Taiwan’s Road to Bilingualization: A Translation Perspective

Wai-on Law

Journal of Translation Studies ›› 2024, Vol. 8 ›› Issue (1) : 1-38.

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Journal of Translation Studies ›› 2024, Vol. 8 ›› Issue (1) : 1-38.

Taiwan’s Road to Bilingualization: A Translation Perspective

  • Wai-on Law
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Abstract

The Taiwanese government has formulated a policy to develop the society to be bilingual (Chinese and English), and all information relevant to foreigners’ lives should be available in English. This descriptive study aims to discuss the feasibility of the policy and make recommendations from the perspectives of institutional translation and translation policy, with special reference to translation quality control. The European Commission is taken as a reference case. In the first part, the documentation method is employed. In the second, the article samples eighteen websites of the central government of Taiwan for bilingualization in checking with the performance indicator set in the Blueprint of the policy as a comparative content analysis. Two bilingual texts from two websites are selected to evaluate the translation quality using genre analysis and the functionalist approach. Given the future volume and scale of government translation, more resources are called for, while the professionalization of the industry and a quality assurance (QA) system are recommended.

Key words

Taiwan / government websites / bilingual society / translation policy / translation quality

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Wai-on Law. Taiwan’s Road to Bilingualization: A Translation Perspective[J]. Journal of Translation Studies. 2024, 8(1): 1-38

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