Astudy Of Presupposition In Translation And Its Implications For Translation Teaching

Presupposition, a complicated cognitive phenomenon, is closely related totranslation. Though there are quite a few studies of presupposition in translation, thefocus is mainly on the application of presupposition to translation skills or strategiesand the depth is far from enough. Therefore, in this paper the author tries to makefurther exploration on the significance of presupposition for improving translators'subjective initiative in translation and provides some implications for translationteaching.The paper covers six chapters besides introduction and conclusion: in chaptertwo general considerations of presupposition are introduced, including the relevantdefinition, classification and characteristics. In order to get a better understanding ofthe essence of presupposition,the author further states the study of presuppositionfrom philosophical perspective and linguistic perspective. Meanwhile the previousstudies of presupposition in translation are also presented to show the insufficiency ofthe previous studies and the necessity of further study. In chapter three therelationship between presupposition and translation and the significance ofpresupposition for translation are analyzed, which is mainly based on thecharacteristics of presupposition and the nature of translation. Presupposition, whichis characterized by its mutual knowledge and felicity or appropriateness, plays asignificant role in understanding the original accurately and avoiding pragmaticfailure in expressing. In chapter four the empirical research is conducted to find outthe current situation of the translation teaching, the effect that presupposition failurehas on translation and other relevant questions by means of classroom observation,interviews with students and teachers and translation test. The empirical researchindicates that many factors that affect students'translation can find explanation inpresupposition theory. And the translation test proves that inputting presuppositionalknowledge to students can improve their translation competence to some extent, andtraining their presuppositional thinking can improve their subjective initiative intranslation. In chapter five some implications for translation teaching are given.Teachers should lead the students to comprehend the presupposition triggers bothfrom linguistic elements and non-linguistic elements. The focus should be on trainingstudents'presuppositional thinking rather than merely on imparting translation skills.Teachers also should increase the contents of cultural contrast between Chinese and English and train students'alternation of thinking between the two languages inclassrooms.To sum up, presupposition plays a significant role in the process of translating.Translators need to get familiar with the different presuppositions of the sourcelanguage and the target language so as to produce optimal equivalent translation.Teachers should change their teaching concept and put in more efforts to improve thestudents'awareness of presupposition in translation.