Production-Oriented Approach in Localization Teaching: A Case Study of Interpretation Practice Teaching on the Commentary of Baoding Military Academy ()
1. Introduction
Production-Oriented Approach (POA) was formally proposed by Professor Wen Qiufang (文秋芳) at the 7th International Conference on English Teaching in China in 2014. It was elaborated in the paper Developing a Theoretical System of Production-Oriented Approach in Language Teaching (构建“产出导向法”理论体系) published in 2015. The teaching targets were middle and advanced foreign language learners. It started from English majors and then entered into the reform of college English teaching curriculum. It has achieved outstanding results in the reform and localization of English professional skills courses (Wen Qiufang, 2015: p. 387). Production-Oriented Approach includes three aspects: Teaching principles, Teaching hypotheses and Teacher-mediated teaching process (Figure 1). Its teaching frame is shown in the chart below.
Teacher-mediated teaching process is mainly taken as the steps of interpretation practice in this paper, which consists of three parts: motivating, enabling, and assessing, to realize the localization teaching in interpretation practice (Wen Qiufang, 2020). Commentary on cultural relics and historical materials of Baoding Military Academy (保定军校文物史料解说词) was adopted as source text for the interpretation practice. Guided by the commentator, the teachers and students went to visit Baoding Military Academy Memorial Hall (保定军校纪念馆), with the commentary in hand. During the process, the students listened to the commentator attentively and found out the most attractive part for them, meanwhile, problems from the commentary were collected to do the discussion and find solutions, therefore the texts of interpretation practice were output, and then the students went to the Memorial Hall again to do the interpretation practice, output the interpretation texts equivalent to the commentator’s. The evaluations including students’ evaluation, team evaluation, teacher-student’s evaluation and self-evaluation were conducted to further improve the cognition of interpretation practice. Meanwhile, in the interpretation practice, students understood the local tourism culture of Baoding, and improved the cognition of the history of the Chinese revolution and cultivated patriotism enthusiasm.
2. Field Visits as the Scene Setting, and the Collection of Historical Materials as Motivating before Class
Field visits can give students real feelings, and at the same time, the most attractive parts can be found and dig out as the basis of interpretation practice. Collection of historical materials can fully mobilize students’ interest, promote students’ ability to dig and comb historical literary works, and make interpretation practice more real and fuller (Li Zhiping, 2017: p. 145).
1) Field visits to lock on interpretation practice materials
Through the guidance of the commentator and the submission of student teams, the interpretation practice materials were basically locked in the following aspects.
2) Collection of background materials related to the topic
After the communication between the teacher group and the student teams, the interpreting content was refined and made into special modules. With the provision of relevant materials, the students could timely follow up and carry out equivalent interpretation even with the impromptu speeches delivered from the commentator on the spot. The relevant materials the teacher group provides were listed below:
For the first item, the gate and the buildings (Table 1), 3 copies of Chinese-English bilingual materials translated by the teacher group and adopted by the museum were provided. These were The Stone Lions at the Entrance, ShangwuHall and ShangwuHall Stone Lions. There was one translation of “School Motto”, translated by the teacher group, and two Chinese-English materials for the couplets in front of Shangwu Hall, respectively translated by the teacher group and Tian Zihan, the master of Translation of Hebei University in 2019.1
Second, the main part was Yuan Shikai and Jiang Baili in modern Military education in China (Table 1). The teacher group provided one paper titled Yuan Shikai and Baoding Modern Military Education (袁世凯与保定近代军事教育) and one master thesis titled Yuan Shikai and China modern Military Education (袁世凯与中国近代军事教育), mainly studying the relationship between Yuan Shikai and the construction of the Military Academy. There were many papers and deeds about Jiang Baili, including CNKI papers Jiang Baili and Baoding Military Academy (蒋百里与保定军校)and other 23 articles, basically focus on the topics of “Jiang Baili’s military thoughts”, “Jiang Baili’s suicide affair”, and “Jiang Baili’s love story and social relations”.
Third, during the period of the Revolution of 1911 (Xinhai Revolution) and the Northern Expedition (Table 1), Deng Yanda’s military career was selected as the focus, with the materials of Deng Yanda’s Collected works (《邓演达文集》), his wikipedia entry and 28 CNKI papers with “Deng Yanda” as the key word provided.
Fourth, during the period of the War of Resistance Against Japan (Table 1), the key points were 4 people, including Bai Chongxi who was mentioned in the commentary for seven times, and his acts could be the clue of the main line. Bai had fought in Xinhai Revolution, The Second Revolution, Constitutional Protection Movement, National Protection War, The Northern Expedition, Songhu Resistance Battle, Victory at Tai’erzhuang, The Resistance of Battle of Wuhan, which inspired the students to deeply understand this figure. Wang Yizhe commanded the Seventh Brigade of the Northeast army to fight against the Japanese army and participated in Xi’an Incident. The other topics included “Xiao Shanling and the Battle of Nanjing” and “Zhu Jialin at Victory at Tai’erzhuang”.
Fifth, for communist party members in Baoding Military Academy (Table 1), it mainly focused on “Tao Zhi Yue and Xinjiang Uprising”.
Sixth, in the war of Liberation (Table 1), the topics were “‘Peace General’ Zhang Zhizhong”, “Gu Zhutong in Songhu Resistance War, Victory at Tai’erzhuang and the acceptance of the Surrender of Japan”, “Qiao Mingli, General of Hebei” and “Fu Zuoyi in the liberation of Peiping”.
