Miao, J. (2006): On the Development of Translation Competence Through Translation Instruction, Tianjin, Tianjin People’s Publishing House, x + 193 p.

More and more translators/interpreters are needed in various fields in our global village, which has led to an emphasis on translation pedagogy to produce eligible, qualified translators/interpreters to meet the needs of an era of globalization and cross-cultural communication. In retrospect, as we examine the teaching of translation in past decades, an emerging problem is conspicuous – the lack of a consistent, systematic and scientific methodology/pedagogy in translation teaching. Translation teaching is featured by anecdotal reflections and fragmentary experience. Therefore, scholars of Translation Studies have come to realize that we need to identify theoretical hypothesis based on actual teaching practice and to construct general principles, rules, and methods that govern or underlie such practice. On the Development of Translation Competence Through Translation Instruction tries to meet this need, and intends to devise a pedagogical model of translation instruction based on consistent, systematic, and appropriate concepts, principles, and the methods that will lay a foundation for translation instruction, and is intended as a contribution to the profession that is in need of such enhancement. The book comprises five chapters: Introduction, Research on Translation Competence, Empirical Study on Translation Competence, A Model of Translation Instruction, and Conclusion. Its introduction presents an outline that highlights the major points and emphasis of the intended research. The second chapter “Research on Translation Competence” establishes the basis of the contents leading to a logical development of the research. As translation is both a purposeful human activity and a complex mental activity, the translator’s performance in fulfilling the tasks requires a unique competence involving a comprehensive application of various knowledge and expertise. It has been a comprehensive competence that has not been adequately described and clearly defined and the development of this unique competence has not been systematically investigated. Translation competence is comprised of interrelated sub-competences and components involved in the translation process. In defining translation competence, the present author intends to analyze translation competence mainly from the cognitive, linguistic and communicative perspectives with the belief that it encompasses three categories contributed by different components. The classification of the three categories manifests a more systematic, comprehensive, hierarchical, and interrelated view on translation competence as a whole. It reflects both a macroscopic examination of the holistic translation competence and a microscopic analysis of the discrete components. In addition, the present author postulates that translation competence is a professional mental competence to deal with complex tasks, and such mental expertise distinguishes translation competence from other professional, mental, or behavioral competences. Providing the setting for the analysis of the translation competence, however, the author thinks it is necessary to do an analysis on the translator’s role as reader and rewriter, mediator and communicator. Chapter three “Empirical Study on Translation Competence and Translation Process,” based on the data analysis of the study of the two groups, Occidental group and Oriental group, reaches the following conclusions: a) When the source text is in the foreign language, the translator produces more misunderstandings, as it is difficult to comprehend. On the other hand when the source text is in the first language, the translator produces much less misunderstandings and feels at ease; b) When the target text is in the foreign language, the translator produces more grammar mistakes including wrong collocation, inappropriate/unnatural/unidiomatic expressions, whereas when the target text is in the first language, the translator produces few grammar mistakes with good language proficiency. The fourth chapter, based on the findings of the research on translation competence and the empirical study on translation competence, offers a model of translation instruction which includes course design (linguistic/literary, cultural/communicative, theoretical components, translation workshop, translation as critical appreciation, professional/ …