The advent of generative AI, with its advanced machine learning and natural language processing capabilities, presents transformative opportunities for the translation service industry, translation education, and other sectors, while also introducing significant security risks. In the era of generative AI, translation security risks are characterized by multiplicity, embeddedness, and ubiquity, which pose great challenges to translation security governance. Based on an analysis of the sources and characteristics of translation security risks in the era of generative AI, this paper proposes the following governance strategies: adhering to a holistic view of national security, balancing comprehensive demands such as technological value creation, sensitive data protection, and national security maintenance, and adopting a governance model that integrates technology, education, and institutions. Priority should be given to technological solutions such as AI and blockchain to address technical problems, and efforts should also be made to strengthen science popularization and professional education to raise the public’s awareness and enhance their security capabilities in the use of generative AI translation. Furthermore, policy and legislative measures should be considered to control governance costs and improve governance effectiveness.

The integration of national capacity and translation capacity has given rise to the novel concept of “National Translation Capacity” (NTC), thereby opening a new research avenue for modern translation studies. NTC not only represents a conceptual expansion of both national capacity and translation capacity, but also signals a convergence of perspectives between pragmatic translation studies and national development studies in the new era. Despite nearly five years of development and the generation of numerous significant research outcomes, as an emerging agenda, NTC naturally entails certain issues that urgently require clarification and refinement. These primarily encompass its disciplinary positioning, the demarcation of its research boundaries, and the elucidation and realization of its systemic functions. This paper argues that the disciplinary affiliation of NTC should be firmly anchored within translation studies, its categorical boundaries should center on translation capacity, and its systemic functions should place greater emphasis on its differentiating function.

Generative artificial intelligence (GenAI) has attracted widespread attention across the humanities and social sciences. Drawing on insights from ethics, the philosophy of technology, and technology ethics, this study constructs a three-dimensional analytical framework of “human-data-society” to systematically examine the ethical risks of translation technologies in the context of GenAI. At the human-machine relationship level, the risks involve translator identity shift and ambiguous copyright ownership; at the data governance level, the risks include privacy breaches, information distortion, and algorithmic bias; and at the societal impact level, the risks manifest as resource monopolization and linguistic homogenization. In response, this study advocates a threefold governance path of “human-machine collaboration, data co-governance, and joint ethical construction”, aiming to provide actionable policy recommendations and theoretical support for the regulation and sustainable innovation of translation technology ethics.

Academic procrastination and foreign language anxiety (FLA) are prevalent cognitive-behavioral and affective challenges in college English learning. While their close correlation has attracted academic attention, existing studies have predominantly relied on static correlation analysis, leaving the dynamic covariation mechanisms underexplored. Furthermore, the lack of mixed-methods designs combining quantitative and qualitative approaches limits practical support for stratified instruction and precision intervention in college English education. Guided by Complex Dynamic Systems Theory, this study employs a mixed-methods design integrating latent profile analysis (LPA) and retrodictive qualitative modeling (RQM) to systematically investigate 695 college English learners. The results indicate that: (1) Five profiles were identified based on levels of procrastination and anxiety, with the “High Procrastination & High Anxiety on Core Tasks” group emerging as the most prevalent at-risk population. (2) The interaction between the two constructs is shaped by multi-level factors, including individual, classroom, and institutional dimensions, forming a mutually reinforcing bidirectional dynamic feedback loop. This study reveals the dynamic covariation mechanisms between academic procrastination and FLA, provides empirical evidence for affective and behavioral interventions in college English teaching, and offers a methodological reference for mixed-methods research in the field of foreign language education.

Against the backdrop of English as a lingua franca (ELF) increasingly becoming the dominant mode of international communication, English users’ identity perceptions and language practices have shown a trend toward diversification. However, systematic empirical research on ELF identity types among Chinese English majors remains relatively limited. As a mixed-methods approach that integrates both emic and etic perspectives, Q methodology is particularly effective in uncovering the internal structure of individuals’ subjective cognition. This study employed Q methodology to examine English majors’ ELF identity profiles and their influencing factors. The findings identified three distinct ELF identity profiles: instrument-oriented users of standard English, culture-oriented ELF users, and ambivalent multilingual users of English. These profiles were primarily shaped by sociocultural contexts, significant others, and individual factors. This study not only contributes to empirical research on ELF identity in the Chinese context but also offers insights for foreign language education and the development of intercultural competence.