Seventh, in the new China construction period (Table 1), it was mainly about the life of Li Jishen: from the military general to the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference.
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Table 1. Items Students chose to do interpretation practice.
Eighth, it was mainly about “Ye Ting’s short but brilliant life” (Table 1).
In addition, the teacher group provided the students with a terminology corpus of more than 520 words and an English version of commentary with more than 12,000 words for students to read and refer to. All the materials were put as part of the basis of the interpretation output.
Students used the materials to restore the three-dimensional images of cadets and their military career, and to clearly comb the relationship between the main battles in the history of modern Chinese revolution and cadets, so as to improve the accuracy of interpretation output. In addition, the fights and battles were only one side of the cadets’ life. In the interpretation practice, the teacher group guided students into the different sides of the cadets’ life, such as a patriotic, a flesh-and-blood individual, with multi-dimensional preparation and interpretation practice.
3. The Combination of Classroom Simulation with Field Thematic Interpretation Practice
Classroom simulation is the main field of interpretation practice, and field interpretation practice is the link interspersing in classroom simulation, which is limited in frequency but valuable.
1) The diversity of classroom simulation teaching to promote learning interest and immersion feeling.
Classroom simulation teaching is a means for students to acquire knowledge and skills, which is also a typical method in interpretation practice. Through rich and colorful classroom activities, students can improve their oral output, improvability and other aspects, and cultivate their love for local tourism culture and patriotic enthusiasm, which is also in line with the current requirements of moral education in colleges and universities.
The basic form of classroom simulation adopts team system, generally six people for a team. The team leader is responsible for the assignment of team tasks and the control of the schedule. Among the other five people, one is a commentator, one is an interpreter, one is a cameraman and two are tourists. team roles can be reversed. As an intermediary, teachers cooperate with the team leader and members to do a good job of revision and evaluation. Diversified classroom simulation forms are as follows:
a) Simulated objects, with the form of display + commentary and interpretation.
Stone lions at the entrance, Shangwu Hall couplets, school motto were the examples. The students described the origin and appearance of the stone lion intuitively by means of paper cutting, paper clay production and color paintings. For the couplets and motto, the objects consisted of the calligraphy from a colleague of Baoding Calligraphy Association and some calligraphy by students themselves. Through face-to-face intuitive contact by the words and works of the objects, the spirit of the cadets was shown before the students. They were vibrant and full of thoughts on the fate of the nation. They were fearless when they were faced with the danger of the country, and had the full strength to fight for the survival of the nation. The students cherished the memory of the national martyrs, and their contact with Baoding Military Academy got further ascension spiritually. It was conducive to the smooth development of interpretation practice.
b) War Atlas assisted interpretation practice
In the commentary offered by the Memorial Hall, the battles were mentioned 22 times (Table 2), and the cadets participated in the battles were numerous. Because the students were lack of sufficient knowledge in Chinese history on wars, it was difficult to remember all the cadets who fought in battles, even if they just followed the narrator commentary on interpretation, it was still difficult. In this case, a table was a good way for remembering most of the details, students’ interpretation practice would be more smooth. The cadets’ participation in battles was shown below:
Take Xinhai Revolution as an example, as shown below (pictures and the map were from Baidu Encyclopedia):
There were 8 cadets attended Xinhai Revolution, including Deng Yanda, Ye Ting, Zhang Zhizhong, Shang Zhen, Li Jishen, Bai Chongxi, Fu Zuoyi, Jiang Guangnai (Figure 2).
Through the tables and graphs, students had an intuitive understanding of cadets and a deeper understanding of the history of modern Chinese revolution. The teacher group asked students to draw the battle track of each cadet to deepen the memories. For example, Bai Chongxi participated in a large battle span, from Xinhai Revolution to the Battle of Wuhan. Su Bingwen had been fighting in the Northeast; Gu Zhutong fought in Shanghai and Wuhan. Zhang Kexia, He Jifeng had been fighting side by side; “Peace General” Zhang Zhizhong from Songhu Resistance Battle to the War of Liberation. There were some cadets died early on the battlefield, such as Ye Ting, Wang Yizhe, Zhu Jialin, Xiao Shanling, Xia Guozhang and so on. In the process of sorting out, students had a deeper understanding of revolutionary martyrs. These images were gradually combined with regions and events, which was conducive to reducing the sense of awkwardness in interpretation.
c) The description of the cadets’ military life by mind map.
There are more than 11,000 cadets in total, which cannot be described in the commentary. Some cadets died young, and some cadets were still dedicated to their country after the founding of new China. Encouraging students to present cadets’ stories through mind maps is a good way to remember the main events. Students can see cadets’ life through a map, which is another effective way to introduce cadets.
Take Deng Yanda and Ye Ting for example, both of whom died young, while their lives were short but memorable.
The mind map of Deng Yanda was as follows:
From the mind map (Figure 3), students could easily find out that Deng Yan’s life span was short, only 36 years old. However, he had attended battles to protect the country and people. He wrote articles to show his standpoint and the good wish for the future China. All of these were the events students could learn and do more research.
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Figure 3. Mind map of Deng Yanda’s life.
The mind map of Ye Ting was as follows:
From the mind map (Figure 4), students found out Ye Ting’s career in military field, and his literary abilities in wiring poems, which is spread wide in China till now. He had the faith of communism, and he fought for it till death.
Making mind maps is a necessarily basic skill for students. Through graphical processing, students can quickly memorize and output in interpretation practice.
d) Simulating the scene and making small drama to realize the scene reproduction.
