A Corpus-based Analysis of Vocabulary Translation in Teaching Chinese as a Foreign Language

This monograph investigates the landscape of vocabulary translation challenges within Teaching Chinese as a Foreign Language (T.C.F.L.) textbooks.

In the era of globalisation, where the demand for Chinese language proficiency has escalated due to cultural exchanges, economic collaborations, tourism, and overseas learning, this study examines the accuracy and effectiveness of vocabulary translations in T.C.F.L. textbooks. The authors adopt an innovative approach, centring on analysing audience responses, including feedback from teaching practitioners and learners of Chinese languages and utilising corpus-based data to evaluate the consistency and appropriateness of vocabulary translations.

This book is an essential resource for scholars and educators, as well as students in education, Chinese studies, translation studies, and language learning.

Saihong Li is Senior Lecturer in Translation Studies at the University of Stirling, Scotland. Her interdisciplinary research in digital humanities spans cultural studies, sociolinguistics, psycholinguistics, corpus linguistics, and translation studies. She has extensively analysed food, tourism, and political discourse translation, publishing monographs and refereed journal articles on topics ranging from menu translation to bi/trilingualism. She is a co-editor of Perspectives: Studies in Translation Theory and Practice and is a book series editor for Routledge Studies in Global Food Translation.

Yifei Hao is Lecturer in Teaching English as a Second Language at Baotou Teachers’ College, Inner Mongolia University of Science & Technology, China. She holds an MA in Cross-Cultural Communication and Education from Newcastle University, UK, and a PhD in Translation Studies from the University of Stirling, UK. Her doctoral research focused on vocabulary translation issues in Chinese textbooks for non-native learners. Dr. Hao’s current research interests span from Applied Linguistics, Interpreting and Translation Studies, and Corpus Linguistics to Chinese Teaching and Learning.