Interpreting Textbooks for BTI Students in China: Retrospection, Problems and Prospect

Abstract

As the language service sector continues to develop, the education for undergraduate translation majors (or BTI: BA Translation and Interpreting) calls for more solid support from well-compiled textbooks. The study investigates the general publication status of interpreting textbooks for BTI students and takes a close look at four representative examples. The findings reveal that traditional interpreting textbooks have such problems as disrespect for the rules of teaching, incomplete portrait of the interpreting profession and the failure to keep pace with the time, therefore can no longer satisfy the need that an evolving language service sector places on BTI students. Considering the teaching objectives of BTI and the new definition of “translation competence” in the “Teaching Guide for Undergraduate Translation Major” issued in 2020, the author proposes that interpreting textbooks need to enrich the teaching contents, have more interpreting practitioners as editors and integrate various modern technologies to be as multi-dimensional as possible.