In 2022, Regional and Country Studies was officially established as an independent first-level discipline in China, making the design of talent cultivation programs an urgent task for relevant universities. Taking Korea University in the Republic of Korea as a case study, this paper examines its relatively mature talent cultivation system for Regional and Country Studies from multiple dimensions, including major setup, degree levels, curriculum design, course resources, faculty development, training models, and university-enterprise cooperation. On this basis, the paper proposes an optimized model for talent cultivation in China’s Regional and Country Studies. First, construct an integrated tiered curriculum system spanning bachelor’s, master’s and doctoral stages; second, build a diversified teaching team, exploit cross-university curriculum resources and conduct categorized talent training; third, take project-based talent training as the core carrier to build an industry-education integrated practical training system; fourth, set up overseas internship and practical training bases to boost the collaborative development of industry, academia, research and application. These measures are intended to provide a scientific theoretical reference and practical enlightenment for talent cultivation of Regional and Country Studies in China.

The tone of Chinese words has the function of distinguishing the meaning of words. The tone of Chinese verbs is often in the same direction as the action of the verb representation, and there is an iconicity between them. Three experiments were conducted to investigate the perceptual simulation of the iconicity of the tone orientation and the action direction of Chinese verbs in visual channels and motor channels. Experiment 1 revealed that the iconicity of Chinese verbs’ tone orientation and the action direction did not produce a perceptual simulation of spatial representation in the visual channel, but did produce a perceptual simulation of spatial representation in the motor channel. Experiment 2 showed that there was a spatial consistency effect between verb tone orientation and letter presentation position (arrow orientation). A pure tonal auditory file of a double-word verb was used in Experiment 3; it was found that the perceptual simulation was still generated after the pure tone orientation was separated from the action represented by the verb, and that spatial consistency effects appeared in both the visual channel and in the motor channel. The entire study showed that the intonation of Chinese verbs is not an arbitrary symbol, but reflects the inherent characteristics of the action itself. The use of tone in Chinese vocabulary revealed that people express cognitive results as iconically as possible.

Social media platforms offer new channels for intercultural communication and relevant studies are emerging consistently. In this article, we review 272 relevant studies that were published in SSCI journals from the four aspects of disciplines, theories, topics, and methods. The findings showed that the number of scholarly publications contributed by various disciplines in this field has increased since 2008. The underpinning theories included intercultural communication, sociology, and information science, and the trendy research topics in the past decade included social media intercultural instruction, intercultural corporate communication on social media, cross-cultural differences in social media and privacy concerns, multilingual communication on social media, cross-cultural differences in social media users’ behaviors, and the role of popular culture in transcultural communication on social media. Furthermore, the popular research methods included online surveys, qualitative analyses, content analyses, and discourse analyses. The study’s findings have academic, practical, and pedagogical implications for domestic researchers and practitioners.

The concept of finiteness has complex connotations in contemporary linguistics. The morphology-based traditional approach, the syntax-based generative approach, and the form-meaning-based functional approach present markedly different interpretations of finiteness within different theoretical frameworks. This paper adopts a cross-linguistic perspective to review and prospect previous studies on finiteness in Chinese, finding that: (1) research on Chinese finiteness has generally followed three major lines of inquiry, namely structuralist, generativist, and functionalist approaches, each of which involves internal debates and controversies; (2) in current studies, insufficient attention has been paid to imperative clauses when exploring the functional foundations of finiteness, and the research scope has largely been confined to putonghua; (3) future researchers should adopt a cross-linguistic perspective, and a more comprehensive and in-depth understanding of finiteness in Chinese is expected to be achieved through large-scale cross-linguistic, areal-typological, and cross-dialectal comparisons.

Within studies of translator behavior, research focusing on extra-translation factors has emphasized human-centeredness. Among these factors, psychological factors are closely linked to translator behavior. Taking translation anxiety as a key extra-translation factor, this study used student translators’ subjective ratings to compare the cognitive load elicited by simple and complex tasks. It then examined, across translation phases, how cognitive load and translation anxiety affected student translators’ cognitive resource allocation and translation quality. The results showed that the complex task elicited a higher cognitive load than the simple task in both the high- and low-anxiety groups. Both cognitive load and translation anxiety significantly affected cognitive resource allocation, with effects varying across translation phases. Moreover, the association between cognitive resource allocation and translation quality varied across cognitive load conditions and translation phases. Overall, these findings highlight the necessity of phase-based analyses that integrate process and product data in studies of translator behavior and have implications for future research.

