Translatological Trilingualism: Challenges and Perspectives

V.N. Komissarov as a famous theoretician in the sphere of translation was introduced to his Chinese colleagues in 1984, when modern translation theory just started in China. For forty years now, his translation theories have been disseminated, adopted, and developed. V.N. Komissarov’s major works, including Questions of Translation Theory in Foreign Linguistics (1978), Linguistics of Translation (1980), Translation Theory (Linguistic Aspects) (1990) and Modern Translation Studies (1999), have been reviewed in Chinese academic journals. His last monograph, Modern Translation Studies (2004), was translated into Chinese. Chinese translation studies introduced his theoretical ideas in the sphere of translation, such as the nature of translation, translation equivalence, translation models, translation correspondences, translation norms, translation pragmatics, textological aspects of translation studies, cultural and sociological aspects of translation studies, translation teaching methodology, etc. Certain ideas, such as pragmatic translation adaptation, have been further developed. In general, V.N. Komissarov’s theoretical viewpoints have been studied and summarized in many scientific papers and various works, which contributed to the development of Chinese translation theory. Moreover, his translation thoughts are widely used by Chinese scholars for theoretical research and the training of future translators. Some of V.N. Komissarov’s views are applied to the study of the function of cultural translation, translation adaptation, the definition of translation, translation of the national style of speech and other theoretical problems. The scholar’s theory of translation is most often used to address a variety of issues in translation practice. The most influential theory is undoubtedly the theory of translation equivalence. While using this theory, numerous master theses and translation reports analyze issues in both fiction and information translation, as well as problems in interpretation and audiovisual translation.

The article deals with the issue of the content of bachelor's degree programmes in translation at classical and applied universities in Germany. The issue of ensuring quality training of translators has become particularly relevant in recent years in the context of Ukraine's intensive movement towards integration into the European Union. It has been established that there are differences between the programmes of different universities in terms of the courses offered, the number of credits and the content of the modules. It has been determined that the structural division of bachelor's degree programmes in translation training is common, which includes three blocks: compulsory subjects, compulsory electives, and free choice subjects. The programmes under consideration have in common the following: studying a practical course in the chosen foreign language, translation, internships (including foreign ones); writing and defending a bachelor's thesis. The programmes of universities of applied sciences are more practice-oriented than those of classical universities. The Bachelor's degree programme in Translation at the University of Leipzig is aimed at providing students with theoretical and methodological knowledge and practical skills in translation and interpreting. The programme also provides for an introduction to the cultures of the countries whose languages are studied, as well as translation technologies. The bachelor's degree programme in Translation provides for a student's academic workload of 180 credits. The structure of the bachelor's degree programme in translation at Ruprecht-Karls-Universität Heidelberg is modular and consists of modules in translation and science, subject-specific and interdisciplinary additional qualifications, and a bachelor's thesis. The main part of the content of the University of Heidelberg's translation programme is aimed at developing competence in translating general and technical texts. The main part of the content of the translation programme at the University of Heidelberg is aimed at developing competence in translating texts of general and technical subjects. Students acquire the ability to apply their knowledge of the linguistic and cultural peculiarities of the languages they study; to translate in selected language pairs; and to justify their translation. At the same time, they learn to use appropriate auxiliary tools, including monolingual and multilingual reference books, specialised terminology databases, online dictionaries, CAT tools, localisation tools, and concordance software. This enables future translators to search for and process additional information on their own.There are two study options (A or B) within the Bachelor's degree programme in International Communication and Translation at the University of Hildesheim. By choosing option A, students study two foreign languages. Those who choose option B study one foreign language, and the rest of the credits are obtained through applied disciplines and modules from the compulsory elective block. In addition, the offer of disciplines is constantly expanding, mainly in the area of information technologies and intercultural communication. Translation programmes differ in their content, which is reflected in their titles: Translation, Translation Studies, International Communication and Translation, and Specialised Translation. Higher education institutions that offer bachelor's and master's degree programmes in translation have valuable years of experience in training these professionals. In addition, they are focused on meeting the needs and demands of employers, shaping the content of their programmes accordingly. Since the range of employment of domestic translators will be wider than it is today in the near future, it is worthwhile to use the experience gained in training them in Europe, particularly in the Federal Republic of Germany.

