Practical-Ability-Oriented Translation Course Reform:The Integration of CATTI in Translation Course

Shenyang University,Liaoning,China Email:izhouhailin@126.com

[Abstract]This paper discusses about translation course reform for developing students’practical ability in translation by introducing CATTI in the translation course.Firstly,the paper discusses the necessity of introducing CATTI in translation course.Then,it discusses about how to integrate the translation course with CATTI,the production-oriented approach and CATTI contents in the translation course,the reflection on CATTI and use the translation workshop as the supplement of CATTI contents practice.

[Keywords]practical ability;translation course reform;CATTI;POA;reflection;translation workshop

Introduction

The traditional translation course focuses too much on literature translation and translation theories.While these two are vital for English majors,with the explosive need of the non-literature translation in the market and the practical translation abilities required by the market,it is also imperative for the English majors to focus more on the nonliterature translation and put special attention to the practical translation abilities.CATTI,China Accreditation Test for Translators and Interpreters,as the translation talents evaluation system,provides a standard or level for the English majors to reach.It is extremely necessary to introduce CATTI in translation course,because it can effectively improve the students’practical abilities in translation.By integrating CATTI in the translation course,using production-oriented approach to practice the CATTI contents,reflecting on CATTI in Translation Course and using workshop as the supplement of CATTI contents practice,the students can develop and reinforce their practical abilities to the level of professional translators.

The Necessity of Integrating CATTI in Translation Course

The traditional translation courses put an emphasis on literature translation and a variety of translation theories.In the traditional courses,different translation versions for the same paragraph from some literature works are listed for analysis,with various translation theories put forward for the students to learn and compare.It is good to develop the students’literature translation skills and have a systematic understanding of the translation theories.What the students learn and what they are tested are all from the translation textbook.However,with the emergence of explosive needs of non-literature translation,the ability of non-literature translation is highly demanded by the market.Also,with the development of AI(artificial intelligence)and the application of it in translation,the efficiency of the whole translation process is highly improved and the quality of the translation is acceptable.It is obvious that some traditional translation books are,in some sense,out of date,for the reason that the update of the contents cannot keep up with that of the translation market’s requirements.So,too much focus on theoretical instruction and literature translation makes the students have relatively low translation ability in actual translation scenario and make them be far from the requirement of companies that have the translation needs(Hu,2019).The phenomenon shows that on the one hand the English majors work hard to study the translation courses which focus on the literature translation and various translation theories,on the other hand there are companies with numerous non-literature materials for translation and they cannot find enough translators with the required abilities for the work.

The questions mentioned above require the English majors to have the translation ability that adapts to the demands of the era.China Accreditation Test for Translators and Interpreters,shorted for CATTI,started in 2003,is a national standard for the evaluation of translation talents.The introduction of CATTI in translation course can effectively improve the students’translation practical abilities.For example,the scoring criteria of CATTI can be taken as the requirements or the levels that should be reached for English majors in the translation course.With the measurement of their own translation abilities in mind,the English majors can be quite clear about their translation levels and improve their translation skills according to measurement.It is necessary to introduce the measurement,requirement and translation texts of CATTI in the translation course for improving the students’practical translation abilities.

Practical-Ability-Oriented Translation Course Reform with CATTI

The Integration of CATTI and Translation Course

In order to develop the students’practical translation abilities and encourage the students have the translation skills that required by the competitive society,CATTI,as a useful means of improving and measure students’translation skills,should be integrated with the translation course.Professional translation training should not only be the task of translation training institutions,but the responsibility of colleges in all levels(Liu,2014).To realize this,in the first place,the translation course teacher should have a deep understanding of CATTI,including its contents,difficulty levels,which level of CATTI is suitable for the students and etc.Then,the teacher should categorize the contents of CATTI into white paper,leaders’speech,government report,introduction of company and etc.The expressions that frequently appeared in the source text,the translation skills that adopted repeatedly and the scoring standard that measures the quality of translation should all be fully collected by the teacher for possible use in the translation course.

