Translation programmes in China

The proliferation of translation programmes in China also follows the global trend of the development of translation studies since the end of the 1980s. Based on the 1989 official statistics of Important Events of Foreign Language Teaching in China 1949-1989, there were then nearly 400 universities and colleges with foreign

65 language departments, in addition to 10 foreign language institutes located in Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, Tianjin, Xi’an, Chongqing, Dalian and other cities. Most of them offered courses in translation and interpreting to undergraduates. By 1990, more than 50 foreign language universities or departments offered MA degrees in English language and literature, according to the statistics of the State Commission of Education (cf. Mu Lei 1999b: 24-26). Of those universities and colleges only 8 could actually give a named degree specifically in Translation Theory and Practice; the others offered translation alongside the subjects of English Language and Literature. Guangdong University of Foreign Studies was the only one to have a translation department with undergraduates. Only Beijing Foreign Studies University offered interpreting as a degree discipline.

By the end of the 1990s, impacted by globalization and the introduction of Translation Studies, most Chinese universities and colleges had integrated or merged their own English departments into translation and interpreting departments or schools, which were mostly subordinate to a foreign language department or school. However, with the increasing need for practical translators and interpreters and pedagogical demands, universities upgraded the field of interpreting and translation by establishing institutes. For instance, Beijing Foreign Studies University established an institute of interpretation and translation in 1994. Its predecessor had been a translator and interpreter training unit commissioned by the government and the UN in 1980, which trained the elite for translation and interpretation. The first Graduate Institute of Interpretation and Translation founded in 2003 at Shanghai International Studies University was widely seen as the beginning of professional translation teaching, and this example was followed by

66 other premier universities, e.g. Fudan University. Guangdong University of Foreign Studies upgraded its translation department into the School of Interpreting and Translation Studies in 2005.

These Chinese schools of translation and interpreting usually have relatively specialist translation courses designed for training translators and interpreters in their translation programme. The departments of English, Linguistics/Applied Linguistics and Foreign Language and Literature as well as Comparative Cultural Studies set up schemes of translation oriented to appeal to students’ taste and the market need. More widely, now around 500 universities and colleges have a translation focus, since translation as a fifth language skill, is taught within College English courses which are arranged for one or two years’ study in university and involve all university students (except English majors who have their own more advanced translation courses). Thus several million undergraduate students engage in at least a certain level of Chinese-English translation development annually, whatever their degree specialization will be. More specifically, at postgraduate level in order to meet international globalization, the Academic Degree Committee of the Ministry of Education authorised 15 universities to open up an independent translation programme of Master of Translation and Interpreting (MTI) in 2007. In addition, various certificate tests of translation and interpreting aptitude have been established, such as the Shanghai Foreign Language Interpreting Certificate Examination in 1999, National Accreditation Examinations for Translators and Interpreters (NAETI) in 2001 and China Aptitude Test for Translators and Interpreters (CATTI) in 2003. Though these tests are in the name of the (local) government, they are organised and examined by universities. These developments

67 highlight the quantity, in breadth and depth, of the full blossoming of translation programmes in China.

Based on the TAC statistics by December 2011, 159 universities in mainland China are allowed to open a programme of Master of Translation and Interpretation

(MTI). Other statistics on this TAC website also show that there are 27 centres for Translation Studies or translation education, 8 schools/institutes of Translation and Interpreting and 42 universities have launched undergraduate programmes in translation. The information of the translation programmes in China’s universities on the ATA website showed, at the time this research, that only 17 universities in mainland China are approved by ATA Education and Pedagogy Committee, excluding Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan (see Table 2.2). Obviously this information is not complete in the Chinese context: many other top universities which run translation programmes do not register on the ATA website, for example, Nanjing University of Science and Technology (南京理工大学), Sun Yat-sen University (中山大学), Central South University (中南大学), Tongji university (同

济大学) and Hunan Normal University (湖南师范大学). However, the 17 China’s universities listed in Table 2.2 can be considered as a sample. The table - which does not pretend to be a comprehensive survey of all current programmes - is intended to give a clear idea of the representativeness of the two Chinese university translation programmes under study. The names of these programmes reflect their respective features.

