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    New Thought of Ecolinguistics and Its Implications to Ecological Discourse Analysis
    HA Changchen, HUANG Guowen
    Contemporary Foreign Languages Studies    2022, 22 (5): 88-96.   DOI: 10.3969/j.issn.1674-8921.2022.05.010
    Abstract394)   HTML9)    PDF (1316KB)(141)      

    Arran Stibbe defines the term “ecolinguistics” as “the study of the role of language in the life-sustaining interactions of humans with other species and the physical environment” in the monograph of second edition entitled Ecolinguistics (Stibbe 2021). Previous studies inclined to “influencing how humans treat ecosystems”, however, it has been changed into “seeing language as part of ecosystems” under the guidance of new thought. Starting from Stibbe’s recent thought, this study reviews ecolinguistics studies and the general framework of discourse analysis, focusing on implications for ecological discourse analysis in China. The results show that our ecological discourse analysis should concentrate on three aspects: (1) exploring the ecological value of our traditional culture, (2) refining the types of ecological discourse, and (3) improving the level of ecological literacy. This is of great significance in terms of further developments of ecolinguistics studies in China.

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    Language and Its Crisis in the Post-Truth Era
    LIN Yi
    Contemporary Foreign Languages Studies    2022, 22 (5): 80-87.   DOI: 10.3969/j.issn.1674-8921.2022.05.009
    Abstract254)   HTML8)    PDF (1358KB)(130)      

    The word“post-truth”has remained its popularity in fields of politics and communication since it became word of the year of Oxford Dictionary. Language constitutes an important dimension of post-truth research given its use as a medium for spreading truth and ideology. The article traces how “post-truth” came into being as a buzzword and evaluates the role language plays in presenting or misinterpreting “truth”. The overuse of rhetoric by public speakers and the powerful effect of media on our emotions lead to the spread of post-truth and the declining of confidence in language. Attributing to the crisis is the manipulation of language in communication, the abuse of it in mass media, and the generational language gap brought by new media. The author holds that the truth and aesthetic value of language can be maintained only with a genuine commitment to language itself and the proper use of it.

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    Analyzing Doctor of Translation and Interpreting in the Context of Transformation of Knowledge Production Mode
    MU Lei, LIU Xinyuan
    Contemporary Foreign Languages Studies    2022, 22 (6): 22-29.   DOI: 10.3969/j.issn.1674-8921.2022.06.004
    Abstract253)   HTML4)    PDF (1227KB)(309)      

    The establishment of Doctor of Translation and Interpreting (DTI) from conception to reality requires scholars of Translation Studies (TS) to seriously consider fundamental questions. The ten-year argumentation and survey on the professional degree of DTI have reflected the needs of the transformation of the knowledge production model for TS as a discipline. It is necessary to compare the educational philosophy between DTI and PhD of TS in terms of student selection, curriculum, education quality assessment system, and talent management and employment, with a closing discussion on the faculty development for different degrees in TS.

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    Heralding a New Phase in T&I Education
    HUANG Youyi
    Contemporary Foreign Languages Studies    2022, 22 (6): 17-21.   DOI: 10.3969/j.issn.1674-8921.2022.06.003
    Abstract228)   HTML3)    PDF (692KB)(54)      

    The new subject catalog for graduate education recently released by China’s educational authorities indicates practice-oriented education in the country has entered a new stage of development. The planned launch of Doctor of Translation and Interpreting (DTI) marks a new breakthrough in the domain of graduate education. A good top-design should be followed with effective and concrete measures. Unlike master’s degree education in both academic and practice-oriented directions, DTI must be designed together by industrial and professional authorities, industrial associations and universities working in close cooperation. This process should begin as soon as possible to clarify how to offer DTI courses, who should be the teachers for such courses and how to ensure the quality of such programs since this is key to meeting the needs of national development.

