Corpus use in translation teaching : a case study of "hong huang zhi li" based on coca and ancient Chinese corpus

Abstract

Using the translation of"hong huang zhi li"as an example,the current study explores the potential benefits and values of pedagogical applications of monolingual corpora,both L1 and L2,to translation teaching. The use of L1 monolingual corpora can help translators to differentiate and determine the semantic meaning of the ST concepts in the decoding process while the L2 monolingual corpora can help generate natural and idiomatic expressions in the encoding process. Besides,the descriptive nature of corpus approaches will,to a large extent,balance out the prescriptiveness of teaching content and methods. As an advanced teaching and research tool,corpus has its unique benefits and can thereby contribute to translation teaching as well as translation studies as a discipline. 文章以"洪荒之力"的翻译为例子,探讨了单语语料库,包括母语语料库与外语语料库在翻译教学领域的潜在价值与优势。母语单语语料库能帮助译者在解码阶段更好地确定词义,外语单语语料库则能在赋码阶段更便捷地提供地道的译法。此外,语料库本质上所具有的描述性在很大程度上能降低教学内容与方法的规限性。作为一项先进的教研工具,语料库具有其独特的优势,必将推动翻译教学乃至整个翻译学科的发展。