998, the reform and open-door policy brought about new
changes in China. At least 51 translation textbooks appeared, among them
textbooks on interpreting and business translation. Some teachers published
textbooks of their own, such as Ke Ping’s A Course on E-C and C-E Translation,
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2005. Perspectives: Studies in Translatology. Volume 13: 3
Huang Long’s A Course in Translative Art, and Chen Hongwei’s A New Practical
Textbook of Translation From Chinese into English, to mention just a few. (Zhang
Meifang 2001: 56-57) These textbooks introduced some Western translation
theory, but they were not adopted as authoritative, national textbooks. Each
presents the author’s views on translation, such as: How can one combine
translation theory with practice in a textbook? How should translation theory
influence the textbook? What kinds of translation theories and skills should be
taught? How should translation-course syllabi connect with other disciplines?
(Mu Lei 1999) The authors use different approaches: Ke Ping is a proponent of
semiology and Chen Hongwei of social-semiotics.
Take Chen Hongwei’s textbook as an example. Firstly, her textbook is borne by
the fact that the open-door policy and the economic development of China make
it necessary to translate from Chinese into English. Therefore, she considers it
appropriate to introduce Chinese civilization on the world stage. Secondly, her
textbook adopts a social-semiotics approach based on Eugene Nida’s social
linguistic perspective, it borrows Michael Halliday’s elaboration of the social
function of language, and tries to examine the ‘laws of translation’ with a view to
reproducing the meanings and functions of one language in another language.
There are six chapters: the first introduces the social-semiotics approach; the
second is a general introduction to translation; the third addresses translation
of single words; the fourth deals with translation of sentences; the fi�h focuses
on translation of paragraphs; and the final chapter illustrates different types
of textual translation. It adheres to the traditional textbook structure, but adds
new angles to translation by discussing “contexts”, “texts”, “pragmatics”,
and “functions”. The author supports the notion that a source and target text
should “correspond in meaning and be similar in function”. (Chen 1998: 66) For
instance:
Example 8a 大家面， 招呼‘吃了？’透着和。(72)
Example 8b When people meet, they greet each other with a ‘Hi!’, just to
show their good neighborly feelings. (73)
Example 9a 出手不凡石表
Example 9b Buy a Diamond brand watch if every second counts for you.
(243)
In example 8, the meaning can be conveyed by means of adaptation, changing
“吃了？” into “greeting each other with a ‘Hi!’”, which has largely the same
function.
Example 9 is an advertisement for a watch. At first sight, the translation
seems to be far from the source text, yet it conveys the implied pragmatic
meaning since the words “second” and “count” belong to the same semantic
sphere as “clock” and “time”: Those who set time at a high value will look at
their watches ever so o�en and appreciate it. Chen Hongwei comments that the
translation communicates not only the flavour of the English advertisement, but
it also caters to the customers’ psychological needs.
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Youlan. Translation Studies and Textbooks.
197
1999 to the present
In recent years, China has become a player on the international stage, and,
consequently, the necessity for translations between English and Chinese is
increasingly obvious, which, in turn, leads to the publication of new translation
textbooks. Fan Shouyi (2003) lists no fewer the 72 textbooks on translation, 25 on
interpreting, and 244 test-oriented translation textbooks - and his survey is far
from exhaustive. These textbooks focus on a variety of fields of translation.
In my view, the following three works stand out among the translation
textbooks of the early 21st century by their distinctive features.
The first is He Gangqiang’s Art and Cra� of Translation (2003), a textbook for the
key course of translation at Fudan University, Shanghai. It is a comprehensive
textbook that integrates translation theory, translation skills, and strategies
of interpreting. There are four parts and the first part views translation from
four perspectives: the study of the nature of translation in terms of metaphors
on translations; translation and culture; the translators’ responsibility and
creativity; and advantages and weaknesses of machine translation. Then
follows an introduction to the main skills of translation: the translation of wordplay; semantic adaptation and explanation; words and rhetorics; corresponding
expressions in English and Chinese (in two parts); and addition, omission, and
rearrangement in the process of translating from Chinese into English. The
third part examines Interpreting Studies and introduces eight English-Chinese
interpreting strategies and 16-character interpreting principles: “句操作，自
然接，机整，整等效”；分主，有机接，宏等效，力求地道. The fourth part
includes translation exercises and the keys to the exercises are located in the
appendix.