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    Translation and Area Studies from a Transknowletological Perspective
    LI Ping
    Contemporary Foreign Languages Studies    2023, 23 (1): 16-23.   DOI: 10.3969/j.issn.1674-8921.2023.01.002
    Abstract204)   HTML23)    PDF (1139KB)(115)      

    Area Studies is characterized by its cross-country, cross-linguistic, cross-cultural and cross-disciplinary knowledge production. Translation has long been regarded only as a tool for language transformation in Area Studies. Transknowletology theory defines the essence of translation as an action of knowledge reprocessing and discourse reconstructing. With the framework of Transknowletology, this research has made an observation on the relationship between translation and Area Studies from the dimensions of knowledge production and knowledge dissemination. It is found that translation and Area Studies are linked by knowledge, and are mutually-constructed and co-developed. Translation in Areas Studies functions in making knowledge reconstruction and knowledge dissemination in new contexts, and Areas Studies translation stimulates new translation practice field, translation knowledge domain as well as translation talents cultivation. With the fast development of Area Studies, it is certain that translation will play an increasingly important role in its knowledge production, knowledge flow, knowledge transfer, knowledge dialogue and knowledge innovation.

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    An Interpretation of the Relationship between Transknowletology and Cognitive Translatology
    PAN Yanyan
    Contemporary Foreign Languages Studies    2022, 22 (5): 31-39.   DOI: 10.3969/j.issn.1674-8921.2022.05.004
    Abstract203)   HTML1)    PDF (1279KB)(126)      

    Translation is a cultural behavior and social practice based on the translator’s cognitive activities of cross language knowledge processing, reconstruction and redissemination. From the perspective of human cognitive mechanism, this paper attempts to clarify the necessity and rationality of Knowledge Translatology, and promote the breakthrough of this new concept in theory and method. This paper discusses the similarities and complementarities between Knowledge Translatology and Cognitive Translatology and points out that Cognitive Translatology can be regarded as one part of the studies of Knowledge Translatology, and suggests future research topics from the perspective of cognitive science,i.e.: the use of metaphor, metonymy and mental space in conceptualizing knowledge; brain thinking activities and language psychological processing in the complex translation space; realization of the constructive functions of cognition, evaluation, changing and interpretation of knowledge generated and transmitted through translation, etc.

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    Cultural Back-translation and Knowledge Reciprocity from the Perspective of Transknowletology: A Case Study on the Back-translation of “Amateur Painters” in James Cahill’s Works on the History of Chinese Painting
    LI Juanjuan, REN Wen
    Contemporary Foreign Languages Studies    2022, 22 (6): 46-54.   DOI: 10.3969/j.issn.1674-8921.2022.06.007
    Abstract201)   HTML5)    PDF (1304KB)(173)      

    The number of foreign scholars’ writings on Chinese cultural phenomena has been increasing in recent years with the expansion of international academic exchanges. Some of these writings have been introduced to Chinese academic community through translation. Such phenomenon called “cultural back-translation” has gradually become an important prism for Chinese scholars to explore the features, patterns and values of translations of foreign-language writings on Chinese culture. Against this backdrop, this article takes as its research object the back-translation of a key terminology “amateur painters” in the works of James Cahill, an American scholar in the studies of history of Chinese painting. By sorting out the meanings of this term in both Chinese and western contexts, as well as the restoration and reconstruction in cultural back-translation, this article tries to elaborate on its possible impact on knowledge production in domestic art history studies from the perspective of Transknowletology.It also proposes a unique function of cultural back-translation called “knowledge reciprocity”, which could shed some light on understanding of the epistemic value of translation.

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    The Development of Ideological and Political Education of College English Curriculum: Advantages, Missions and Approaches
    ZHAN Shuangjuan
    Contemporary Foreign Languages Studies    2022, 22 (6): 68-75.   DOI: 10.3969/j.issn.1674-8921.2022.06.009
    Abstract195)   HTML4)    PDF (1222KB)(113)      

    The ideological and political education is the fundamental principle of cultivating people in the new era. The ideological and political education of college English curriculum is not only an important part of the construction of national soft power and national discourse system, but also the mission and responsibility of college foreign languages education to Tell Chinese Stories. Because of its remarkable features, such as communicative, cross-cultural, international and extensive radiation, college English education and teaching process has unique advantages and value in serving the national strategy, representing the educational nature of higher institutions and promoting Chinese culture to go global. This study aims to clarify the attributes of college English curriculum, explain the ideological and political responsibilities of college English curriculum, and analyze the ideological and political practice path of college English curriculum, so as to provide the reference for the ideological and political reform of college English curriculum in in Chinese higher institutions.