When instructing CATTI-related contents in class,the teacher should firstly bear the basic requirements of CATTI(level-3)in mind,which is also the basic demands for students in improving their practical translation skills.There are ability requirements for different levels of CATTI,among which level-3 is the appropriate test for English majors in grade two to four.The basic requirements include:the translators should have solid language skills,bilingual expression abilities,master over 5000 English words; know about the social,historical and cultural information of China and English-speaking countries;master the professional knowledge in various fields;know about the general translation theories,apply the regular translation methods skillfully.The translators are supposed to express the meaning of the source text with medium difficulty,the grammar in translation text should be basically correct,the expressions in it should be relatively smooth.All these requirements for translators in level-3 can all be applied for English majors of grade 2 to 4.The requirements or measures like a ruler that measures the students’translation skills and requires what translation level the students should reach.

An important relationship for the teacher to deal with is that between the translation textbook instruction and the CATTI content.The translation course cannot be all filled with CATTI contents,since the teaching task for the teacher is mainly from the textbook and the exam for the students is also mainly from the textbook.No matter what kind of translation textbook the course is using,it is acceptable both for the teacher and students to have 20 minutes of CATTI-related contents in the 90-minute translation class.By doing this,the instruction and teaching of the textbook is fully assured and the students do not have to worry about the exam.Also,the teacher can design the final exam by adding some contents of CATTI in it,in this way the students can pay more attention to it.

The two parts of CATTI,that is,the comprehensive test and the translation test are equally important to the students.Although in the translation course,the teachers cannot instruct the grammar facts in the cloze,vocabulary,reading comprehension parts,they can demand the students have the according abilities of the comprehensive test,which is the foundation abilities of translation.At least,the teacher should make the students realize that it is important to have the required abilities in grammar,vocabulary-all those fundamental to translation.Next,after assuring the instruction of the contents in the translation textbook,the teacher can arrange the CATTI instruction for the 18-week semester.If 20 minutes of CATTI instruction for each class,one semester is 360 minutes in which systematic teaching can be arranged.

The teacher should instruct the basic expressions that appear in CATTI,including expressions in politics,military,economy.These expressions are like the grammar in the comprehensive test which should be mastered as the basics.It is the first step for translating the written Chinese in various fields.Next,the teacher should show the source text and the translation text,that is,the bilingual texts to the students with instruction about how the translation text comes.This process,or appreciation of the bilingual texts,can make the students form a basic understanding of the translation,leading them gradually to the translators’path.Then,the teacher should ask the students to translate the source text as the homework,and make some necessary corrections about the students’translation.Instruct the students’translation with teacher’s correction in class,make the students have a thorough and deep understanding of the translation strategies and skills,what’s important,the students can utilize the translation theories learnt in the textbook.The steps that instructing the basic expressions,bilingual texts instruction and correction of students’translation text can be adopted in translation class.The integration between the textbook contents and CATTI contents helps the students master and practice the translation skills and apply the translation theories in the text.

The POA and CATTI Contents

The production-oriented approach,shorted for POA,is the concept that applied in English class developed by Wen(Wen,2015).Its core viewpoints include:learning-centered principle,learning-using integrated principle,key competencies.And the six key competencies in foreign language education include:language competency,learning competency,critical thinking competency,cultural competency,creative competency,collaborative competency,shorted for 2Ls&4Cs(Wen,2018).This approach can well be integrated with CATTI contents instruction in the translation course.POA focuses on learning-centered principle rather than student-centered principle,it pays more attention to the students’learning quality.In some cases,the students’translation of CATTI contents features in Chinesestyle English,that is,in the translation of Chinse source text,the English output by the students is the language of English,however,its expression methods,thought methods are deeply influenced by the language of Chinese.Learning-centered principle focuses more on the students’learning process,if the students’cognition of the translation process is wrong,the teacher can immediately make corrections about it.This principle pays attention to the realization of teaching goals and the facilitating of the effective learning,as for the CATTI contents in the translation course,the goals are that the students’translation level can improve to that of the translators,at least level-3 and the effective learning is that the students can master the translation skills for the CATTI contents,have clear mind about the difference between the two languages.

Learning-using integrated principle is helpful in English class,it emphasizes the using process with the perception that the students learn something in using the language and they use the language in learning the language.There is no obvious line between learning and using,they are integrated together.For the CATTI contents,when the students have learnt about some translation strategies and skills,they use them in the translation.When they use them,they really learn and reinforce about the translation strategies and skills.Such process facilitates the students have more translation practice with more thinking and improve their practical translation abilities.The students do not just learn about the translation theories,skills,they use them in actual translation.The learning-using integrated principle is suitable for translation course,especially the CATTI contents in translation course.

