Developing College Students' Translation Competence

The thesis investigates the current state of the translation competence of the non-English majors in Yulin Teachers College in Guangxi. The investigation shows the students'Chinese and English foundation is not very solid and the students know little about translation theories and have little practice. Furthermore the students are quite ignorant of the thinking and language differences between English and Chinese. Rigorous word-for-word translation is quite common in their translation exercises. This phenomenon prompts the author to reflect on the teaching of College English in this school.The thesis then proceeds to analyze the causes for this state. Obviously one important reason is the effect of the national College English Band Four and Band Six Tests. It is well known that for many years the objective parts make up as high as 85% of the whole score in these two tests while the translation item seldom appears in them. Undoubtedly these two tests work as the bacon for the teaching and learning of college English. In addition, the teachers'teaching ideas, teaching methods and teaching abilities also affect development of the students'translation competence.The author points out that it is necessary for us to strengthen the teaching of translation in the teaching of college English. For one thing, the cultivation of translation competence is the requirement of the college English teaching syllabus. For another, the time demands us to consciously cultivate the students'translation competence.The thesis explores the notion of translation competence and such questions as the teaching of translation and the transfer of the first language. Generally speaking, translation is a complex activity. The translation competence mainly includes the following five competences:(1) language competence; (2) textual competence; (3) subject competence; (4) cultural competence; and (5) transfer competence. There would be no ground for competence (5) without the translator's thorough grounding in (1) to (4) and competence (5) dominates over all the other competences.When dealing with the relationship between language teaching and translation teaching and the effect of the first language's transfer on second language learning, the thesis holds that the translation teaching is not the extension of foreign language teaching but rather it can serve as a means for the foreign language teaching. Transfer processes are omnipresent in foreign language acquisition and the effect of the transfer is not necessarily negative. We can consciously make use of translation and the transfer of the first language to learn a foreign language.When discussing how to cultivate the students'translation competence, the thesis stresses...