The author is explicit about the textbook’s objective:
…in the last ten years, the number of Chinese translation textbooks has mushroomed,
but unfortunately there is no one single textbook that can be used universally for
English majors. The ideal situation would be that translation teachers had high
translating competence as well as a good command of translation theories. In practice
it turns out that it is no good for students to use only one textbook because teachers’
preferences are not the same and the students have different levels of English
command. However, it is feasible to make one translation textbook that discusses the
main issues of translation by introducing translation theory in a summary form. This
is the aim of this book.
In teaching practice, this textbook has advantages:
a)
b)
c)
It incorporates contemporary Western translation theories in
traditional Chinese translation theories, which is a happy marriage
in pedagogical terms. And it introduces linguistics and writing
strategies in the discussion of translation strategies.
It offers new approaches based on the author’s teaching and
translation practice. Thus He puts forward such innovative ChineseEnglish interpreting principles as “分主，有机接，宏等效，力求道地
(158) (“to identify the main clause and the subordinate clause before
linking them in order to make for macro-text equivalence with a high
degree of idiomaticy”).
The textbook develops the English-Chinese interpreting principle of
198
2005. Perspectives: Studies in Translatology. Volume 13: 3
“句操作，自然接，机整，整等效” (144) (“to translate along with the
sentence order in natural cohesion by flexible adaptation for the sake
of textual equivalence of whole texts”). The examples reflect student
needs and developments in the modern age:
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Example 10 Throughout rural America, patients are discovering that the bigcity medical center is just a mouse-click away. (45)
Example 11 The younger Bush has copied his father by establishing a publicservice organization - the Foundation for Florida’s Future - that operates
on the edge of government: not a think-tank, he insists, but a “do tank”.
(119)
Example 12 (Textual translation)
12a 浦江大人文院中外文化修（）中心招生告
12b WELCOME TO A THREE-WEEK ENCOUNTER WITH CHINESE
FOLKLORE (137-139)
The second book I examine is Mei Deming’s A Course in Interpreting (2003).
This textbook meets the requirements of interpreters in this day and age. There
are two volumes, each with 18 units, which focus on specific fields such as
“international communication”, “sports”, “cultural differences”, “management
strategies”, and “WTO business practice”. Each unit is divided into two parts,
one dealing with texts to be interpreted from English into Chinese and the
other one from Chinese into English. Subdivisions deal with components of
the interpreting performance: e.g., interpreting lead-in, preparation for text
interpreting, notes on the text, comments on interpreting, and interpreting skills.
Volume two lists expressions that are useful in interpreting and exercises (such
as distilling the meaning of sentences, listening comprehension, shadowing,
oral presentation, and vocabulary development).
This textbook is informative and geared towards practice. It provides a model
for quality interpreting, including competence, skills, and performance. (Mei
2003: 2) In addition, there are observations on the characteristics of interpreting
and on different styles and registers, e.g., classical languages, different text
types, everyday situations, and multi-media presentations.
The third book is Pan Hong’s A Course in English-Chinese Business Translation
(2004). The first part presents basic issues in English-Chinese translation and
the second illustrates business translation in practice. The first part concentrates
on such topics as business texts and translation, English-Chinese culture and
business translation, English-Chinese syntactical structures and translation,
and cohesion and coherence in translating business English. The second part
addresses the practice of business English translation: this includes, for instance,
translating brands and trademarks, advertisements, business cards and le�ers, as
well as the translation of legal documents and examples of business translation
for analysis.
This is the first textbook to adopt a functional approach in China. It aims
at improving students’ translation competence and linguistic competence by
connecting translation with factors such as stylistics, semantics, culture, and
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Youlan. Translation Studies and Textbooks.
199
the role of target texts and their audiences. The basic principle is “function +
fidelity”, which emphasises the communicative function of translated business
texts by focusing on the source texts. It a�empts to illustrate that under
certain circumstances, translation can be carried out according to systematic
guidelines.
The textbooks discussed are illustrative of the development of translation
textbooks in China (Figure 5) and have been selected for this reason, not because
I believe they are necessarily superior to books not mentioned. The number of
translation textbooks is increasing and, furthermore, they are clearly changing
with the times. Even though there is no generally acknowledged ‘best’ textbook,
there is no doubt that increasingly be�er textbooks will appear as Translation
Studies develops.