The six key competencies:language competency,learning competency,critical thinking competency,cultural competency,creative competency and collaborative competency are important in foreign language education.As an imperative part in foreign language education,translation course also develops and cultivates the students’competencies of the above six in the instruction of CATTI contents.Language competency is the base for translation,when finding there is something needing to improve grammatically or contextually,the students should use every method to acquire the required language competency.Learning competency is required for the ever-changing translation contents and text styles,in CATTI,there are contents ranging from enterprise introduction,leaders’speech,article in newspaper to introduction of a city.The teacher should cultivate the students the learning competency in order to deal with different kinds of texts.Critical thinking competency is imperative in analyzing the source text,it is helpful for fully and deeply understanding the source text.It aids the students in understanding the meaning of the text beyond grammar and language,understanding the text on a higher level.Cultural competency,undoubtedly is closely related with the demands of CATTI for the reason that in CATTI the bilingual cultural abilities are highly demanded,the translators should have deep understanding of the cultural background information of the two languages.With the cultural development domestically and abroad,it requires the students to have dynamic cultural understanding abilities.Creative competency is a competency that can be reached only after mastering the four competencies mentioned above as the foundation.One cannot create anything without having solid foundation in any field.It also works for translation.In CATTI,there is always some expression that has not be practiced before,but with the foundation laid before,the students can output creative translation.Creative competency is an advanced competency that once acquired,it provides great convenience for students in translation.Collaborative competency is important for students in that in the translation market today,the teamwork in translation materials is common,it requires a team,usually temporary,to finish the translation task.In this process,collaboration is the key,because the translators cannot finish some texts without a whole team’s efforts.The teacher can foster the students’collaborative competency by assigning some tasks in and after class for students to finish in teams.By developing it in this way,the students have one of the most important qualities of translators,that is collaboration.

The Reflection on CATTI in Translation Course

As an important exam for English majors besides TEM-4 and TEM-8,CATTI is an exam that should be encouraged to participate in for the English majors.Although there is difficulty in passing the exam,the precious experience in the participation of CATTI,or the pains and gains in CATTI is of great help to the students.The reflection on CATTI is an important part for the students with aim to improve the practical translation abilities.

The teacher can arrange the students who passed CATTI or who have the experience in CATTI to share their exam experience in translation course.The reflection on CATTI is from the students’perspective which makes other students not only interested but involved in the process of reflection,further leading students to practice translation in and after class according to their peers’suggestions.After the students’reflection in class,the teacher can make some necessary conclusions about the strategies and skills needed in CATTI.With two times each year of CATTI,there are always new translation materials emerging for the students’practice and preparation for the exam.And after students’taking the exam,there can be reflections on it led by the teacher in translation course.In a word,the reflection on CATTI can effectively improve the students’participation in the exam and make the students be clearer about the requirements and skills required of the exam.

Translation Workshop as the Supplement of CATTI Contents Practice

As the translation course cannot be used fully for the instruction of CATTI-related contents,the teacher can use the workshop as the supplement of CATTI contents practice for translation course.Translation workshop focuses on pragmatic effect,it is a teaching mode featuring in being student-centered,process-oriented(Yang,2020).The results or the fruits of translation workshop can also make their contributions to the translation course(Zhang,2020).The teacher can call for the students who want further study of CATTI to be in the workshop which is held once or two times a week.In the workshop,the teacher has far more sufficient time compared with that in translation course for CATTI contents instruction.In the workshop,the students can have enough time to practice the materials from CATTI,and the teachers can have enough time to make corrections and instructions about students’translation.Workshop works as the supplement for the translation course,what contents cannot be expanded in the translation course for the limited time can be expanded in the workshop.In this sense,the workshop provides the opportunity for the students to practice the translation skills,and the necessary preparation for CATTI.No matter the students pass the exam or not,they truly develop their practical translation abilities in the workshop of CATTI contents.

Implications and Conclusion

It is necessary to introduce CATTI in the translation course as a means to improve the students’practical translation abilities.The translation course is designed to instruct the translation theories and translation skill,with CATTI content in it,the students are supposed to have the translation abilities owned by professional translators.It is a good way for the teacher to push the students to reach the required translation abilities level.Production-oriented approach,especially its six key competencies,reflection on CATTI and the workshop as the supplement for translation course are all imperative means to facilitate the teacher to do the translation course reform with CATTI contents,to realize the ultimate goal:make the students have high-level practical translation abilities.