In the commentary of Baoding Military Academy Memorial Hall, Jiang Baili, the second principal, occupied the largest space, including three parts. The students selected two parts: one was Jiang Baili’s love and social relations, the other was Jiang Baili’s suicide affair. First of all, the social relations of Jiang Baili is as follows:
Jiang Baili’ s teacher was Liang Qichao (梁启超). His wife was the Japanese medical staff during his time in hospital after he was injured in the suicide affair. After they got married, she got her surname after her husband’s. Because Jiang Baili loved plum (梅), he named his wife Jiang Zuomei (蒋左梅). Her daughter Jiang Ying (蒋英) was a famous singer and her son-in-law Qian Xuesen (钱学森) was a well-known scientist. His in-laws Qian Junfu (钱均夫) was a famous educator. Among his relatives, Xu Zhimo (徐志摩) was a famous Crescent poet, Jin Yong (金庸) was a world-renowned martial arts novelist, Jiang Jingguo (蒋经国) was his subordinate, Zheng Zhenduo (郑振铎) was a famous translator in China, and Feng Yuxiang (冯玉祥) and Cai’E (蔡锷) were military leaders. According to the commentary, the students interpreted the love story of Jiang Baili and Zuo Mei. It was so touching and the image of Jiang Baili became warmer and three-dimensional and it was also the warm color in the war era.
Jiang Baili’s suicide affair was a tragic but heroic deed. Students dramatized the conflict to highlight the sad mood of Jiang Baili, the second principal of the Military Academy, who was helpless under the influence of the warlord. “When I first came to this school, I taught you that you must do what I asked of you; I must do what you want me to do. If you cannot, I will punish you; if I can’t, I’m
going to punish myself. It seems that you are all right now, but I am sorry that I could not do my duty as principal.”2 The interpretation practice of this commentary was also translated without obstacles under the background of emotions.
1) Field module interpretation to check students’ classroom learning skills and on-the-spot performance
For the field module interpretation practice, first of all, the teacher group communicated well with the relevant personnel of Baoding Military Academy Memorial Hall, and the team leader did a good job in recording the whole process of interpretation, especially the problems, including the good part of the interpretation, as an important part of the evaluation system. Interpretation practice required five rounds, two of which required the participation of the commentator in the Memorial Hall.
a) In the first round, fixed modules were output on the spot, commentator + interpreter mode was adopted
The modules were prepared by the student team, and the content of commentary and the interpretation prepared by the students should be the same or similar to the maximum extent. According to this arrangement, student interpreters only needed to follow their own preparation, and did the interpretation practice.
Take “Gate and the Buildings” as an example, the content mainly included the stone lions at the entrance, Shangwu Hall couplets and school motto. The following was an interpretation example:
Commentator: 原保定军校大门口有一对大石狮，在1946年10月至1948年军校校舍被拆毁后，不知去向了。
Interpreter: There was a pair of stone lions at the entrance of the former Baoding Military Academy. The stone lions had been lost after the school buildings were destroyed during the period from October 1946 to 1948.
Commentator: 为支持保定军校纪念馆的发展，保定陆军军官学校第五期步兵科毕业生朵珍将军的孙子朵小龙等出资，雕刻一对青石大石狮。
2It is a script from the commentary, the source text is “我初到本校时，曾经教导你们，我要你们做的事，你们必须办到；你们希望我做的事，我也必须办到。你们办不到，我要责罚你们；我办不到，我也要责罚我自己。现在看来，你们一切都还好，我自己却不能尽校长的责任，是我对不起你们。”
Interpreter: To support the reconstruction of Baoding Military Academy Memorial Hall, Duo Xiaolong, the grandson of General Duo Zhen, who was a graduate of the fifth batch of infantry division, provided the carving of a pair of bluestone lions with other sponsors and donated them to Baoding Military Academy Memorial Hall.
Commentator: 这一对狮子于2012年3月1日从山西太原来到了咱们保定，捐赠给保定军校纪念馆，放在了大门口。
Interpreter: The pair of stone lions was transported from Taiyuan, Shanxi Province to Baoding, Hebei Province on March 1, 2012, and now set at the entrance.
Commentator: 进入大门之后，印入眼帘的是尚武堂。
Interpreter: Now, we see Shangwu Hall.
Commentator: 尚武堂为校长、教育长、副官长办公和居住的地方。尚武堂的门楣上悬着“尚武堂”三个大字的匾额.
Interpreter: The three Chinese characters are Shang Wu Tang (Shangwu Hall). It is the office and residence of the former principals and the chiefs of education.
Commentator: 门前有一幅对联。大家请看上联：“尚父阴符简练揣摩传一派”；“尚父”是指“姜子牙”，“阴符”指《阴符经》，是古代的兵书，“简练揣摩传一派”是要军校学生把古人的用兵方法学到手以后，形成自己一派的指挥风格。
Interpreter: There is a couplet on the two columns. The line on the right side is read as “Shang Fu Yin Fu Jian Lian Chuai Mo Chuan Yi Pai”. It means cadets learn the art of warfare following Jiang Ziya’s works and Huangdi Yinfujing. Shangfu means Jiang Ziya. Yinfu means Huangdi Yinfujing, both are ancient military works.
Commentator: 下联是“武侯韬略鞠躬尽瘁法千秋”。“武侯”指诸葛亮，“韬略”指《六韬》、《三略》，也是古代的兵书，“鞠躬尽瘁法千秋”是要保定军校学生刻苦学习，把所学所用的知识千秋万代的传承下去。
Interpreter: The lion on the left is read as “Wu Hou Tao Lue Ju Gong Jin Cui Fa Qian Qiu”. It means Cadet study hard to grasp and pass down the art of warfare following the example of Zhuge Liang. Taolue refers to Liu Tao (The Six Secret Teachings), and San Lue (Three Strategies), They are also ancient military works.
