ArticleInterdisciplinary Studies of Translation http://dx.doi.org/10.26855/tfll.2026.01.021
A Study on Complementary Teaching Cases of Two Courses: Translation Theory and International Publicity Translation Practice
Yilong Chen
School of International Educational Exchanges, Tangshan Vocational and Technical College, Tangshan 063000, Hebei, China.
*Corresponding author: Yilong Chen
English Teaching Reform Research and Practice Project of Hebei Provincial Department of Education: Research on the Application of Understanding Contemporary China: Chinese-English Translation Coursebook and the Devel-opment of Teaching Materials for Current Affairs Chinese-English Translation Course, Project No.: 2024YYJG064. Education and Teaching Reform Research and Practice Project of Tangshan Normal University: A Study on the Complementarity Between Translation Theory Course and Translation Practice Course, Project No.: 2025JGZD121.
Published: January 31, 2026
Abstract
Guided by the three rules of Skopos Theory within the German functionalist school of translation studies—skopos, coherence, and fidelity/faithfulness—and incorporating Nord’s rule of loyalty, this paper examines issues in the English translation of representative signage examples at the Li Dazhao Memorial Hall and Former Residence, which covers architectural terminology, kinship refer-ences, and accessibility-related regulations. The findings show that many original translations fail to balance promotional/public-education aims with target-language naturalness and information clarity, resulting in misunderstandings among international visitors. Based on that, it proposes retranslation strategies that prioritize the translation skopos while ensuring coherence and appropriate fidelity where feasible. The study contributes supplementary teaching cases for Understanding Contemporary China: A Chinese–English Translation by integrating resources from courses on Western translation theories and those specifically aiming at the practical translation skills for Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era. It thus aims to cultivate outstanding translators who can apply Western translation theory in China’s external publicity and red-education contexts.
Keyword
Skopos Theory; Li Dazhao Memorial Hall; signage translation; Teaching Cases of International Publicity Translation
References
Geng, X. C., & He, W. W. (2018). From skopos theory to tourism signage translation. China Science and Technology Translators, 31(3), 57-60.
Lefevere, A. (1992). Translation, Rewriting and the Manipulation of Literary Fame. Routledge.
Li, Y. H., & Li, Z. S. (2019). From the rules of skopos theory to the English translation of public signage in Hebei Province. Overseas English, 20(20), 5-6.
Nord, C. (1991). Loyalty in translation. Babel: International Journal of Translation, 37(3), 161-176.
Reiss, K., & Vermeer, H. J. (1984). Grundlegung einer allgemeinen Translationstheorie. Niemeyer.
Vermeer, H. J. (2012). Skopos and commission in translational action. In L. Venuti (Ed.), The Translation Studies Reader (pp. 191-202). Routledge.
Zhang, M. F. (2005). Function and loyalty: A review and evaluation of Christiane Nord’s functional translation theory. Journal of Foreign Languages, 28(1), 60-65.
Zhong, W. H., & Zhong, Y. Z. (1999). German functionalist translation theory. China Translators Journal, 21(3), 48-50.
Copyright
© 2026 by the author(s).
This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives (CC BY-NC-ND) license, which permits non-commercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited and is not modified or adapted.
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/
How to cite this paper
A Study on Complementary Teaching Cases of Two Courses: Translation Theory and International Publicity Translation Practice
How to cite this paper: Yilong Chen. (2026). A Study on Complementary Teaching Cases of Two Courses: Translation Theory and International Publicity Translation Practice. Translation and Foreign Language Learning, 2(1), 130-134.
DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.26855/tfll.2026.01.021