Cultural Awareness
ISSN 1798-4769 Journal of Language Teaching and Research, Vol. 3, No. 1, pp. 74-83, January 2012 © 2012 ACADEMY PUBLISHER Manufactured in Finland. doi:10.4304/jltr.3.1.74-84
Cultural Awareness and Translation Teaching at Higher Vocational College: Problems and Solutions
Xuelian He
Quzhou College of Technology, Quzhou, Zhejiang, China Email: angelaxl@163.com
Abstract—In this paper, an investigation has been done on culture knowledge acquisition and cultural awareness of English majors at Higher Vocational College by taking the students at Quzhou College of Technology as the subjects. The problem of lack of culture knowledge and cultural awareness has been shown through the analysis. The strategies and techniques on integrating culture into translation teaching at Higher Vocational Colleges are given for translation teaching by laying stress on imparting culture knowledge as well as translation skills so as to reduce students’ translation errors. Index Terms—cultural awareness, translation teaching, culture integration
I. INTRODUCTION Today, as the world evolves into the global world, various factors converge to drive people across national boundaries as never before, thus making intercultural contact a major concern and the importance of international communication takes on added urgency. However, distinct cultural perceptions and symbol systems have always stood in the way of intercultural communications. Translation always serves as an important means in cross-cultural communication in the history of human beings. Thus, translation involves two different languages, which are used to express what the two nations think, do, and say. Language is the carrier of culture. Culture influences language by way of symbols and rules as well as our perceptions of the universe. So, the process of translation, which is always regarded as bilingualism dealing, inevitably involves biculturalism. Since cultures are objectively different, translation is to deal with
Cultural Awareness and Translation Teaching at Higher Vocational College: Problems and Solutions
Xuelian He
Quzhou College of Technology, Quzhou, Zhejiang, China Email: angelaxl@163.com
Abstract—In this paper, an investigation has been done on culture knowledge acquisition and cultural awareness of English majors at Higher Vocational College by taking the students at Quzhou College of Technology as the subjects. The problem of lack of culture knowledge and cultural awareness has been shown through the analysis. The strategies and techniques on integrating culture into translation teaching at Higher Vocational Colleges are given for translation teaching by laying stress on imparting culture knowledge as well as translation skills so as to reduce students’ translation errors. Index Terms—cultural awareness, translation teaching, culture integration
I. INTRODUCTION Today, as the world evolves into the global world, various factors converge to drive people across national boundaries as never before, thus making intercultural contact a major concern and the importance of international communication takes on added urgency. However, distinct cultural perceptions and symbol systems have always stood in the way of intercultural communications. Translation always serves as an important means in cross-cultural communication in the history of human beings. Thus, translation involves two different languages, which are used to express what the two nations think, do, and say. Language is the carrier of culture. Culture influences language by way of symbols and rules as well as our perceptions of the universe. So, the process of translation, which is always regarded as bilingualism dealing, inevitably involves biculturalism. Since cultures are objectively different, translation is to deal with
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