level 11
What differs us from animals is our ability to use language. Language is one of the
most important features of human beings, which is called the archives of history by the
American poet Ralph Waldo Emerson. Emerson defined language as so since language can
mirror the social reality.
With the development of globalization, the demand for communication between
people speaking different languages increases tremendously. But how can they understand
each other? So there comes the role of translation. It offers a good solution to the problem.
丁hen what does translation really mean? Different linguists and translators hold different
views. Some say translation is rendering the meaning of a text into another language in the
way that the author intended the text (Newmark, 2001). And Jiri Levy puts it in another
way: "From the telcological point of view, translation is a process of communication; the
objective of translating is to impart the knowledge of the original to the foreign reader”.
According to Catford J.C. (1965) translation is the replacement of textual material in one
language (source language) by equivalent textual material in another language (target
language). In my view7, translation is a bridge to effect communication among people
speaking different languages, particularly in such an information age. Every day we are
exposed to a large amount of information in all kinds of fields ranging from politics,
diplomacy, science, technology, art, entertainment to literature. In order to grasp the
information, we must use translation as a communicative tool.