Commentator: 正对着大门的校训是第二任校长蒋方震题写的，“守信、守时、苦读、勤练、爱校、爱国”，是校训，也是保定军校的精神。
Interpreter: The school motto facing the gate was inscribed by Jiang Fangzhen, the second principal of the school. The words are “Shouxin, Shoushi, Kudu, Qinlian, Aixiao, Aiguo”, which means “Be faithful, Be punctual, Study hard, Train hard, Love the school, Love the country.” It is the spirit of Baoding Military Academy.
The students only followed the preparation of commentary and interpretation, so there was not strange part to be faced with. From this, the students could prepare themselves with confidence and a sense of familiarity.
b) In the second round, fixed modules were output on the spot, commentator + interpreter + tourist mode was adopted
The student commentator still did the commentary according to the module prepared by the team, but added two student tourists to insert questions during the interpretation. The questions were prepared in advance by the team. This round mainly exercised the cognition of the student commentator and student interpreter on the cohesion of knowledge, and the cognition of the roles of the commentator, interpreter and tourists.
Take module 2 “Deng Yanda” as an example to restore the practice of interpretation.
Commentator: 这是军校生邓演达所著《邓演达文集》。接下来我们介绍一下邓演达。
Interpreter: This is Collected Works of Deng Yanda.Next, we will introduce Deng Yanda.
Commentator: 邓演达，军校第六期学员，黄埔军校第一任教育长，北伐军总政治部主任，中国农工民主党创始人。
Interpreter: Deng Yanda is the sixth class in the Military Academy. He is the first term of Director of Moral Education. In the Northern Expedition，he was the Director of the General Political Department. He was the co-founder of Chinese peasants’ and workers’ Democratic Party.
Tourist 1: Excuse me, can you tell us something about Collected works of Deng Yanda?
Interpreter: 您能跟我们讲讲《邓演达文集》吗？
Commentator: 好的。这本文集收集了邓演达1927年在武汉期间以及1930年左右组织国民党临时行动委员会期间的大部分文章和讲话。
Interpreter: This book collected most of his articles and speeches written in 1927, during his staying in Wuhan and in about 1930, during the period when he organized Kuomintang Provisional Action Committee.
The underlined part is not in the commentary, but it was a part the tourists were more interested in. If the interpreter did not know Collective works of Deng Yanda, as shown in the above example, the narrator needed to explain further; If the interpreter had enough knowledge of the book, he/she would directly communicate with the tourists, which was also the performance of the interpreter’s on-the-spot quality.
c) In the third round, the field output of contents with adding and subtracting, commentator (from the Memorial Hall) + interpreter + team-assisted mode was adopted.
In the third round, the Hall commentator was invited to break away from the originally arranged sections and add other items. The members of the team appropriately reminded the student interpreters to train the students’ adaptability and test the knowledge reserved by the student interpreters.
The reason of setting this round is for the different knowledge the commentators have, and the different styles they hold. The commentators will have different reflections when they are faced with the different tourists. As an interpreter, learning to follow the state of the commentator, output the equivalence of translation in the most accurate way is essential. It can give visitors a comprehensive understanding of the content the Military Academy holds.
Take Jiang Baili’s love story as an example, the commentary describes it as follows:
“这张照片是蒋方震和妻子左梅的一张合影，左梅就是那位佐藤屋登小姐，二人在1915年初结婚。婚后，因蒋方震喜爱梅花，给佐藤屋登改名为‘左梅’，并在老家浙江省海宁县硖石镇种了200株梅花，命名为‘梅园’，以纪念他们的异国情恋。蒋方震一生共有5个女儿，三女儿蒋英是科学家钱学森的夫人，蒋方震是钱学森的岳父。”
This part is the warmest part of the whole narration, and the love story also brings a temporary peace to the war years. Therefore, this is where the narrator often adds content.
One of the examples the commentator would like to tell was as follows:
Commentator: 蒋百里自戕后，袁世凯请求日本驻华公使馆派最好的外科医生和护士来到保定。医生为蒋百里的伤口进行处理后，离开保定回北京，留下女护土佐藤屋登继续护理。
佐藤屋登每天给蒋百里把脉、量体温、递饮食，渐渐地和病人交谈起来。除了日常的悉心照料，也会鼓励蒋百里鼓起勇气，为了国家和民族大义而好好生活。对事业和爱情都感到绝望的蒋百里，突然遇到这么一个妙龄女子，心中起了波澜。
有一天，蒋百里意味深长地对佐藤护士说：“我依你的话不再轻生了。可是以后遇到生死关头，没有像你这样的人在我边提醒我，谁来鼓励我的勇气呢？”
佐藤护士从蒋百里的话及眼神中看出，蒋氏对她有点心思，但佐藤对此却毫无心理准备。几个星期后，佐藤回到日本东京，不久，蒋百里伤势基本稳定。蒋百里决定正式向佐藤求婚。佐藤经多方考虑，拒绝了蒋百里。话虽如此，但佐藤还是动了心。蒋百里也没有放弃，据说，他还寄给佐藤一把小刀及一封信，信中说，“假使你不回来，那你可以把那‘刀’寄回”。面对这个“寻死觅活”的求爱者，佐藤投降了。
婚后，挚爱梅花的蒋百里给妻子取了中国名字“左梅”。从此她穿中国服装，说中国话，与蒋百里抚养五个女儿，陪伴蒋百里走过了一生 (Zhang Xueji, 2015)。
The interpretation materials prepared by the teams are as follows:
After Jiang Baili hurt himself by a gunshot, Yuan Shikai requested the Japanese Legation to send the best surgeons and nurses to Baoding. The doctor did necessary treatment to the wound and left Baoding for Beijing, leaving the female nurse Sato Yato to take care of him.