The “text-behavior-society” trinity evaluation system of translator behavior is applied in this paper to examine Pearl S. Buck’s translator behavior through her work All Men Are Brothers based on comparative studies with parallel versions based on textual, behavioral, and social dimensions. Influenced by her distinctive cross-cultural habitus, Pearl S. Buck’s translator behavior was further guided by her translation purposes, which were closely related to the target readership and to the reception environment. In addition, three pairs of ideological paradoxes contributed to her complex cultural positioning, which ultimately resulted in a certain degree of inconsistency in her translator behavior. Due to the combined influence of these multiple factors, Buck developed a translation style that was marked by truth-seeking pragmatism. The unique style and strategies of her translation provide valuable insights for the dissemination of Chinese images and culture.

Pragmatic translation studies can be divided into ontological research and peripheral research. Over the past two decades, the translation community has focused on ontological research and has constructed the internal system of pragmatic translation studies. Although peripheral research has been discussed frequently, it lacks a systematic theoretical exploration. In this regard, in addition to clarifying the general and specialized theories of the internal system of pragmatic translation studies, the focus in this paper is on external system research, which has the four subitems of pragmatic translation history, pragmatic translation criticism, pragmatic translation teaching, and language services and the relationship between ontological research and peripheral research in pragmatic translation studies.

Harmonious discourse analysis is an approach to ecological discourse analysis developed by Chinese scholars based on their understanding of the interrelationships and interactions between language and ecology. Its philosophical foundation lies in traditional Chinese ecological concepts, particularly the principle of harmony, while its theoretical framework is grounded in systemic functional linguistics. This problem-oriented approach adheres to the idea of harmonious coexistence between humans and nature. This paper provides an overview of harmonious discourse analysis and synthesizes international scholarly evaluations of the framework. The paper aims to stimulate greater attention to research on the relationship between language and ecology, and to encourage Chinese scholars to further explore the role of language in fostering harmonious coexistence between humans and nature.

Since its inception, harmonious discourse analysis has gradually developed into a systematic approach; however, its ecosophy has not yet been clearly articulated. Drawing on Confucian and Taoist philosophy and integrating the concept of human “ecological niche”, this article proposes a human-oriented ecosophy — “Live and let live” — as the ecosophy for harmonious discourse analysis. This ecosophy encompasses six core principles: difference and diversity, tolerance and empathy, restriction and discipline, coordination and integration, now and future, and care and extending love. Through case-based illustrations, the article integrates this ecosophy into existing scholarship, aiming to advance the theoretical frameworks and practical applications of harmonious discourse analysis, ecological discourse analysis, and ecological education.

Harmonious discourse analysis is a novel ecolinguistic framework introduced by Professor Huang Guowen in 2016, developed specifically to address the Chinese linguistic and cultural contexts. This article examines harmonious discourse analysis through three key dimensions of it: its historical evolution, its classification within the broader field of ecolinguistics, and its three foundational components. The review reveals three significant insights. First, the development of harmonious discourse analysis has followed two primary trajectories: its progression from its initial conceptualization to gaining international scholarly recognition, and its evolvement from establishing systematic analytical models to embracing more diverse analytical practices. Secondly, this approach is rooted in critical ecolinguistics and eco-critical discourse analysis. Harmonious discourse analysis, in its narrow sense as harmonious ecolinguistics, represents an advancement of ecological discourse analysis. This concept is grounded in systemic ecolinguistics within the Chinese context and falls under the umbrella of micro-ecolinguistics. It draws on the rich traditions of Chinese ecological wisdom centered on harmony. Third, the fundamental meanings of the three elements — “harmony as context”, “discourse as object”, and “analysis as approach” — reflect three linguistic perspectives, constructive, functional, and evolutionary, embedded within this emerging analytical framework. The article calls for further investigation into the emerging research areas, including harmonious discourse system, harmoniousness of discourse, and harmonious analysis of discourse.

