Translation And College English Teaching

Thinking of the history of English teaching in our country during the past decadesand its present situation, we find that translation has not been treated equally to otherskills─listening, speaking, reading and writing, it has not been paid much attention to,and sometimes even neglected, which directly results in the students' poor translationcompetence. Recently, with the development of economy, politics, culture, science andtechnology in China and accepted as one of the members of WTO, translatorsespecially technical professionals who have a certain command of foreign language areneeded badly, so cultivating the students' translation competence has become animportant mission in foreign language teaching. Accordingly, National EnglishCurriculum Standards for College was amended, and the new edition prescribes thatthe aim of college English teaching is to foster the students to be good at reading, andto possess the abilities of listening, speaking, writing and translating to a certain extent,which helps them communicate in English. The new edition treats translating asimportant a part in English teaching as listening, speaking and writing, therefore whencultivating the other four skills, we should not ignore the skill of translating. Accordingto the above mentioned, I think, we should renew our understanding of the role thattranslation plays in college English teaching, foster the students' abilities of listening,speaking, reading and writing, paying more attention to the cultivation of the students'translation competence than before so as to bring up a large number of qualifiedtranslators who are good at English as well as their own specialties. This thesis stressesthat in the process of teaching, we should make the most use of translation method,which can benefit English teaching, help the students with the development oftranslation competence.The thesis emphasizes the relationship between translation and foreign languageteaching, which is one of the most controversial issues both in the circles oftranslation and foreign language teaching. They are closely related and they facilitateeach other, but they have their own characteristics respectively. Therefore, having athorough understanding of their relationship will give a great impetus not only toforeign language teaching but also to translation teaching. This thesis distinguishestranslation teaching and teaching translation, traditional Grammar-Translation Methodand Modern Translation Method, discusses the relationship between translation andcollege English teaching, stresses the role translation plays in foreign languageteaching, especially in the teaching of reading, vocabulary, and writing, and putsforward the idea of using translation as an self-monitoring device in English teaching.The thesis provides some suggestions and opinions about the development of thestudents' translation competence based on the questionnaires to college teachers onEnglish and non-English major students of Tai Shan College. The author also tries toclear up some misunderstandings of many people to translation, clarifying people'sambiguous points of view to translation, translation teaching, translation employed inteaching and their relations with foreign language teaching so that translation can playa more active role in foreign language teaching and the students' translationcompetence can be improved.The organization of this thesis is as follows:At the beginning is an introduction to the thesis. Chapter I delineates thebackground of the study, in which two major domains are reviewed:Grammar-Translation Method and Communicative Approach. Chapter II distinguishestranslation teaching and translation employed in teaching, and stresses teachingtranslation to non-foreign language majors, suggesting some ways of teachingtranslation in college classes. Chapter III analyzes the relationship between translationand college English teaching, mainly between translation and reading, lexical learningand writing. And translation can be regarded as a self-monitoring device. From theanalysis, it is easy to find that translation and college English teaching are closelyrelated and facilitate each other. In Chapter IV, the notion and features of translationcompetence are presented, and a survey into the students' translation competence wasconducted. From the analysis of the survey, some ways of improving students'competence are suggested. And at last, the thesis is concluded by a brief summary.