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    An Intercultural Analysis of the Manifestation and Evolution of Ethnocentrism in Amy Tan’s the Bonesetter’s Daughter
    HU Yanhong, SHUAI Lina
    Contemporary Foreign Languages Studies    2022, 22 (5): 137-145.   DOI: 10.3969/j.issn.1674-8921.2022.05.015
    Abstract194)   HTML1)    PDF (1479KB)(90)      

    The Bonesetter’s Daughter is another novel focusing on mother-daughter relationship, written by the Chinese-American female writer Amy Tan who had already published the Joy Luck Club and The Kitchen God’s Wife. From the perspective of intercultural communication, this paper analyzes the ethnocentric tendency of the main characters, Mother Ruling and Daughter Rose, and its negative impact on their conflicting relationship. Furthermore, it demonstrates how the mother and daughter learn to understand each other and get reconciled by crossing the barrier of ethnocentrism. The analysis illustrates that the choice of daily-used language, nonverbal signals and educational concepts are three ethnocentric manifestations causing their conflicts. This paper further analyzes the strategies to go beyond ethnocentrism and diminish cultural conflicts, appealing for an open, tolerant attitude towards different cultural values, norms and ways of thinking in order to achieve appropriate and effective intercultural communication.

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    “Face Score”: Its Route of Birth, Meaning of Development and Argument of Embodiment-Cognition from the Perspective of Linguistic Phenomenon
    LIN Keqin
    Contemporary Foreign Languages Studies    2022, 22 (5): 49-57.   DOI: 10.3969/j.issn.1674-8921.2022.05.006
    Abstract188)   HTML0)    PDF (1683KB)(103)      

    The birth of the neologism “Face Score” was influenced by the wide spread of visual culture. In the times of advocating Visual Aesthetics, the expression “Face Score” was produced through a movement of creating words based on the frame of value applied before linguistic surface features. From the perspective of ECL, the birth of new words is the outcome of mapping the objective world by human beings as subjectivity, which magnify ECL’s core principle of “reality-cognition-language”. The linguistic idea of embodiment-cognition emphasizes the important role of embodiment in the process of language emerging. Those meme complexes appearing from the embodied reactions manufactured many new words such as “Face Score” based on the cavity and module affix of language. Though language has fuzziness and ambiguity from its birth, the system of cognitive processing in the brain reconstructs and extends a trend of fuzziness, ambiguity, iconicity and inclusiveness from its original meaning.

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    Theoretical Interpretation of Ontogenesis in SFL: Connotation, Origins and Implications
    ZHOU Haiming
    Contemporary Foreign Languages Studies    2022, 22 (5): 70-79.   DOI: 10.3969/j.issn.1674-8921.2022.05.008
    Abstract184)   HTML1)    PDF (1265KB)(93)      

    The systemic-functional school innovatively employed the biological term ontogenesis, with a view to revealing the characteristics and patterns of language development. Most of the previous research has been undertaken in the form of case study, while few attempts have been made to interpret the theory itself. From the semogenetic perspective, the connotation of ontogeny has been greatly enriched. The systemic-functional school has absorbed ideas from linguistic anthropology, evolutionary biology and constructivist psychology to build a solid foundation for the ontogenesis theory. Ontogenesis in SFL is not merely a theory about language, but also a metatheory concerning the interrelation between human, language and society. It is argued that ontogenesis has positive implications for accounting for the nature of grammar and its function of construing experience.

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    Semantic Density, Syntactic Complexity and Disciplinary Knowledge Coding
    GAO Yanmei, ZHOU Jiangping
    Contemporary Foreign Languages Studies    2022, 22 (6): 55-67.   DOI: 10.3969/j.issn.1674-8921.2022.06.008
    Abstract181)   HTML2)    PDF (1747KB)(137)      

    Semantic density and syntactic complexity reveal the characteristics of knowledge coding and culture of a discipline. The aim of this study is to testify the feasibility of semantic density and syntactic complexity as measures of knowledge coding in linguistics. By deploying the analytical tools of semantic density and syntactic complexity, this study compared four sets of abstracts of academic articles written by four groups of researchers at different academic levels, namely, experts of native speaker of English (NR), Chinese experts (CR), Chinese master degree students (MA), Chinese undergraduate students of linguistic courses (EFL). The results show that distributions of SD and SC are different among the four groups. NR, CR and MA used much more condensed technical terms than EFL writers. NR’s syntactic complexity is much higher than that of the MA and EFL group. There is no significant difference between NR and CR. Data from the analysis testified the validity of the two analytical tools for assessing writers’ capacity of knowledge coding.

