Study Of Lanzhou MTI Students’ Education Investment From Perspective Of Economics Of Language

Economies of language is an interdisciplinary subject consisting of Linguistics, Economies, and Education. It came into being in 1965 and was first proposed by American economist Jacob Marschak with his creative application of economic concepts of utility, value, cost and benefit to language analysis. Economics of Language has brought about a brand new research perspective to linguistic study. So far, many scholars, either from economics and linguistics, have done tentative and fruitful researches on Economies of Language.With the development of world economy, the economic exchanges between different countries are more and more frequent, together with the deepening intercultural communications and cooperation, it makes language an important factor in economic and cultural contexts. Translation, as a prominent language skill, is the first to be involved in economic and cultural affairs and has exerted crucial influences on the overall development. MTI education, as a newly emerging major for cultivating professional, practical and applicable translation talents, has its value lies in supplying translators to satisfy expanding translation service demands. In Lanzhou, thanks to the construction of Chinese Civilization Inheritance and Innovation Zone(CCIIZ) in 2013 and overall plan for the construction of Gansu Section of the Silk Road Economic Belt(SREB) in 2014, the local translation service market may welcome an unprecedented developing opportunity and more potential market demands will be developed and need to be satisfied. However, due to the imperfections of local translation service market development, it is hardly for MTI students cultivated in Lanzhou to effectively satisfy the demand. Therefore, this thesis takes a tentative action on investigating translation service market of Lanzhou where MTI education is the source of supply to satisfy local market demands and where the market status quo can influence expectation of education investors and their education investment decisions. This thesis first proposed a cost-benefit analysis model for MTI students’ investment in education based on the theories of Economics of Education and Economics of Language. Second, after the investigation and interview with a manager of local translation service company, questionnaires were designed and investigations were launched in two universities of Lanzhou, in translation service companies and in Foreign Affairs Office of Gansu Provincial People’s Government respectively. Third, data collected was went through a contrastive analysis between students of two universities and professional translators of translation service company and government, and some similarities and differences between them were manifested. From the similarities and differences, market recognition of students and its influences on students’ investment considerations were reflected, especially the benefit expectation of students’ being as a translator in the future. Fourth, a cost-benefit analysis of students’ MTI education investment consideration was carried out. At last, based on the theoretical and data analysis, it is proposed that local government and relevant institutions should seize the opportunities to fully explore the demands and effectively stimulate MTI education to integrate resources for cultivating heterogeneous translation talents and to serve the whole society.The purpose and significance of present study is, through the investigation of students’ MTI education investment, to point out local translation service market’s influences on the results of MTI education and to appeal local government and institutions to seize the opportunities brought about by the macropolicy for the improvement of local translation service market and for the social benefits maximization.