Textbook is used as a standard source of information for formal study of a subject and an
instrument for teaching and learning (Graves 2000: 175). However, how good a textbook is depends
greatly on different input factors, including learner’s levels and needs. An appropriate textbook for
translating students at the School of Foreign Language (hereafter SFL, TNU) is largely expected
because some ready-made ones fail to fit perfectly their needs. The paper therefore aims at learning
about the answers to students’ expectation in designing a translation textbook on the basis of deep
relationships between the teaching content and student’s preferences. By dint of such different data
collection instruments as questionnaire survey on 95 students and interviews on 30 respondents at
SFL, detailed discussions and findings can be entailed and documented in the paper. The findings
of this paper can be hopefully useful and applicable to the local teaching context, contributing
greatly to the translation programs in particular and the whole training program in general.