Sato did the medical check carefully every day, additionally, she encouraged Jiang to summon up courage and live a good life for the sake of his country and nation. Jiang suddenly flipped by this young woman who took him out of the hell of desperation.
One day, Jiang said with emotions, “I will not commit suicide in accordance with your words. But who will encourage me when there is no one like you by my Side?”
Sato knew his feelings, but she was not prepared for this. A few weeks later, Sato returned to Tokyo, Japan. And soon Jiang was basically stable. Jiang decided to formally propose to Sato. After many considerations, she rejected Jiang. But she got some flames on him at that time. Jiang did not give up either. It is said that he also sent a knife and a letter to Sato, the letter said, “If you do not come back, then you can send the ‘knife’ back”. Faced with this “desperate” suitor, Sato surrendered.
After their marriage, Jiang, a lover of plum blossom, gave his wife the Chinese name Zuomei. From then on, she wore Chinese clothes, spoke Chinese, and raised five daughters with Jiang Baili. She accompanied Jiang through his whole lifetime.
This preparation introduced the love story of Jiang Baili in a comprehensive way, showing the tender side of a strong-willed man to the tourists. Through this interpreting training, students not only knew Jiang Baili as the principal and military strategist, but also knew Jiang Baili as a male figure looking for love. Such interpretation practice would make the characters closer to life, more likely to arouse the resonance of tourists and deepen their memories.
d) In the fourth round, according to the tourists’ questions, the interpreters responded to the situation. Interpreter + tourist mode was adopted
Student interpreters were expected to interpret independently according to the questions that interested them. In this interpretation practice, the commentator did not answer the questions raised by the tourists, but conducts a dialogue between the interpreter and the tourists, to inspect the knowledge reservation and adaptability of the interpreter.
The topic “Jiang Baili’s social relations (Figure 5)” was taken as an example to observe how interpreters responded to the continuous extension of tourist problems. Examples were as follows:
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Figure 5. Jiang Baili and his relations.
Commentator: 如前图所示，在蒋百里的人物关系中，有夫人蒋左梅，三女儿蒋英，女婿钱学森，侄子金庸，亲族徐志摩；老师梁启超；好友蒋经国、郑振铎、蔡锷、冯玉祥等。其关系中，即有学界大咖，也有军界翘楚。
Interpreter: As shown in the previous picture, Jiang Baili’s relationships include his wife Jiang Zuomei, his third daughter Jiang Ying, his son-in-law Qian Xuesen, his nephew Jin Yong, and his relative Xu Zhimo. There is also his teacher Liang Qichao, and Friends Jiang Jingguo, Zheng Zhenduo, Cai’ E, Feng Yuxiang and so on. In his relationships, there are academic giants and military leaders.
Tourist 1: Is Qian Xuesen the great scientist?
Interpreter: Yes, he is. Qian entered the Aeronautics Department of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1935. He got a master’s degree in aeronautical engineering here. Later, he transferred to the Aeronautical Department of the California Institute of Technology, where he studied under Theodore Von Karman, and soon became one of Von Karman’s most important students. In 1979, the year China and the United States formally established diplomatic relations, he was awarded the Distinguished Alumni Award by the California Institute of Technology. But Mr. Qian did not travel to the United States to accept the honor. In 1999, he was awarded “Two bombs and One Star Meritorious Service Medal” by the CPC Central Committee, The State Council and the Central Military Commission3.
Tourist 2: Is Xu Zhimo the poet?
3The reference comes from https://baike.baidu.com/item/%E9%92%B1%E5%AD%A6%E6%A3%AE/26105?fr=aladdin A script from the item of“钱学森”：1935年9月，进入美国麻省理工学院航空系学习。1936年9月，从美国麻省理工学院毕业，获得航空工程硕士学位，之后转入加州理工学院航空系学习，师从航天工程学家冯·卡门(Theodore von Kármán)，并很快成为冯·卡门最重视的学生。1979年，在中美正式建立外交关系的当年，获美国加州理工学院“杰出校友奖”(Distinguished Alumni Award)。但钱学森没有到美国接受这份荣誉。1999年，获中共中央、国务院、中央军委颁发“两弹一星功勋奖章”。
4The reference comes from https://baike.baidu.com/item/%E5%BE%90%E5%BF%97%E6%91%A9/286345?fr=aladdin The script of the item of “徐志摩”：1921年赴英国留学，入剑桥大学当特别生，研究政治经济学。在剑桥两年深受西方教育的熏陶及欧美浪漫主义和唯美派诗人的影响，奠定其浪漫主义诗风。
Interpreter: Yes, he is. In 1921, he went to England to study Political Economy in Cambridge University as a special student. For two years, he had been deeply influenced by western education and European and American romantic and aesthetical poets, finally established his romantic poetic style4. One of his wide-spread poems is Saying Good-bye to Cambridge Again. Most of us know the sentences “Very quietly I take my leave/As quietly as I came here; Quietly I wave good-bye/To the rosy clouds in the western sky…”
There is a lot of information about Qian Xuesen. The excerpt here was for British and American tourists. It told Qian’s study experience in the United States, so that tourists could feel closer to him. Similarly, about Xu Zhimo, the poems related to his study in the UK were also selected to resonate with tourists. The selection of these materials was a detail that students needed to pay attention to, and also needed to be standardized by the commentator and teachers in order to facilitate the smooth output of interpretation practice.
e) The fifth round, complete practice, commentator + interpreter + tourist mode was adopted
Memorial Hall commentator was invited to explain in accordance with the usual pace; At the same time, other teachers were invited as tourists to ask questions, the commentator answered, and the interpreter did the live interpretation, or the interpreter communicated directly with the tourists. In this round, the commentator and tourists input the original corpus completely, and the interpreter output it on site. This is a real practice based on the previous four rounds of paving, which had some difficulty and was also the last part contributed by the students.
