A Study On The Translation Difficulty Of The E-C Translation Test In CATTI

China Accreditation Test for Translators and Interpreters(CATTI) has attracted an increasing number of examinees as well as researchers since its establishment in 2003. However, few of the researches have discussed the translation difficulty of the practical translation test in the CATTI levelâ…¡and levelâ…¢.The object of this study is the E-C translation tests of CATTI levelâ…¡and levelâ…¢(2003-2005), which have been published with the approval of the administration committee. Based on previous studies on translation difficulty, several indicators are selected to conduct a quantitative research on E-C translation tests of CATTI and thus to explore the differences between the two levels of tests in terms of translation difficulty. Research questions of this thesis include: first, how does CATTI level â…¡ differ from CATTI level â…¢ in terms of translation factors? Second, how does CATTI level â…¡ differ from CATTI level â…¢ in terms of translator factors? Third, what are the reasons behind the differences between results of text analysis and those of the experiment?In terms of methodology, the research material is the E-C translation tests in May, 2005, which are selected randomly. First, by way of text analysis, E-C translations of CATTI level â…¡ and level â…¢ are compared in terms of translation factors. Second, a simulation experiment of CATTI level â…¡ and level â…¢ is conducted and 102 participants were asked to complete questionnaires and were interviewed to identify how CATTI level â…¡ differs from CATTI level â…¢ in terms of translator factors. Finally, explanation of the differences between results of text analysis and those of the experiment is made based on statistical analysis and related theories.The study shows that: CATTI level â…¡ is non-significantly easier than level â…¢ in terms of two translation factors(the number of official words and readability score) and a translator factor(translation speed); CATTI level â…¡ is significantly easier than level â…¢ in terms of one translation factor(the number of passive verbs); CATTI level â…¡ is significantly more difficult than level â…¢ in terms of one translator factor(workload). The reason behind the differences is that: CATTI is a translation proficiency test. Its difficulty includes both translation difficulty and task difficulty. The former is part of the latter in CATTI. Therefore, workload, which is calculated with the help of the experiment, is influenced by other factors of task difficulty.