Technology-driven world poses new challenges for the modern education system. To prepare skilled specialists for academic and industrial needs it is important to create competitive educational ground. Our team works on developing and implementing world-class master program in Intelligent Robotics. To pave the way for a high-quality educational program we invest efforts into studying students’ attitude and motivation for connecting their professional life with robotics. In this paper we describe the curriculum for master program that was designed and implemented at the Higher Institute of Information Technology and Information Systems at Kazan Federal University and present the results of our continuous research of comparative analysis of surveys among students of Introduction to Robotics course.

The article is devoted to the implementation of a method for modeling processes in complex educational systems based on the proposed variety of neuro-fuzzy temporal Petri nets. The article considers educational systems of the level of higher educational institutions, which, of course, belong to the class of complex systems. The need for a method, models and modeling tools is dictated by the fact that modern educational processes require constant modernization, due to the constantly growing volumes of information, changes in legislation, stricter requirements for specialists, rapid development of technologies, constant discoveries in various fields, as well as the influence of external factors. Requirements for the tools for modeling processes in complex systems are formulated, the use of Petri nets as the basis of such models is substantiated. The existing educational processes are considered on the example of the cycle of training in the master's program of the Belarusian-Russian University. The model of educational and information-analytical learning processes in the master's program based on the neuro-fuzzy temporal Petri net is presented. The proposed method allows to increase the flexibility of the choice of individual trajectories of training in the master's program, the effectiveness of elective disciplines and to make the transition to an integrated approach in the preparation of undergraduates. The proposed method can also be used as a basis for monitoring the state and control of information and analytical processes in educational systems. An approach to the construction of software-instrumental environment for the design and modification of information-analytical processes is described, aimed, among other things, at bridging the semantic gap between experts, architects and developers of information-analytical processes. A subsystem for the formation of a neuro-fuzzy temporal model of processes within the framework of a software-instrumental environment is considered.

In most cases, the process of adaptation of foreign students in a host country is difficult and includes many spheres which they have to adapt to: social, everyday, cultural, educational, linguistic, communication, legal, etc. The central part in this list is undoubtedly taken by the academic adaptation, However, one cannot ignore the need to become involved in a rich ethnocultural environment. The article reveals the role, influence and place of a university library in introducing foreign students of the Kazan (Volga) Federal University to the educational process exemplified by the Scientific Library named after N.I. Lobachevsky of the Kazan (Volga) Federal University. A university library is the intellectual core of the community, a modern information center, whose activities are concentrated on the operational and high-quality library and information support of the scientific and educational process, including students who have come from abroad.

The article considers the intermediary function of languages used at the stage of preparation of foreign applicants for admission to Russian universities. In a situation when the majority of foreigners’ proficiency of the Russian language is not satisfactory, the process of studying special disciplines is significantly slowed down, and the lack of subject knowledge does not allow foreign students to successfully master their chosen specialty. In order to overcome these difficulties and solve the problem of providing students with initial subject knowledge, various forms of presentation of the material are used, but often they can be effective only if an intermediary language is used in the classroom – a common language that is more or less familiar to all the participants in the educational process. For this purpose, English is more often used in modern education. The choice of English as an intermediary language is explained by the role it plays in international communication and its wide representation in the educational process. Since there are different views in linguodidactics on the ways, methods, and “order” of introducing foreign language knowledge, special attention is paid to the expediency –inexpediency of using an intermediary language at different stages of teaching Russian in groups with heterogeneous ethnic composition. The conclusion is made about the importance of the designated problem and the need for its further development within the framework of ethnolinguistics and linguodidactics.

