A Study On The Translation Of English Words In Teaching Chinese As A Foreign Language

In the current teaching materials of Teaching Chinese as a Foreign Language (TCFL) especially for the elementary course, the Chinese new words are normally translated and explained in English. Because of the big differences in semantics, grammar and pragmatics between words in Chinese and English, coupled with the cultural differences, it is a challenge to translate the Chinese words correctly with English in TCFL. Therefore, how to give a Chinese word a correct English explanation is the deep concern for many compilers of teaching materials; meanwhile, how to make good use of English translation to teach foreign students Chinese new words is an essential teaching skill for the teachers of TCFL.The essay firstly summarizes the research achievements about the problems of the explanation and translation of new words with English from the angles of materials compilation, vocabulary teaching and error analysis. Then it takes "Boya Chinese Elementary" as the aimed teaching material, conducts survey among the foreign students in the School of International Education of Nantong University to investigate their satisfaction degree about the English translation and explanation of Chinese new words. Based on the above investigation, the essay does some further research about the problems of English translation and provides some advice and suggestions as well. Chapter one focuses on the importance of explanation and translation of new words with English, the teaching of new words and the relationship between them. Chapter two takes "Boya Chinese Elementary" as the material of study, analyizes the probems in English translation for Chinese new words from the angle of foreign language learning or second language learning and trys to find out their causes. Chapter three provides some methods to improve the explanation and translation in English from the angle of the compilers for teaching materials. Chapter four illustrates how to perfect the translation to help foreign students do some positive transference when learning Chinese. At the end of the paper, the theory is applied into the teaching practice and some suggestions are offered to improve the teaching method of new words in TCEL.