Typical features of translation textbooks in China
Loh Dian-yang said that “it is easy to translate from English into French or
German, as these languages have the same origin and have many points in
common. But this is not the case with the Chinese language, which has another
origin than the Western languages. Everything is different: symbols, the basic
vocabulary, the grammatical constructions, the expressions, and even the way
of thinking.” (1958: 22) Therefore, translation textbooks from English to Chinese
or from Chinese to English must be different from textbooks based on or dealing
with translation between Western languages.
Translation textbooks on English and Chinese in the period under discussion
have the following characteristics:
1)
They tend to focus on the techniques of translating, emphasising the
“how”: the differences between Chinese and English demand that
virtually all translation textbooks compare the two languages and
provide examples of translating techniques that illustrate how to
translate from English into Chinese or vice versa. Otherwise, learners
will be puzzled. Students especially at the primary level expect a
textbook to teach them how to translate rather than what translation
is about.
Figure 5:
A Glance at Representative Translation Textbooks in China (1949-2005)
Time
1949-1965
1966-1976
Representative
textbooks
Translation: Its
Principles and
Technique Book One
& Book Two (1958)
No translation
textbook was
published because
of the Cultural
Revolution.
Compliers
Main comments
Loh Dian-yang
The first formal EnglishChinese translation
textbook. It is heavily
influenced by traditional
grammar
Ideology influenced the
compilation of translation
textbooks.
200
2005. Perspectives: Studies in Translatology. Volume 13: 3
1977-1989
A Course in E-C
Translation (1980)
Zhang Peiji
1990-1999
A New Practical
Textbook of
Translation From
Chinese into
English (1996)
Art and Cra� of
Translation (2003)
Chen Hongwei
Interpretation
Course (two
volumes) (2003)
Mei Deming
A Course in
English-Chinese
Business
Translation (2004)
Pan Hong (ed.)
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2000-2005
2)
3)
4)
He Gangqiang
Most widely used and
welcome translation
textbook. It focuses on the
translation of words and
sentences.
The first textbook to adopt
a socio-semiotics approach
to Translation Studies. It is
the most widely recognised
Chinese-English textbook.
The first comprehensive
translation textbook in the
new century; integrates
Western contemporary
translation theories
with traditional Chinese
translation theories.
The first widely used
interpretation textbook for
interpreting training; rich
examples and up-dated
practical materials; suggests
an interpreting quality
model.
The first textbook that
takes a functional approach
towards Translation Studies;
practical and needs-oriented
The textbooks are prescriptive and lack a general model for dividing
translation into “basic categories”: the majority of these textbook
treat translation as a product instead of a process. The authors make
observations based on practice and try to generate supposedly
effective ways for doing a translation, which makes it hard to come
up with general models of translation.
The textbooks are heavily influenced by theories from linguistics and
foreign-language teaching pedagogy. Roughly speaking, traditional
grammar dominated English teaching in China before the 1970s
and this made ‘grammar translation’ popular. This is why we find
grammar-oriented textbooks such as Loh Dian-yang’s and Zhang
Peiji’s. A�er the 1970s, structural linguistics, which advocated ‘audiolingual’ methods, began to be popular. In the 1980s, the “notionalfunctional approach” and the “functional approach” were introduced.
They led to ‘Communicative Language Teaching’, which emphasised
that the aim of foreign-language learning is to a�ain communicative
competence. Accordingly, the period saw many functional translation
textbooks, such as Wu Bin’s on interpreting (1995) and Guo Yidun’s
on business translation (1997).
Translation textbooks tend to incorporate more and more Western
translation theory to illustrate translation strategies: Western theories
Youlan. Translation Studies and Textbooks.
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5)
201
are used to explain or support specific translation practices between
Chinese and English. This applies to, for instance, the textbooks by
Ke Ping (1993), Chen Hongwei (1996), and He Gangqiang (2003).
There is an enormous market for translation textbooks in China.
Every textbook is usually issued in at least 5,000 copies, and if they
are successful, there are numerous reprints. Thus Mei Deming’s book
on interpreting has been reprinted eight times and sells 60,000 to
70,000 copies every year. Reprints are usually revised by the addition
of new material.
Western translation textbooks from a Chinese perspective
Foreigners rarely have an insight into the history of national textbooks. When
I examine Western textbooks, my comments therefore must be taken with a grain
of salt, but they are, on the other hand, indicative of the view many Translation
Studies scholars have concerning what is going on in parts of the world other
than their own.