This study investigates the effectiveness of using ChatGPT as a teaching tool in enhancing Arabic-to-German translation skills. An experimental group, using ChatGPT throughout a 15-week semester, was compared to a control group that followed traditional translation instruction methods. Pre- and post-tests were administered to assess translation performance. Results demonstrated that students in the experimental group significantly outperformed those in the control group, showing improvements in sentence structure, vocabulary selection, grammatical accuracy, and the translation of idioms and collocations. Despite minor linguistic errors, students using ChatGPT showed greater progress in understanding translation nuances. The study highlights the potential of AI-powered tools in language learning, particularly in translation pedagogy, and suggests future research directions, including the long-term impact of AI on advanced translation skills, and the balance between machine and human input in the educational process. This study contributes to the growing body of literature on AI-assisted language teaching. Acknowledgements The study is funded in the framework of the project titled "Using ChatGPT in translation", University of Jordan, reg. No. 00104365. Disclosure Statement The authors reported no potential conflicts of interest.

The intelligent use of digital teaching resources and the deep penetration of information technology can help promote the change and development of English teaching and improve the sharing, interactivity, interestingness and effectiveness of English translation teaching resources. This paper develops an intelligent classroom teaching model for English translation that combines scaffolding and multimodal discourse teaching using the U Campus teaching platform. To create an intelligent learning environment for English translation, this paper uses distributed crawler technology to crawl English teaching resources and Minhash algorithm to de-weight and optimize the data, constructs an English translation corpus, and introduces a lightweight Transformer network to establish a machine translation model. This paper quantitatively analyzes the teaching effect of the English translation smart classroom teaching model using data from University C students as the research object. The results of the study show that the students in class A1 scored 95.02 points in topic comprehension, the translation theory and skills improved by 8.46 points compared with the students in class A2, and there was a significant difference between the students’ cross-cultural communication skills at the 1% level. By integrating the information technology platform with English translation teaching, students’ translation skills can be enhanced, they can learn more English resources, and their intercultural knowledge and competence can be improved.

This paper aims to find out whether current business English (BE) translation textbooks in China can meet the demand of the industry and the need of the learners under the guidance of Hutchinson and Waters’ need analysis model for ESP (English for Specific Purposes). Through analyzing coursebook content and conducting a questionnaire survey among 96 university English major students and 61 industrial employees, the research gives an evaluation of current mainstream textbooks in China. The results show that the current textbooks can generally meet the essential needs of the learners. Covering a variety of genres, the textbooks can cultivate learners’ translation skills as well as business competences. The translation materials often include typical examples from the industry and classic texts. Most translation theories are also systematically presented. However, there are still some areas to be improved. In terms of text types, foreign trade and logistics documents, tender & bid documents, annual reports, business meeting reports, business cards, industry news, research reports are still lacking. In terms of scaffolding for learners, some textbooks lack the lists of business vocabulary. In terms of translation examples and exercises, more real-world challenges can be included. In terms of digital resources, the current teaching materials can do more to provide timely updating, and the forms are expected to be richer. In view of these, the paper puts forward some suggestions, in the hope that they can provide some new insights for the development of business translation teaching materials in China.

This opening essay of the special issue on ‘Narration and Translation’ discusses the overlaps between the fields of narratology and translation studies. The fact that translation scholars have merely skimmed the surface of narratological issues relevant for the study of translation can be understood within the context of early developments in translation studies. The first explicit use of narratological models in this discipline has grown out of unease with the extant focus on the macrostructural level of translations. In recent decades, translation scholars have begun to include narrative approaches in their research. Some conceptualize the translator’s discursive presence by referring to a model of narrative communication, or borrow concepts from narratology in order to analyse observed shifts in literary translations. Outside the domain of literary translation studies, scholars have looked into the way translation can refashion narratives in the real world. Conversely, narrative theories have rarely dealt with translational issues, even though they often rely on translations of literary texts. The issue as a whole wants to enhance the dialogue between narratology and translation studies. Each essay explores aspects of the relation between narration and translation.

Since Holmes’ founding statement for translation studies in 1972, four decades have passed. During that time some trends seem to have developed in the discipline, and it is time to stop and take stock. This paper touches upon issues essential to understanding translation studies today, such as (1) the nature of translation; (2) the research scope of translation studies; (3) interdisciplinary orientation and its implications; (4) research methods; and (5) the relationship between translation theory and practice. An examination of these issues indicates that the discipline of translation studies is increasingly subject to opposing or competing research approaches and is exhibiting a kind of disciplinary fragmentation. There are imbalances in the research methods used and in the topics that emerge in the research literature. There is a growing gap between translation theory and practice. This paper tries to examine the reasons for these trends and offer perspectives on ways to reach some common disciplinary and professional ground.