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    Translational Knowledge and Its Threefold Forms
    YU Xudong, FU Jingmin
    Contemporary Foreign Languages Studies    2022, 22 (5): 22-30.   DOI: 10.3969/j.issn.1674-8921.2022.05.003
    Abstract177)   HTML5)    PDF (1317KB)(111)      

    Knowledge is the ladder for human progress and the first productive force of modern society. The reproduction, dissemination and regeneration of knowledge can only be achieved in actions, and translating is naturally a type of knowledge action. However, people used to merely focus on the structured knowledge transferred in translation, putting translation in a subordinate position, which has shadowed its function in terms of knowledge reconstruction and innovation, and ignored the contributions of translation studies to the human knowledge. From the perspective of modern knowledge science, translational knowledge is not just structured knowledge rendered by translation, but can be knowledge reconstructed through translation. In addition, it can be thematic knowledge concerning the topic of translated knowledge. For this reason, this paper proposes that translational knowledge is a complex entity which consists of thematic, reconstructed as well as structured forms. Only when we clarify this threefold form of translational knowledge and their internal logic, can we reveal the true value of translation in knowledge accumulation and (re)production.

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    Archaeology of Knowledge, Discourse Restructuring and International Communication of Chinese Culture: Reflections on American Sinologist Burton Watson’s translation of Chinese Cultural Classics into English
    HU Anjiang
    Contemporary Foreign Languages Studies    2022, 22 (5): 12-21.   DOI: 10.3969/j.issn.1674-8921.2022.05.002
    Abstract176)   HTML3)    PDF (1598KB)(126)      

    From a transknowletological perspetive, this paper discusses the cultural behavior and social practice of “knowledge processing, reconstruction and retransmission” of the renowned American Sinologist Burton Watson in his process of translating Chinese culture into English, especially his translational practical aesthetics of “knowledge archaeology” and “discourse restructuring ”. Under the background of this new era, it has extremely important theoretical value, practical value and immediate significance to strengthen the theoretical research of international communication, construct the international discourse system, improve the art of discourse communication, promote the global expression, regional expression and focused expression of Chinese stories and Chinese voices, and enhance the affinity and effectiveness of Chinese discourse translation and international communication. Meantime, if we examine the feedback mechanism such as communication and distribution channels, library collections, Amazon book sales ranking and reader evaluations, we also need to reflect upon the deficiencies and shortcomings of Watson’s translation practice and find practical ways to solve them.

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    Challenges to Foreign Language Teachers and Their Vision-Based Solutions
    WANG Kefei
    Contemporary Foreign Languages Studies    2022, 22 (6): 5-11.   DOI: 10.3969/j.issn.1674-8921.2022.06.001
    Abstract171)   HTML5)    PDF (930KB)(108)      

    Foreign language teachers in China are faced with a series of challenges including their heavy workload, limited publication options, and relatively inadequate academic underpinning, each ascribable to different reasons. The solutions lie in the use made of the development of foreign language education in its broad sense, and in the adoption of a national initiative perspective, a global vision, and a comparative approach in the development of the foreign language discipline in the new era.

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    From Footnoting to Being Footnoted: On the Luian Mindological Awareness of Benxin for Outward Translation of Chinese Literature
    YANG Zhenyuan
    Contemporary Foreign Languages Studies    2022, 22 (6): 126-132.   DOI: 10.3969/j.issn.1674-8921.2022.06.015
    Abstract168)   HTML1)    PDF (1105KB)(49)      

    Cognitive estrangement is a formidable barrier to the outward translation of Chinese literature (OTCL), for which the Luian mindological awareness of benxin (original innocent mind) provides a solution. The cognitive bias of Chinese translators is characterized as an obsession with textual meaning, a partial-horizon interpretation that is incompatible with other perspectives and thus leads to the isolating mindset recognized for footnoting. Furthermore, this mindset is a cause of translators’ alienation from foreign readers, but if the obsession with textual meaning is transcended, benxin would emerge as the ultimate source of cognition, allowing access toward the ideo-realm known as being footnoted. Benxin, which is released through introspection, eliminates translators’ cognitive barriers, generates a vision that is harmoniously compatible with foreign readers’, and enhances cognitive empathy, thereby facilitating acceptance of OTCL. This Luian orientation contributes to the distinctive discourses of China’s translation studies and, by extension, to the country’s culturally confident national consciousness.