Taking Ye Ting Memorial Hall as an example, there are some cultural backgrounds in the commentary, and the students’ cultural foundation was also reflected in the interpretation practice.
Commentator: 这一部分介绍的是八一南昌起义和广州起义中的保定军校毕业生叶挺将军。叶挺被誉为“大革命时代的赵子龙，抗日战争时期的岳飞”。
Interpreter: This part introduces General Ye Ting, a graduate of Baoding Military Academy, who made achievements in Nanchang Uprising and Guangzhou Uprising. Ye Ting is known as “Zhao Zilong in the Great Revolution and Yue Fei in the War of Resistance against Japan”.
Tourist 1: Who is Zhao Zilong? Why he was called “Zhao Zilong”?
Interpreter: Zhao Zilong was a character in Romance of Three Kingdoms, one of Four Great Classic in Chinese. In the book, Zhao Zilong was ever-victorious general, Ye Ting is also an ever-victorious general, so they are similar in this sense.
Tourist 2: What is the similarity between Ye Ting and Yue Fei?
Interpreter: Yue Fei was a general in the South Song Dynasty. Ye Ting is as brave as Yue Fei, and they won many battles in their lifetime.
Commentator: 叶挺在南昌起义中担任前敌总指挥，在广州起义中担任起义军总司令，抗战时期又担任新四军军长，是中国人民解放军的主要创建人之一。
Interpreter: Ye Ting once served as Front-line Commander in the Nanchang Uprising, commander-in-chief of the rebels in Guangzhou Uprising, and the commander of the New Fourth Army during the War of Resistance against Japan. Ye Ting was one of the main founders of the Chinese People’s Liberation Army.
Commentator: 叶挺是非常坎坷的一位将军，1940年被国民党囚禁，5年出狱后，因飞往延安的飞机失事而牺牲。
Interpreter: General Ye Ting has a very bumpy life. In the year of 1940 he was imprisoned by the KMT. 5 years later, he was released from prison. But on the fly to Yanan, he lost his life due to the air crash.
Commentator: 这是叶挺将军“抗战到底”的手迹。“皖南事变”后，周恩来在《新华日报》发表了“千古奇冤，江南一叶，同室操戈，相煎何急”的题词，期间周恩来和国民党交涉，但叶挺没有被释放。叶挺去世以后，毛主席为其题词“为人民而死，虽死犹荣”。
Interpreter: This is the handwriting of General Ye Ting: “Fight against the Japanese aggressors to the end”. After “the Southern Anhui Incident”, Zhou Enlai wrote an inscription on Xinhua Daily, it said “With all the injustice in history, the Southern Anhui Incident was one. We should have been compatriots, why fought against so fiercely”. Comrade Zhou also had a negotiation with the KMT, but Ye Ting was not released. After the death of Ye Ting, Chairman Mao wrote the inscription, “It is glorious to die for the people.”
Commentator: 请看，这是叶挺所写的《囚歌》。
Interpreter: This is The Song of Prisoners.
Tourist 2: What is it about?
Interpreter: The door for the men walking in and out is locked/the hole for the dogs crawling in and out is open/One voice cried loudly/crawl out/freedom for you/I am hunger for freedom/but I know thoroughly/how can a man’s body crawl out from a dog hole/Only I expect is/the fire under the ground breaks out someday/burning the prison and me down/I will be eternal from the fire and blood5.
Tourist 2: It’s really moving. He is such a great general and a brilliant poet.
Through this interpretation practice, the students, as commentators, interpreters and tourists, had a deeper understanding of the cadets, and at the same time, they had a deep thought of the cadets’ strong characters and patriotic passions.
Through the above five rounds of interpretation practice, the coordination ability of the student team had been exercised. The interpretation ability and the oral practice ability of the student interpreter had also been exercised. The student’s facilitation output was relatively smooth and had certain reference value.
4. The Multi-Dimensional Evaluation System as Scientific and Rational Evaluation
5The source text of The Song of Prisoners (QiuGe)：为人进出的门紧锁着，/为狗爬走的洞敞开着，/一个声音高叫着：/爬出来呵，给尔自由！/我渴望着自由，/但也深知到(道)人的躯体那(哪)能由狗的洞子爬出！/我只能期待着，/那一天/地下的火冲腾，把这活棺材和我一齐烧掉，/我应该在烈火和热血中得到永生。
The construction and implementation of evaluation system can play a backwash role in teaching. Evaluation does not end with scores, but with “motivating and enabling” in the next round. Evaluation as the end of the last round of Production-Oriented Approach, also is the beginning of the next round. With the continuous cycles, interpretation practice can be improved continuously. Step by step, the students learn to get rid of a precipice type or blowout study phase, which will soon be forgotten after the learning tasks. Therefore, multi-dimensional evaluation system means more than some scores. Only do this, teachers and students can have a clear cognition and positioning of teaching and learning at a stage.