The paper deals with the study of the problems of Russian translation studies formation as an academic science in its theoretical and applied forms. The formation and development history of the famous linguistic translation theory (LTT), which up to the present day has been an officially recognized institutional discipline for scientific and educational activities in the Russian Federation, is traced. In today’s Russian scientific community, along with LTT, new transdisciplinary scientific, theoretical and methodological types of research in the field of translation theory and practice are actively developing. At the current historical stage of development, translation studies is interpreted as a social and humanitarian transdisciplinary science at the intersection of linguistics, cultural studies, communication theory, comparative literature, semiotics, sociology, history, as well as philosophy, hermeneutics, ethnopsycholinguistics and cognitive science, information theory and other related academic sciences and phenomena like “localization” within the framework of algo-cognitive culture. Three groups of paradigms operating in modern Russian translation theory and methodology have been identified: (a) linguistic profile, (b) cognitive profile, (c) discursive profile. Groups “b” and “c” can form the basis for the academic translation paradigm. Three types of discourses are introduced into scientific circulation. 1. Translation studies discourse, associated with academic discourse in its theoretical and didactic varieties. 2. Translation discourse which is theoretically and practically based on the first one and serves the translator as their theoretical and practical basis for generating the third type, viz. translated discourse. The last one is a resultant product addressed to the recipients’ reflection sphere. As a result, the author’s “discursive-game cognitive-hermeneutic paradigm” has been proposed as a preliminary model of the desired “academic-type translation studies paradigm”.

On the integrity of the term „theory of translation” The article is an attempt to explain why there arise doubts as to the use of the term “theory of translation” and as to the coherence of its object of study. It has been concluded that the ambiguity of the term stems from the two meanings of the word “teoria” (theory). Using the term “theory of translation” in the sense of “translation studies” is incorrect as such use disregards the fact that translation studies encompasses not only theoretical considerations but also other aspects of dealing with its object. The second cause of the term’s ambiguity is the existence of marked differences between various types of translation. The author believes that the very presence of the word “przekład” (translation) in the Polish language proves that the object it desribes is perceived as an integral phenomenon despite its internal differentiation. Claiming that each type of translation requires a separate theory is contradictory to the meaning of the term “theory”, which – by definition – deals with the highest level of abstraction.

ON THE PERSPECTIVES OFFERED BY A ‘NEW’ HISTORY OF TRANSLATION ON THE EXAMPLE OF SEVERAL 19TH CENTURY TRANSLATIONSTo become a discipline in its own right, translation studies needs to explore its own history, not only in the traditional sense – the study of the impact of translations of masterpieces on Polish literature – but also in a more modern and eclectic one. This article tests one such newer approach, proposed by Lieven D’hulst, using several nineteenth-century translations of Hippolyte Taine’s works into Polish as examples, and it focuses on the translators and their choices, the context of their work, and the causes and effects of their translations. The aim of the study is to show that interdisciplinarity is an opportunity for translation studies and that the history of translation after the cultural turn can be a worthwhile area of research.

In the current era of globalization, corpus linguistics holds a special place in the fields of linguistics and translation studies. In particular, parallel corpora – that is, corpora containing two or more translated versions of the same text – serve as essential resources for machine translation, automatic language learning systems, and linguistic research. They make it possible to deeply analyze translation correspondences, translation strategies, and cultural differences between texts in different languages. Parallel corpora act as tools that test and advance both practical and theoretical approaches in modern translation studies. Concepts such as degrees of equivalence, contextual adequacy, and transcultural transmission are analyzed and modeled in real texts. Therefore translation theories must form the core foundation in the creation of a parallel corpus. Principles such as translation quality, coherence, structure, and cultural context play a crucial role in corpus development. While parallel corpora represent collections of texts conveying the same meaning in two or more languages, translation studies examine the process of transferring meaning from one linguistic system to another. These two fields complement each other: translation theories rely on corpora, while corpora empirically test translation theories.