Guided by the theory of translator behavior criticism, this paper examines legal translation through two dimensions: intra-translation and extra-translation. From the extra-translation dimension, the contemporary imperative to communicate rule of law narratives in China effectively positions legal translation at a critical forefront. The finite capacity of translators, contrasted with the infinite range of translatable legal texts, underscores the strategic importance of text selection. Furthermore, establishing sound professional ethics is a prerequisite for translators engaged in legal translation services. From the intra-translation dimension, the distinctive features of legal language and the unique nature of legal translation necessitate a high degree of fidelity to source texts. Synthesizing both dimensions, legal translators must seek an optimal balance along the truth-seeking-utility-attaining continuum to enhance the appropriateness of translator behavior. Truth-seeking demands that legal translators uphold principles of strict accuracy and consistency, while utility-attaining requires clarity and concision, and stylistic standardization to facilitate cross-cultural legal communication.

Taking Wing-tsit Chan’s and Frederick G. Henke’s translations of Chuanxilu, a representative work of new Confucianism, as a case study, this paper applies syntactic complexity analysis methods, including mean dependency distance, to compare translator behaviors between direct and indirect translators. The findings reveal that the indirect translation exhibits lower mean dependency distance and syntactic complexity, higher simplification, reduced normalization and explicitation levels, reflecting a translator’s prioritization of truth-seeking alongside complementary utility-attaining. In contrast, the direct translation exhibits higher mean dependency distance and syntactic complexity, lower simplification, increased normalization and explicitation levels, demonstrates a behavior of prioritizing utility-attaining with complementary truth-seeking. This study integrates extra-translational factors — including translation purpose, translator identity, and translation context —with the linguistic features of translated texts. By employing syntactic complexity as an analytical lens, it aims to contribute new perspectives and methodologies to research on extra-translational aspects of translator behavior.

The initial acquisition of expressions of passive meaning by three Mandarin-speaking children is investigated in this paper. It has been found that children initially express passive meanings using the simplest patient-subject structure, “S_p+VP,” which has the same syntactic and semantic features as adults' production. Typical marked passive “bei” (被) sentences, which contain two arguments, are produced three to five months later. Furthermore, all the verbs in the “S_p+VP” structure has been used in the one-word sentence stage. The findings have revealed that the expression of passive meaning has experienced the construction process from single verb to single-argument patient-subject sentences to marked “bei” (被) sentences. The passive expression “S_p+VP” is an absolutive-like structure, which forms part of the ergative-absolutive or nominative-accusative language pattern, while the marked passive “bei” (被) sentences form part of the nominative-accusative language pattern. The initial acquisition of the expression of passive meaning by Mandarin-speaking children has shown a transitional character from an absolutive-like structure to a nominative-accusative pattern. Children initially acquire single-argument patient-subject sentences to express passive meanings. Input is a necessary but insufficient condition for this acquisition, and the decisive factor should be that the “S_p+VP” structure meets an utterance's demands in terms of syntax, semantics, and function expression to the greatest extent.

The effects of learning conception and engagement on English as a foreign language (EFL) learners' willingness to participate in virtual reality- based (VR-based) instruction and their oral performances were investigated in this study. The data were obtained via two surveys (learning conception and learning engagement) and students' audio-recorded oral performances. The results indicated that students' learning conception in the virtual environment included four factors, namely improving presence, increasing motivation, enhancing interaction, and extending learning. Students' learning engagement in the virtual environment consisted of four factors, which were cognitive, emotional, behavioral, and social engagement factors. The regression analyses revealed that the factors of learning conception and learning engagement were correlated, and that emotional engagement was associated with being more likely to participate in VR-based instruction. The study provided empirical evidence for using VR in language instruction.

Since the beginning of this century, foreign language attrition has drawn increasing attention from scholars, both in China and abroad, due to its unique research value. Based on a review of classical studies of language attrition, the existing research is categorized according to four types in this paper: longitudinal tracking, cross-sectional comparisons, mixed-method studies, and other approaches. Building on this synthesis, several widely acknowledged findings are identified: (1) the primary aim of research on attrition is to resist language attrition in order to better retain foreign language proficiency; (2) vocabulary remains the focus in the study of language attrition; (3) research methods are increasingly becoming interdisciplinary in nature; and (4) multiple internal and external factors interact in shaping the outcomes of attrition. Finally, a forward-looking perspective from four dimensions is presented in this paper, namely enhancing the systematicity and specificity of research methods, broadening and deepening the scope of the study, refining and integrating intra- and extra-linguistic factors, and innovating and expanding theoretical frameworks. It is hoped that this review will serve as a useful reference for future research on foreign language attrition.