68 Table 2.2: MA translation programmes in China

No Name of university (mainland China)

Subject Feature

1 Beijing Agricultural Administrative College

北京农业管理学院

Translation

2 Beijing Foreign Studies University, Beijing*

北京外国语大学

翻译硕士专业学位 Master of Translation & Interpretation (MTI)

Training interpreters

3 Beijing Institute of Light Industry 北京轻工学院

Translation 4 Beijing No. 2 Foreign Language

Institute (also known as Second Foreign Translation Institute), Beijing*

北京第二外国语学院

翻译硕士专业学位 Master of Translation & Interpretation (MTI)

Linguistic translation

5 China Foreign Affairs University, Department of English & International Studies (formerly Foreign Affairs College), Beijing

中国外交大学

International communication and translation

6 East China University of Technology 华东科技大学

Translation and science & technology 7 Guangzhou Institute of Foreign

Languages, Guangzhou*

广东外语外贸大学

翻译硕士专业学位 Master of Translation & Interpretation (MTI)

Professional translator and interpreter training 8 Nankai University*

南开大学

翻译硕士专业学位 Master of Translation & Interpretation (MTI)

Translation and literature 9 Ocean University of Qingdao

青岛海洋大学

10 Shandong Teachers' University, Beijing*

山东师范大学

翻译硕士专业学位 Master of Translation & Interpretation (MTI)

Translation

11 Shanghai International Studies University*

上海外国语大学

翻译硕士专业学位 Master of Translation & Interpretation (MTI)

Translator and interpreter training, translation and cultural studies

12 Shenzhen University 深圳大学

Translation 13 Sichuan International Studies

University, Chongqing*

四川外国语学院

翻译硕士专业学位 Master of Translation & Interpretation (MTI)

Translation and cultural studies 14 Tianjin Foreign Languages Institute,

Tianjin*

天津外国语学院

翻译硕士专业学位 Master of Translation & Interpretation (MTI)

Translation studies

15 Tianjin Normal University*

天津师范大学

翻译硕士专业学位 Master of Translation & Interpretation (MTI)

Translation

16 Tsinghua University, Beijing 清华大学

Translation and publication 17 Xiamen University, Foreign Languages

Department, Xiamen*

厦门大学

翻译硕士专业学位 Master of Translation & Interpretation (MTI)

Interpreter training, language and culture studies

No Name of university (Hong Kong) Subject Feature 1 Chinese University of Hong Kong Master of Arts in Translation Translation

69 Master of Arts in Computer-

Aided Translation

Machine translation 2 City University of Hong Kong Master of Arts in Language

Studies with specialization inTranslation & Interpretation

Translator and interpreter trainiing MPhil/PhD in Translation &

Interpretation

Research degree in trans. And inter. 3 Hong Kong Baptist University M.A. in Language Studies Translation and

langauge M.A. in Translation &

Bilingual Communication

Translation and communication PhD/MPhil in Translation Research degree in

translation 4 Lingnan College- Hong Kong MPhil in Translation

PhD in Translation

No Name of university (Macau) Subject Feature

1 Macao Polytechnic Institute Higher Diploma in Chinese- Portuguese Translation & Interpretation

Translation

2 Macao Polytechnic Institute Higher Diploma in Chinese- English Translation & Interpretation

3 University of Macau MA in Translation Studies Translation

No Name of university (Taiwan) Subject Feature

Fu Jen Catholic University MA in Translation Translation MA in Conference

Interpretation with translation

Conference interpreter training

National Taiwan Normal University MA in Translation & Interpretation Training translators and interpreters Ph.D. in Translation & Interpretation Research degree in Translation & Interpreting.

Note: * stands for those universities which are authorized to open Master of Translation and Interpretation (MTI).

Seen from Table 2.2, most of translation programmes in Chinese contexts, in particular in mainland China, are general or not specified. The reasons for that might vary in different universities. Speculatively, one of the reasons might be a lack of academic and professional translation teachers.