I know that there has been a large number of publications on translation in
recent years (witness the Bibliographies listed at the end of this journal), but only
a handful of the Western ones that I have reviewed can be used as textbooks for
translation teaching and translator training.
The first is Peter Newmark’s A Textbook of Translation (1988). Newmark
states in the preface that “it is not a conventional textbook. Instead of offering,
as originally planned, texts in various languages for you to translate, I have
supplied in the appendices examples of translational text analyses, translations
with commentaries and translation criticism.” He claims to discuss “most of
the issues and problems that come up in translating” and the book is definitely
useful for translators by providing practical guidance in translation.
Then there is Translation and Translating: Theory and Practice, wri�en by Roger
T. Bell (1991). It examines translation theory and is divided into three parts:
model, meaning, and memory. The author intends to offer descriptions and
explanations of the process of translating from the perspectives of systematic
linguistic theory, information processing, and psychology, and he tries to
establish an intellectually and practically satisfying theory. This book is difficult
to understand for students without a linguistic background, since it focuses on
descriptive research models of translation based on a variety of theories.
Mona Baker’s In Other Words: A Course-book on Translation (1992) is a model
textbook that combines theory and practice, language, and culture. It uses
theories of, e.g., functional linguistics, pragmatics, cultural anthropology, and
meaning to analyse issues spanning from words, sentences and discourse, to
texts. Its progression in the form of a “bo�om-up” hierarchical system has
features in common with the structure of many Chinese textbooks. Moreover,
there are many examples in English and Chinese that are useful to Chinese
readers.
Douglas Robinson’s Becoming a Translator: An Accelerated Course (1998) is
characterised by its user-friendliness and an unorthodox orientation. The book
emphasises that translation should not be source-text oriented but customeroriented. The exercises are globally designed, reflecting topics that have been
in vogue in some Western countries, such as, translation and power, translation
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202
2005. Perspectives: Studies in Translatology. Volume 13: 3
and culture, functional translation, and translation and market. It deconstructs
the concept of translation in a broad sense.
Jeremy Munday’s Introducing Translation Studies: Theories and Applications
(2001) is an introductory textbook providing an overview of key contributions
to Western Translation Studies. Munday explores each theory and tests them by
applying them to a variety of texts (a total of nine) in eight languages. “Including
a general introduction, an extensive bibliography and Internet sites for further
information, this is a practical, user-friendly textbook that gives a balanced and
comprehensive insight into translation studies.”
In my view, these Western textbooks are all rooted in modern linguistics, and
theory assumes a dominating role. They tend to take a macroscopic a�itude
towards Translation Studies, Robinson’s book being the only exception. It also
refers to specific translation skills, which corresponds to what we find in Chinese
translation textbooks.
Conclusion
In recent years, translation textbooks have acquired new functions and their
contents and the models they promote are influenced by many factors, such as
changed emphases in foreign-language teaching, student level of proficiency,
and theoretical advances in Translation Studies.
The Chinese scene is unique because the changes in societal and political
orientation towards the West and the rapid advances in development of the
country (8-10% increase in the gross national product per year) call for more
and more contact with the outside world, notably by means of English as a
lingua franca. This makes it possible to trace political and societal developments
in the textbooks on translation.
In particular, the reform and open-door policy brought about changes in
China. In accordance with market demands and the necessity to communicate
with foreign countries, textbooks tend to be specific and with a practical focus
on, e.g., interpreting, business translation, translation of texts on management,
labour relations, banking, and world economy.
The influence of changes in societies and politics is a feature that is, in all
likelihood, not unique to China, but will be revealed when Translation Studies
scholars start to explore the teaching of translation in their own countries from
an historical perspective.
In Translation Studies, the study of the making of translation textbooks is
neglected, at least in China. But in this article, I have argued that translation
textbook work is a branch that must be taken into account in surveys of
Translation Studies. In recent years, the importance of translation textbooks has
become obvious and we therefore need to place them more firmly in Translation
Studies.
Notes
1. For further references to Yan Fu’s concepts, see Luo in this issue.
2. I have translated the quotations from the textbooks into English for the convenience
of readers.
3. Examples 4 and 5 refer to whole passages that would be too long to cite in their entirety.
They are therefore indicated by the title only.
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Youlan. Translation Studies and Textbooks.
203
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