Corporate websites are not only the crucial online communication medium for companies, they are also typical platforms for multimodal resources. In this cross-cultural study, which was inspired by the GeM model and cross-cultural theories, the multimodality of Chinese and US corporate websites were compared by adopting a corpus-based approach. The results show that both Chinese and US corporate websites are dominated by text-typographic and photo-pictorial elements, followed by diagram-representational and video-animated elements. However, the Chinese sites tend to employ more multimodal elements in total and more text-typographic and video-animated elements compared to the US sites. The Chinese sites featured more news and photos that are arranged in an atomized and compartmental format, while the US websites often use larger-sized pictures as backgrounds on which other elements are embedded in a more complex manner. In addition, the Chinese sites display more indicative elements with interactional functions to assist readers to navigate the sites and to build rapport with the audience. Finally, the Chinese sites use more QR codes and include more videos and flash videos, while the US sites display more social media icons. Conclusions about corporate multimodal discourse are drawn and implications for corporate web communications in a cross-cultural context are provided.

From the perspective of language communication, language influence is defined in this article and its generation mechanism and measurement methods are explored systematically. First, the concept of language influence is clarified and made concrete based on the argument that it emerges from the process of language communication and is a key indicator of communication effectiveness. Second, the generation mechanism is analyzed in detail across the three dimensions of language power, the transmission and reception phases, and language influence. It has been found that language influence is generated throughout the entire dynamic process of language communication. The realization of language influence follows the path of “language power → transmission and reception phases → language influence”, and its resulting effects ultimately feed back to strengthen language power, initiating a new cycle of language communication. Finally, a Language International Influence Evaluation Index System (LIIEIS) has been constructed using six observational indicators to provide a quantitative assessment of the influence of 25 languages. The aim of this article is to offer valuable insights for understanding the current global language landscape and to enhance the international status and influence of the Chinese language.

Discourses of metatranslation refer to translators' discussions about translation in translated works, and they are frequently seen in paratexts such as the introduction, afterwords, and the translated text itself. There are usually many discourses of metatranslation in works written in non-native languages or about non-native cultures, works which, on the whole, can be considered to be translations (without original texts). Some displaced (non-native language or non-native culture) written works are taken as examples in this paper in an attempt to describe the manifestations of explicit and implicit discourses of metatranslation, particularly those relating to the translation of terms and culturally loaded words. Their potential roles are summarized, such as embodying an author's or a translator's views on translation, revealing the complexity of translation and enhancing the foreignness of translated works. As a new concept in translation studies, discourse of metatranslation deserves further research, which might also shed light on translation practice.

Any new academic theory or new discipline must have a new research object and a new theoretical system. The paper argues that transknowletology performs the same function as translatology, both of which aim to study the translation of knowledge. The processing and translation of knowledge has always been carried out according to different disciplines, fields, and genres. The goal of transforming local knowledge into global knowledge through translation is to enable target-language readers to have the same understanding and perception of the translated text as source-language readers do of the original text. Therefore, it is necessary to process the original knowledge by selecting appropriate linguistic forms, rhetorical devices, and discourse modes based on the specific communication methods and audiences of the different disciplines to which the knowledge belongs, rather than interpreting or reflecting on the knowledge. This study suggests that for transknowletology to achieve breakthroughs, it must draw on perspectives from international communication studies, systemic functional linguistics, and language for specific purposes (LSP) theory to provide a theoretical basis for the processing or translation of disciplinary knowledge.

Citation data currently serve as the most reliable indicator of scholarly impact. By performing a citation analysis on highly cited literature from 21 core journals, this study delineates the landscape and developmental features of contemporary translation studies in China. The findings reveal that traditional domains, such as culture, strategy, literature, interpretation, and teaching, form the core research areas of the field. However, significant new hotspots have also emerged, including the construction of indigenous theories, the integration of translation technology, and the service of national strategies. Theoretical research demonstrates a shift away from a primary reliance on Western theories towards a dynamic dialogue between Chinese and Western perspectives, as well as the rise of local theories, with frameworks such as Ecological Translatology gaining substantial influence. The study identifies several challenges, including a lack of original topics within popular fields, a dearth of focused perspectives, and a discernible gap in international scholarship, particularly with respect to audiovisual translation. These findings offer a systematic framework for understanding the discipline’s trajectory and charting future research directions.