1) The time dimension -the coherence of interpretation practice.
Interpretation practice followed the three stages of pre-translation, mid-translation and post-translation in terms of time dimension to achieve the output of interpretation practice.
a) Preparation before the translation
Teachers and students made full preparations, such as literary reviews, books and network resources provided by teachers, watching various videos, etc., so as to have a comprehensive penetration and cognition of the task to be carried out. Therefore, the evaluation of this part mainly came from the literature reviews written by the team and the learning logs provided by individuals. The literature reviews highlighted aspects of the team’s task. Personal learning logs highlighted cadets’ activity tracks, special events and the memorization methods.
The teacher group played the role of scaffolding, with literary reviews and video scenes to build a good learning space for students, which were systematic and attractive, so that students who did not know the history of Baoding Military Academy had a certain interest in learning materials. At the same time, the teacher group also acted as “intermediary” role, liaison and organizers in interpretation practice, to communicate with Baoding Military Academy Memorial Hall, arranged a commentary by the commentator, and arranged reasonable time and the number of students, transportation and other details, so that the student visits wouldn’t cause trouble for the Memorial Hall.
Only with sufficient preparation could the whole teaching process of POA be carried out, and the scenes were set, the motivating and enabling part were linked together. The teams determined the theme, and the translation documents were sorted out to get ready for translation.
b) Proper grasp of interpretation steps during the translation
As mentioned above, the five rounds of interpretation practice were carried out step by step. Student leaders made live notes, including logs and videos, which were uploaded to the teacher group at the end of each stage. The steps and problems in the log were as clear as possible, and the team’s solution was realistic.
The teacher group watched and studied the videos and logs submitted by students in a timely manner, identified the crux of students’ problems, rationalized their solutions, and evaluated the logs and videos. According to the performance of students, the teacher group operated team points and individual points, and the improvement suggestions were clear and reflected in the next round of operation. Students’ performance in classroom practice and field practice was graded to encourage students to do better.
c) Starting the next round of motivating in post-translation.
After each round of interpretation practice and the reflections the students made, students’ understanding of interpreting data of composition and improvisation would be further promoted, and the students had the confidence in dealing with all the emergency. Meanwhile they understood superciliously on the Chinese nation’s sense of honor. Through the interpretation practice, the cadets’ fighting and great achievements were shown before the tourists, and the new generations of young people showed the respect to the martyrs and heroes as well. In this way, it cultivated and reflected the modern young people’s patriotic enthusiasm and national pride. Therefore, reflection log and reflection summary were the main basis for consideration in this stage of evaluation, including problems and solutions, the improvement of personal literacy, and the digging of deeper corpus of Military Academy cadets.
2) Spatial dimension-combining classroom teaching and field practice
Interpretation practice is a combination of classroom teaching and field practice. Without classroom teaching, translation theory cannot be systematically exported and absorbed, and without field practice, theory cannot be put into practice. Therefore, interpretation practice is the result of the combination of theory and practice.
a) Classroom notes and performance are the means to evaluate the absorption of knowledge
Class notes were not only the input of translation theories and exercises, but also required students to dig into language points deeply. Through reading literary reviews and watching video materials before class and teaching on classes, they could achieve the effect of combining others’ ideas (esp. from books and essays) with self-practice.
Class performance could be recorded through learning. It included discussion, speeches, PPT making and audio and video collection and uploading. The teacher group strove to ensure that every effective action of students could be considered, so that problems could be found and solved in time, and students were encouraged to think more and participate more deeply in the process of teaching and learning. Teachers and students formed a learning community.
b) Practice evaluation in the training base is the main field of students’ interpretation practice output
The interpretation practice in the training base should be considered, including oral and phonetic conditions, coherence, on-the-spot reaction, tourists’ satisfaction, the satisfaction of the commentator, and the degree of team cooperation.
First of all, pronunciation was still a very important aspect of evaluation, and it was also the basis of students’ interpretation. Pronunciation training was a gradual and sustainable process, and data collection needed to be continuous.
The consistency of interpretation practice reflected students’ mastery of the glossary and the degree of memorizing historical events and participants in a certain stage when interpreting materials were changed, and reflected students’ efforts in material arrangement and memory. The consistency could be measured according to the data obtained from the five rounds of training mentioned above.
Impromptu reactions could be measured by team records, and the satisfaction of tourists could be scored. The degree of team cooperation could be obtained through the team evaluation and self-evaluation of team members.
Considering students’ interpretation practice through classroom performance and training base performance was a means to evaluate students’ learning progress from both theoretical and practical dimensions. Only when both aspects were considered, could it be more scientific and reasonable.
3) From the ideological and political dimension-the problem of cultivating people for whom is the basis of teaching
In the process of reading the materials of Baoding Military Academy Memorial Hall, students would find many historical materials about Baoding area and many deeds about cadets, which were the embodiment of moral education elements of this interpretation practice course. This was also an important part in the evaluation system. For example, students found many excellent moral education elements in the course in the process of sharing. Examples were as follows:
a) The martyrs paved the way for the founding of new China with their blood and lives
Example 1, in the commentary, there were several martyrs who died in the war, such as General Wang Yizhe was killed in the “Feb 2nd Incident”, Mao Zedong (毛泽东), Zhu De (朱德) praised him in the telegram of condolence, “He is not only the general of the country and the nation, but also the leader of the patriotic people6”.
