Using Corpora in Translation Studies and Translation Education

The study of compilation of texts, under the banner of corpus linguistics, has been used for linguistic analyses of the nature, structure and uses of language for a long time. It is not only designated as a field of theoretical linguistics, but also as an emerging methodological approach to language-related research in the present day. For the sake of a thorough understanding about corpus linguistics and its application in arrays of language studies, this chapter offers conceptual discussion about using corpora to explore practical issues pertaining to Translation Studies. The chapter first offers a brief history of corpus linguistics, including its varied definitions and theoretical positions, as well as the influences of changes in theoretical perspectives on its development. The chapter then presents different corpus-based approaches to Translation Studies and characterizes types of corpora used for research purposes. It also discusses the strengths and weaknesses of using corpora as data sources and for data analyses. The chapter ends with recommendations on possible application of corpus-based approaches to research in Translation Studies.