China’s economic growth and improved international status have created an urgent need for high-level international communication capabilities to support national development in the era of AI. The objective of enhancing China’s capabilities in this regard is to cultivate high-level talents who possess a “5+5” set of skills: the five mindsets of “global vision, national standpoint, political acumen, economic thinking, and cultural inclusiveness”, and the five communication abilities of live broadcasting, resource integration, current affairs collection and editing, and translation and interpreting from a foreign language into Chinese and vice versa. To help cultivate international communication talents in the era of AI and put China’s interpreting talents at the center of the international stage, we have constructed the discipline of multimodal interpreting (MI). This research is grounded in the theory of Marxist materialism, General Secretary Xi Jinping’s important thought on international communication, and the theories of interpreting communication studies (ICS) and communication interpreting studies (CIS). Beginning with the practice of interpreting, it reviews the evolution of interpreting studies and proposes a new perspective on the construction of the MI discipline, which integrates “practice-teaching-research” (PTR) with the aim of achieving improved interpreting practice, teaching, and research. This paper not only emphasizes the importance of interpreting practice and teaching but also enriches the theoretical connotations of interpreting studies, ICS, CIS, and embodied-cognitive interpreting studies, expands interpreting research ideas, and enhances international communication capabilities in the era of AI.

Supranational communities have assumed an increasingly pivotal role on the global stage, intertwining its activities with the shared future for humanity. Translation at this level functions as operational mechanism for such communities and warrant greater scholarly attention. This form of governance-oriented translation initiated by supranational communities to safeguard their interests, achieve their goals, and promote their values, is conceptualized as the “supranational translation program”. Endowed with the attributes of supranationality, supranational interests, and translanguages, the supranational translation program is an indispensable avenue for internal self-governance as well as engagement in regional and global governance. In the context of building a global community with shared future, a systematic exploration of the supranational translation program’s conceptual framework, technical implementation and supervision mechanisms can provide theoretical support for supranational communities’ translation initiatives and facilitate China’s deeper participation in global governance.

By addressing the problem of cultural identity imbalance caused by deviations in language outlook, this paper aims to inform the implementation of the core task of “fostering virtue through education” in China’s new era of foreign language education. It systematically explores how foreign language education shifts from the perception of “language as a tool” to a “linguistic worldview” by way of transformation logic and various implementation paths. This paper proposes five practical dimensions for the transformation of foreign language education: cultivating the competence of foreign language teachers, reforming talent cultivation models, reforming curriculum systems, selecting teaching materials, and integrating foreign language education development across primary, secondary, and tertiary levels. Foreign language education does not deny the “instrumental nature of language”; instead, it injects the “soul of worldview” into the “tool theory”, unifying “language skill cultivation” with the shaping of values. The ultimate goal is to cultivate students who are “double-excellent”: possessing foreign language talent alongside both a sense of national identity and an international perspective.

The current internal and external environment of foreign language education in China provides a prior reason for constructing a curriculum chain based on the “Spirit of Scientific Culture”. The core of this initiative lies in reconstructing the humanistic perspective and integrating the humanistic and scientific spirits, thereby establishing a transformative paradigm for foreign language education reform in China. This paradigm focuses on exploring and critically examining the spirit of scientific culture, alongside the writing, translation, and dissemination of related stories. Its primary goal is to cultivate students’ humanistic qualities and innovative thinking, empowering them to actively write about and articulate China through foreign languages. On one hand, it aims to achieve the objective of “cultivating students through moral education” by guiding them to develop rational thinking and sound values. On the other hand, it seeks to enhance students’ language proficiency and rhetorical skills by encouraging them to creatively transform vivid materials into compelling literary works. Through this process, students will acquire a deep understanding of the cultural codes and mechanisms underlying the use of both Chinese and foreign languages, ultimately enabling them to significantly improve their cross-cultural communication abilities.

In recent years, Eco-Translatology, an interdisciplinary paradigm that integrates ecological wisdom and translation studies, has experienced remarkable advances in both theory and practice. As the prologue to the sequel Eco-Translatology: Translation Dao and Translation Art — a follow-up to the seminal monograph Eco-Translatology: Construction and Interpretation that was published a decade ago — emerging developments in the field are described in this article. Key discussions include a holistic reinterpretation of Eco-Translatology, its life-oriented translation Dao (guiding principles) and source-oriented translation art (practical methodologies), value orientation, eco-translatological cultural construction, and philosophical essence, as well as novel reflections on the discipline’s evolution within AI-driven contexts. These insights are anticipated to enhance the understanding of Eco-Translatology’s theoretical framework while fostering deeper, more systematic research trajectories.