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    On Capital Operation in the Translation Field in Modern China: A Case Study on Translator Ma Junwu
    SONG Jing
    Contemporary Foreign Languages Studies    2022, 22 (5): 120-128.   DOI: 10.3969/j.issn.1674-8921.2022.05.013
    Abstract166)   HTML3)    PDF (1511KB)(131)      

    In Modern China, translators played an important role in enlightening new ideas and initiating the new era. Ma Junwu, one of the most outstanding representatives of the first generation of translators, enjoyed a nationwide reputation for introducing western learning to China. This paper examined the interaction between translation field and Ma Junwu’s capital operation mode, and explored the coordination of power relations in the translation process in that specific context. Ma’s translation activities were characterized by the interpenetration, interaction and coexistence of all kinds of capital. His capital operation met the demands for awakening the nation and establishing the new era, and exerted a far-reaching impact on the construction of Chinese modernity in Modern China.

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    Audio Description from the Perspective of Transknowletology: Paradigm and Approaches
    ZHAN Cheng
    Contemporary Foreign Languages Studies    2022, 22 (6): 30-36,45.   DOI: 10.3969/j.issn.1674-8921.2022.06.005
    Abstract165)   HTML3)    PDF (1211KB)(105)      

    The practice of audio description has been developing rapidly in China, with applications in different settings for people with visual impairments. Audio description is normally considered a type of audiovisual translation, but in terms of the cognitive process, competence composition and communication effects, it shares more similarities with interpreting. Audio description research from the perspective of transknowletology helps theoretically tackle the fuzziness of disciplinary identity to form a new research paradigm, and methodologically shape new research approaches to new topics, thus broadening the scope of translation studies. As a special form of communication, audio description may be the source of rich research topics, thus serving as an application and verification of the theoretical as well as methodological aspects of transknowletology.

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    Restoration and Transcendence of Life—On the Aesthetic Features of Chekhov’s Drama
    LI Jiabao, WANG Lijun
    Contemporary Foreign Languages Studies    2023, 23 (1): 144-152.   DOI: 10.3969/j.issn.1674-8921.2023.01.011
    Abstract163)   HTML20)    PDF (1556KB)(65)      

    Chekhov’s discovery of the original structure of everyday life and its artistic restoration is his great contribution to the world realistic art. The use of a large number of pauses, the creation of lyric atmosphere and the internalization of characters’ actions make the plot of the drama “non-conflicted” and restore the original structure of mediocrity and absurdity of daily life; The circular dramatic structure and the elimination of the logic of language make its drama present the anti-dramatic feature of “non-causality” and expose the absurd essence of human alienation by time; It does not follow the routine of tragedy, comedy and drama, which makes its drama “non-typological”, and analyses life with extraordinary sobriety and perspective beyond time and space. It accurately summarizes and artistically expresses the solemn and stirring and pain of the disappearance of human significance in time, and gives comic attention, which sublimates the aesthetic significance of Chekhov’s drama. His anti-traditional rules of drama creation challenge people’s inherent aesthetic habits, realize drama innovation, and leave a far-reaching impact on future generations from creation to connotation.

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    Multi-perspective Analysis of National Translation Capacity Building: A Summary of “The Second Symposium on National Translation Capacity: Theory and Practice”
    ZHANG Yingjie, ZHU Yuben
    Contemporary Foreign Languages Studies    2022, 22 (5): 155-160.   DOI: 10.3969/j.issn.1674-8921.2022.05.017
    Abstract162)   HTML1)    PDF (893KB)(77)      

    On May 28, 2022, the Second Symposium on National Translation Capacity: Theory and Practice was convened at Beijing Foreign Studies University. Held one year after China’s central leadership’s call to action to enhance the country’s international communication capacity, the symposium provided an occasion for translation scholars to review the latest progress and challenges in the area. This paper summarizes the various new topics of and approaches to national translation capacity building raised at the symposium, and identifies ways to further strengthen China’s national translation capacity in the future.

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