2019, Vol.20, No.4

The Journal of Translation Studies 2023 KCI Impact Factor : 1.49

pISSN : 1229-795X
https://journal.kci.go.kr/kats

The undergraduate foreign language course mainly focuses on cultivating the communication ability through a foreign language, and the proficiency is deemed to be acquired when learners can understand the different linguistic signs of a foreign language in a way they use and decipher their first language. Thus, the undergraduate courses are mostly designed based on the contrastive linguistics, which encourages learners to just focus on finding the vocabulary that corresponds to the meaning of the original language to get across the same meaning. However, such pedagogy rather limits progress of learners once they reached a certain level since how they construct the meaning and communicate with foreign language is always affected by the syntax and the thinking structure of their mother language. This produces literal translation that looks so awkward for native speakers and fails to deliver the exact nuance and meaning. To overcome this limitation, I have applied the ‘deverbalization’ pedagogy to my Business Chinese Reading Lesson and encouraged the learners to utilize the foreign language learned through 'deverbalization' training. In this study, I investigated whether this learning method contributes to the improvement of the ‘affective factors’ of language acquisition in undergraduate Chinese reading classes. In order to understand the performance of the deverbalization method, I used a quantitative research method that conducts pre- and post-survey on the population. A questionnaire survey was conducted on 23 Chinese learners at the beginning and the end of the semester. The collected data are subjected to a corresponding sample T-test at spss 23. The study produced statistically significant results in the reading attitude and especially, a significant improvement in self-efficacy.

Artificial intelligence-based translation and interpretation technologies have made progress day by day. In this background, many discuss the crisis of human translation and interpretation today. Ironically, however, it is expected that there will be a growing social demand for professional translators and interpreters who are equipped with abilities to assess and correct errors of machine translation and interpretation based on the notion that their translation and interpretation skills will still be superior to that of machines. To keep up with this trend of the times, it is necessary to establish a certification system for professional translators and interpreters and to develop an evaluation system for securing public confidence. As such, this study analyzes the current conditions and problems of existing translation and interpretation-related certification and qualification examinations and reviews previous studies related to translation and interpretation skills and evaluations. Based on this analysis and review, the study proposes an evaluation system for certification of professional translators and interpreters in three areas: content of evaluation, agent of evaluation, and method of evaluation. Regarding the content of evaluation, evaluation elements are specified as “understanding” and “expression” being key information processing indicators of translation and interpretation and “conveyance” and “function implementation” according to the characteristics of translation and interpretation. Regarding the agent of evaluation, it is proposed that a pool of evaluation experts—consisting of not only existing translation and interpretation experts (professors, translators, and interpreters), but also translation and interpretation users (clients, audience, critics, and readers)—be gathered as assessors. As for the method of evaluation, it is suggested that a pre-evaluation system be introduced to apply evaluation criteria consistently among evaluators.

This article is presented as part of an effort to rediscover the value of translation theory. In light of recent developments in the world of translation and interpreting (T&I), which is especially propelled by technological advancements, many argue for swift adaptation of T&I-related technology and some even voice concerns over the future of T&I. Against this backdrop, the present article examines these recent developments and their implications drawing on the literature in translation studies. In particular, the literature on remote interpreting, machine translation, machine translation post-editing, and transcreation are reviewed. Despite these recent developments as well as the call for introducing these T&I-related technology to the T&I curricula, this article argues that the very essence of T&I education should not be overlooked. In other words, although students should learn how to incorporate T&I-related technological tools in their daily T&I activities, they have and will always have to internalize the very mechanism of the act of T&I. And for this, translation theory provides a sturdy framework based on which students can further improve their T&I competence. Several student translations and ensuing corrective feedback are illustrated to demonstrate the role of conceptual tools as examples of how translation theory can serve this pedagogical purpose. The author hopes that this article is construed as an effort to rediscover and underscore the value of translation theory that may otherwise be shelved in our minds because it’s considered to be simply ‘classical’.