The aim of this study was to explore the influence of peer interaction on learning engagement in English classrooms through the mediating effect of academic self-efficacy. The study’s participants were 1,143 non-English majors; the quantitative data were analyzed via a descriptive analysis, a multiple regression analysis, and structural equation modeling. Some of the participants were then invited to participate in semi-structured interviews. The results revealed that the content and mode of peer interaction were both positive predicters of the three dimensions of learning engagement; while the perception of peer resources positively predicted cognitive and behavioral engagement, it did not significantly affect emotional engagement. Moreover, peer interaction was a direct positive predicter of learning engagement in English classrooms; it also indirectly affected learning engagement via academic self-efficacy, with academic self-efficacy playing a mediating role in the relationship between peer interaction and learning engagement in English classrooms. The transcription and analysis of the interviews confirmed these quantitative results. The study enhances the understanding of the path relationship between peer interaction and learning engagement in English classrooms, thereby providing insights for teachers to improve learning engagement through both peer interaction and academic self-efficacy.

In terms of discipline attribution and the theoretical integration of studies of eco-translatology, the research pedigree and thinking forms of Eco-Translatology require systematic summarization and theoretical refinement in order to reveal the entire profile of the eco-translatological theory system. The research pedigree of eco-translatology consists of theoretical research, descriptive research, and applied research. Of these, the “quadrilife-oriented view” draws on the field of general theory for theoretical research, the “trilife-oriented configuration” is the object of its descriptive research, and “green translation” is the new issue of its applied research. Thinking forms of Eco-Translatology consist of life-oriented thinking, existence-oriented thinking, and eco-thinking. Life-oriented thinking is referred to as “translation as textual transplant,” existence-oriented thinking involves “translation as adaptation/selection,” and eco-thinking is related to “translation as eco-balance.” The systematic formation of the eco-translatology research pedigree is of tremendous importance in the construction of the eco-translatological discourse and knowledge systems.

According to the core principle of Embodied-Cognitive Linguistics, “Reality-Cognition-Language”, we have developed “symmetrical embodied cognitive strategy” in our minds due to the ubiquitous phenomenon of symmetry in the external world; this has led to the emergence of numerous symmetrical expressions in language, particularly in Chinese, in which a large number of symmetrical phenomena appear at various levels, such as phonetics, characters, vocabulary, syntax, and discourse. We intend to regard this as the most important grammatical mechanism in Chinese, which belongs to the category of “isolating languages”. By contrast, languages such as English, which are “inflecting languages”, require word forms to be adjusted according to grammatical rules when included in a sentence to maintain a strict correspondence between word classes and syntactic components. This is called the “word-based” grammatical theory. In recent years, many scholars have found this theory to be unsuitable for constructing Chinese grammar; although various X-based theories have emerged in China, they have all overlooked “the symmetrical strategy” that is widely used in Chinese. When conducting comparative studies of English and Chinese, it is essential to emphasize the difference between “correspondence and symmetry”, as this difference is important for language research and teaching.

Learning engagement is an important topic in the research on second language education. Exploring the impact of motivational factors on learning engagement enables researchers to understand college students’ self-regulated learning mechanisms. Based on goal-orientation learning theory, the impact of goal orientations and motivational regulation strategies on engagement in English learning was explored in this study, as well as the mediating role of motivational regulation strategies through a survey of 299 non-English majors and structural equation modeling. The results revealed that both mastery and performance-approach goal orientations had direct and positive effects on learning engagement, while performance-avoidance goal orientation had direct and negative effects. Motivational regulation strategies had direct and positive effects on learning engagement; while such strategies could partially mediate the positive relationships among mastery, performance-approach goal orientations and learning engagement, they could not mediate the negative relationship between performance-avoidance goal orientation and learning engagement. The findings can provide empirical evidence for teachers to improve students’ engagement in English learning by cultivating motivational beliefs and motivational regulation.