Example 2: In “Songhu Resistance Battle”, Deputy Division Commander of 174 Division of the 21st Group Army, Xia Guozhang led the battle at the very front, fighting to death. Unfortunately, He was hit by the enemy aircraft air strike and sacrificed on the battlefield. The officers and soldiers were still fighting hard, with no one surrendered to the enemy, and all of them sacrificed in the battle.
Example 3: In the Battle of Nanjing, General Xiao Shanling said, “It is the duty of a soldier to defend the country. I should do my utmost to serve the country and defend Nanjing.7” On December 13, 1937, Nanjing fell, and General Xiaoshan shot to death.
Example 4: During the War of Resistance to Japan, the 115th brigade of the 39th Division of the 40th Army, led by Zhu Jialin, was tightly surrounded by the Japanese army. Zhu Jialin left his last words, “We will die for the survival of the country and the nation. If we miss this opportunity, we will have no land to die if we want to8.” The whole brigade died in the end.
Through reading and interpreting these vivid examples, students deepened their understanding of cadets, and cherished the peace of the moment more, which intangibly integrated patriotism into students’ study and life.
6The source text of the commentary is“不但是国家民族之干将，亦爱国人民之领袖。”
7The source text of the commentary is“守土卫国，是军人的职责，我应尽忠报国，死守南京。”
8The source text of the commentary is“以必死之决心，换取国家民族之生存，错过这一机会，我们想死也无地可死了。”
b) The relationship between cadets and Baoding Military Academy-the way of integrating local culture into moral education.
In the part of Jiang Baili’s relationship, Jiang Baili’s good friend Feng Yuxiang was mentioned. Feng Yuxiang had a deep relationship with Baoding. In the article “FengYuxiang and Baked wheaten cake covered with pork pieces (冯玉祥与白肉罩火烧)”, it mentioned that Feng Yuxiang was very poor when he was a child, and the best food he could enjoy in Baoding was “Baked wheaten cake soup covered with pork head meat (猪头肉罩火烧)” from Yichun Lou (义春楼)，the famous restaurant at that time
Through the interpretation practice, students not only understood Jiang Baili’s relationship, but Baoding’s specials such as “Baked wheaten cake soup covered with pork pieces” and the historic site “Yichun Lou” on Baoding West Street were introduced, which deepened students’ understanding of local foods and tourist attractions.
In another article, FengYuxiang and Steamed Stuffed Bun Shop (冯玉祥与包子铺), during the War of Resistance to Japan, Feng Yuxiang and his army was in Baoding, he suddenly said at the end of a military meeting, “You should have dinner at Pingji Steamed Stuffed Bun Shop (平记包子铺) in South Street. I think you will be proud of eating there!” Subordinates know that the bun shop has nothing to do with Feng Yuxiang himself, but the general takes the initiative to advertise for it. The reason is that the owner of the bun shop values justice over profit.
Through this interpretation practice, first, students understood the personality characteristics of General Feng Yuxiang, but also students wanted to know more about Baoding local food culture. There will be some students continuing this topic, to find the uniqueness of the current Baoding characteristics of food and Baoding history.
c) The power of faith—the motivation for students to learn and the courage to pursue a happy life.
Many of the cadets later joined the Communist Party of China and played an important role in the construction of new China. It means that Communist Party of China is an advanced party, and she can take Chinese people go to a stronger and more prosperous stage.
Example 1, in the War of Resistance to Japan period, there were some generals joining the Communist Party such as Ye Ting, Jin Fozhuang, Zhang Kexia, Tao Zhiyue, Zhou Sicheng, Wang Changjiang, Bian Zhangwu, Ji Fang, etc.
Example 2, Fu Zuoyi, Jiang Guangnai, Huang Qixiang, Ji Fang, He Jifeng, Zhang Kexia and so on who came through the war and still made contributions to the construction of new China.
Through the learning of the life pursuit of these cadets, students understood the power of faith, and firmed the faith to win glory for the country, the determination to fight for the country. This is moral education elements melting into the classroom.
Through the above interpretation practice, the teacher drove the scene into the ground. Through many channels of information collection, the students could explore life stories of the cadets. Students summarized and classified many facets of the military character data and did well preparation, and output interpretation practice, at the same time, through various evaluation system, including the time dimension, spatial dimension and moral education dimension into the evaluation system, the three steps of the teaching process of POA were complete. In addition to cultivating students’ theoretical and practical ability of interpretation, students’ patriotic enthusiasm and lifelong belief in striving for the prosperity and strength of the country were also cultivated.
Funding
Project Support: This paper is the final result of “Research on Translation Practice Teaching Based on Commentary of Tourist Attractions in Baoding Area (以保定地区旅游景点解说词为依托的翻译实践教学研究2019GJJG486)”, supported by Education Department of Hebei Province.
NOTES
1For the couplets on the two pillars in front of Shangwu Hall , the Chinese characters are “尚父阴符简练揣摩传一派，武侯韬略鞠躬尽瘁法千秋”. The translations were two versions. One is Tian Zihan’s, another one is the teacher group’s. Tian Zihan’s version is “The students in the Military Academy should learn from Jiang Ziya and the book Yin Fu Jing,to cultivate their skills,and eventually form their own command style.The students in the Military Academy should study hard from Zhuge Liang,Liu Tao and San Lue,and pass on the knowledge they have learnt from generation to generation”. The teacher group’s translation is “Cadets learn from Jiang Ziya and Yinfujing to form their styles; Cadets study from Zhuge Liang and Taolue to pass down generations.”