CALL Research Journal #14

I was lucky to find a essay bank while surfing the internet few days ago. I visited the web site of University of Birmingham and surprisingly discovered a section titled “Assignment Bank” with rich collection of essays and dissertations related to MA translation and education studies.
University of Birmingham - Essay & Dissertation Bank.

In the part of “Introduction to Translation Studies”, each thesis presents different strategies of conducting translation research. They analyze translations according to collocations, metaphors, idioms, cultural implications and so on. Reading these dissertations, I believe, could shed some light on how to analyze a translation from different perspectives. Also I can learn about what theories are commonly adopted respectively. I strongly recommend you to take a look at this useful webpage.

CALL Research Journal #13

I originally planned to write a comparative translation research on Stephen King’s work – Different Seasons. Unfortunately, I found that there are only two Chinese translations available…. Besides, these two versions were translated by the same group of people. So I think there might not be many differences for me to compare, which left me no choice but to change my research target.
After a long consideration, I decided to do a comparative translation analysis on the book Brave New World by Aldous Huxley. This book was written in early 20th century. The title “Brave New World” is actually a sarcastic expression of the world created on the basis of human’s ideal but turns out to be a great disappointment, a dystopia. Huxley’s prophecies, such as bottled baby and cloning, have become reality today. Human’s desire of pursuing scientific advancement also brings the fear that we might get lost in the illusion of false perfection and eventually sacrifice the true value of being a human. To my relief, I am glad to find there are at least four Traditional Chinese translations published between 1994 to 2004. I think it could be interesting to compare the different translating styles and strategies used by these translators during this 10-year period. For instance, how they deal with the neologism in the book. It is evident that bottled baby or cloning is an unfamiliar concept at the time the book was completed. Did the translators create a term with equivalent meaning or simply adopt the modern terminology like 試管嬰兒 to translate the neologism? Which way is better? Hopefully I can dig out more details worth discussing in translating Dystopia fictions like this one.

CALL Research Journal #12

As a busy part-time graduate student, being able to read academic articles efficiently is an indispensable survival skill. Last Thursday, Professor Johanson required us to read through a dozen-page thesis in 15 minutes. Impossible it might seem; yet this difficulty can be conquered once you know the tricks. Professor Johanson asked some of the classmates to share their ways of reading the thesis. Every one has his/her own reading style and the experienced-sharing was valuable as well as beneficial. First, we should take note of the background information such as the topic, institution, the authenticated date etc. Then we move to the abstract. Abstract gives us an overview and the basic information of the thesis. It shall contain the purpose, research method, participants and findings of the study. Next we skip to the conclusion part. Conclusion is where to tell if the thesis is juicy, in other words, worth reading or not. Finally we go back to the body, especially the part that explains how the research was conducted. I personally think that figures are critical in providing a general idea about how the findings are analyzed. Furthermore, references section is also one thing that shouldn’t be overlooked. We can learn a lot of key words or phrases related to the topic from here.

CALL Research Journal #11

This week I’ve read an interesting thesis from Hong Kong University. The author aimed at investigating the differences between Japanese and English anphoras and metaphors. He argued that anaphoras are the syntactic devices that render the logic and coherence of the text; while metaphors are the semantic devices that portray two things with similar image or concept. Therefore, knowing the conventional usage of anaphoras and metaphors in source and target language could help translators produce natural and sophisticated translation. He shown numerous excerpts from journals, newspaper and fictional works to illustrate how to mend the grammatical and cultural gap between English and Japanese anaphoras and metaphors, which I think is very valuable to translators. Japanese and Chinese have a lot in common. For instance, both languages don’t use genitive pronouns (his/her/their) a lot. Hence I believe it might be helpful to take a further look at this thesis, and indeed it’s no disappointment. The thesis is well-organized with strong and creative argument. I’ve collected a list of theories about anaphoras and metaphors in the literature review chapter. Also I’ve learned the structural and organized way to make comparisons between two languages. Most important of all, the thesis shown me several useful strategies of analyzing translated text and how to deduce a reasonable conclusion from the analysis. A masterpiece!

CALL Research Journal #10

Last week, Professor Johanson revealed several valuable tricks of timed writing. I really appreciate that. When we have to write an article in a very short time, always remember to come up with a thesis statement first. A good thesis statement could help us develop our body paragraphs smoothly. If there is sufficient time to write three body paragraphs, you could include three main points in the thesis statement. If not, supply only two key points would do just fine. Then we jump to the conclusion part by copying the thesis statement and put it in the last paragraph. We could tweak the sentence pattern a little bit and add a few more sentences to form a complete ending. After having a sensible conclusion, we can go back to conceive the introduction. An opening like “everybody knows…,” a generalized position, could attract readers’ attention. Next we should present our own opinions about the topic to make the argument clear. Going from a general idea to an individualized perspective gradually paves our way to the thesis statement we have just created. Following the introduction are the body paragraphs. Ideally we should have at least two paragraphs. You should elaborate each point in your thesis statement in one paragraph. Writing a topic sentence in the beginning of each paragraph and then supplementing supporting statement. Adding a few personal examples is a good way to strengthen your arguments. Besides, transition words are essential elements in an article. They are what make the context coherent and logical. I’ve found following two web sites talking about transition words. Appropriate use of transition words could project the main ideas of the text.
http://www.studygs.net/wrtstr6.htm
http://www.cms.edu.do/Teachers%20Folders/willian%20farren/Pages/express/TWlistGL.htm

Vocabulary learning #2

adept – expert at
They would not be so rich if they were not adept at minimizing tax and maximizing profits.

adroit – skillful
Since then he has shown every sign of being a pragmatist, an adroit politician and a very hard worker.

aghast - horrified
When my boys first started school, we were aghast atthe anti-English propaganda in the history books.

albeit - although
He has a vision, albeit one unclouded by economic and social reality.

alimentary – supplying nourishment
Happily, apart from patients with high-grade obstruction within the alimentary tract, or with coeliac disease, dietary fibre in its natural state in food has not been shown to cause or exacerbate any human disease in the Western population.

amenable - easy to control; willing to be influenced by sb/sth
Corporate culture is not something easily amenable to management control or manipulation.

Vocabulary learning #1

Thanks for the GRE words list provided by Professor Johanson. To make the best use of it, I decided to pick some words from the list every now and then and extract a sample sentence from British National Corpus for each of them. BNC stores abundant collections of sentences gathered from authentic sources, such as academic journals, periodicals, newspaper, published works and so on. As a graduate school student about to write a academic paper, I believe it is vital to escalate my vocabulary level and to know how a word is used by native speakers with sophisticated language ability.

abstemious - temperate, sparing in drink, etc.
There is a record of a severe lecture he delivered to Capuchin monks in Prague whom he found were living far more expansively than his own abstemious style would permit.

abstruse - obscure, profound
Although some of these analyses have proved abstruse and others untenable, this collective contribution (which can be only briefly explored here) has proved vital in re-orientating thinking on the urban problem and its resolution.

acidulous - slightly sour, sharp, caustic
In these circumstances I think that Darwin can rest quietly in his grave, that is to say of the acidulous palaeontologists haven't already been trying to dig him up to prove something.

acrimonious - stinging, caustic
But in the mid-1970s there was an acrimonious conflict between the different intelligence gathering agencies in the province.

adamant - hard, inflexible
The Government is equally adamant that councils' financial problems are being exaggerated and that the civil disobedience campaign is flopping.