This paper consists of two parts. The first part presents the opening address delivered by Professor Xu Jun at the 4^th Translator Behavior Studies Forum. The second part provides a commentary by Professor Zhou Lingshun, the founder of translator behavior theory. The commentary includes his personal research trajectory and future directions, as well as the new perspectives and expanded pathways demonstrated in the field of translation studies. Both parts focus on the study of translator behavior and are expected to promote the in-depth development of translator behavior studies.

The crisis experienced by foreign language majors in higher education stems from the misalignment between academic development and social needs. For instance, with approximately 1,000 universities and colleges having English majors focusing on linguistics, literature, translation, cross-cultural studies, and country-and-area studies within the Foreign Languages and Literature discipline, undergraduate and graduate students annually and inevitably face intense competition in the job market. The “Four New Constructions” initiative by the Ministry of Education advocates interdisciplinary approaches and major adjustments to meet societal demands. This study finds that language service is the major direction of adjustment for the Foreign Languages and Literature discipline. Foreign language graduates engaged in language services can better fulfill societal needs by applying linguistic theories to explore how knowledge of various disciplines, particularly in natural and technical sciences, is constructed and disseminated. Furthermore, this research demonstrates the necessity and feasibility of interdisciplinary integration in foreign language programs and proposes the establishment of a new sub-discipline, “Linguistics for Specific Purposes”, under the first-level discipline of Foreign Language and Literature to address the demands of language services.

Since 1908, the century-long journey of introducing translations of Burns’ (1759—1796) poetry into China has been marked by numerous outstanding translators who collectively contributed to the evolution of Burns’ poetry translations. The translation of Burns’ poetry was exceptionally active during the Republic of China era (1912—1949), Yuan Shuipai being one of the representative translators at the time. In 1944, Yuan Shuipai published ten poems by Burns in the influential cultural publication Zhongyuan edited by Guo Moruo, and demonstrated his progressive ideology of using poetry as a tool to inspire the people. Unlike many of his contemporaries, Yuan Shuipai exhibited unique translator behavior in his translations of Burns’ poetry. In this paper, we examine Yuan Shuipai’s translator behavior from both the extra-translation and the intra-translation dimensions based on the Critical Theory of Translator Behavior, with a focus on his dual roles as a “social being” and as a “linguistic being”. We explore how Yuan Shuipai prioritized “truth-seeking” over “utility-attaining” in his pursuit of rationalized translations, thereby enriching the study of translations of Burns’ poetry and translator behavior.

The creation of large language models has led to a revolution in language services, which have become the new-quality productive force. This paper presents the argument that artificial intelligence (AI) language services are the new-quality productive force, describes the shift from traditional language services to AI language services, defines the concept, the connotations, the market, and education in AI language services with the aim of drawing attention to both the industry and to research on AI language services.

The rapid development and extensive application of artificial intelligence (AI) technologies have catalyzed transformations in the organizational structure and service models within the language services industry. This paper analyzes the impact of AI technologies on the language services market from both international and domestic perspectives by focusing on the demand and supply sides. It summarizes the developmental trends in the language services industry and provides recommendations for enhancing the industry’s growth and competitiveness. The research results indicate that AI technologies have permeated all the processes involved in language services and have established a human-in-the-loop translation model. Language service providers are strengthening their strategies for digitalization and intelligent development, and are transitioning toward knowledge processes outsourcing providers and global content strategy services providers. It is essential to increase the intelligent construction within China’s language services sector to further professionalize and internationalize the language services industry, to enhance the planning of standard language service systems, and to focus on professional talent development.

Research concerning the cognitive effects on bilingualism spans over a century, progressing from an early view of bilingual disadvantage, through a period emphasizing on bilingual advantage, to the current debate in which both perspectives coexist and challenge each other. Clarifying this issue is essential not only for understanding human cognitive mechanisms, but also due to its theoretical and practical implications in the teaching of foreign languages. The first focus in this paper is on tracing the origins of the debate, followed by a summary of the key points of contention, and an examination of the current state of the discussion regarding bilingual advantages in three core areas: executive function, creative thinking and theory of mind. The findings suggest that the complexity of both bilingualism and cognition, compounded by ambiguities in the definitions, components, and measurements thereof, underlies the on-going debate. Thus, future research should increasingly adopt the frameworks and methodologies of dynamic systems theory to comprehensively and multidimensionally analyze the effects of bilingualism on cognitive abilities.