Chinese language and culture belong to the oriental while English, the West, which is very different from the East (Samovar, et al., 2000; Ban & Zhao, 2015). According to what is stated above, a learner who speaks Chinese as his/her mother-tongue will suffer more obstacles in learning English than those people whose mother-tongues are similar to English. Indeed, many researchers in recent years have paid more attention to the negative role of Chinese in English learning and some experts have been trying to offer their antidotes by writing articles or conducting special experiments, which seems that Chinese and English are totally incompatible with one another (Wen & Guo, 1998; Chen, 2003; Ren, 2014). But in fact, the Chinese language might be beneficial to English learning (Fromkin, 2007). And this paper will show readers the benefits that our mother-tongue (Chinese) potentially bears in SLA (English learning).
Some studies have indicated that there might be a positive correlation between Chinese proficiency and E-C translation competence (Hu, 2004; Pan, 2004; Li, 2008; Liu, 2008; Ma, 2012; Hu, 2014; Schaffner & Adab, 2000; Newmark, 2001; White, 2003; Nida, 2004; Karoly, 2012, etc.) and the training of the competence is regarded as an important approach to promote English learning (Cohen & Brooks-Carson, 2001; Wei, 2014; Wang, 2002; Zhang, 2005), so it is possible for the author to find the positive effect of our mother-tongue (Chinese) on SLA (English learning) from a translatological viewpoint.
2  Literature Review
2.1  Translator in Translating
Some studies were recently centered on the role that translators play in translating.
Liu (2008) argues that a translator is an element of subjectivity in the process of translation after analyzing the nature and features of translators, and he emphasizes that translators who have higher linguistic proficiency especially in the target language bring more freshness and vividness to their translations. Hu (2004) maintains that a translator plays a central role in translating and whether a text of language A can be converted satisfactorily into language B is to a large degree determined by how much expertise the translator possesses (esp. his/her knowledge of the languages concerned). And ten years later, Hu (2014) develops his translator-centric theory after a comprehensive overview of the discussions on the role of translators in translating at home and abroad. According to his new argument, translators are majorly responsible for their translations. Besides, he advises that translators pay more attention to the improving of linguistic competence of both the languages instead of translation skills acquiring.
In a word, all the findings above show that a translator’s language competence is essential and fundamental in translation. 汉语水平与英译汉能力的相关性研究(2):http://www.751com.cn/yingyu/lunwen_29787.html