78687 - Translation - English (LM)

Learning outcomes

The course aims at introducing contemporary theoretical debates in Translation Studies, and at providing the students with the methodologies and the tools necessary to translate different text-types. Students are expected to be aware of how translation is not only a linguistic operation, but also a cultural one. Lectures will provide an overview of scholarly research on translation, with particular attention to contemporary cultural-linguistic perspectives, especially those of Anglophone scholars. The students are expected to become expert in the translation, from English into Italian, of different text-types, namely semi-specialized (e.g., in the field of news and popular science journalism) and literary, and, from Italian into English, specialized (e.g., in the museum field). They become aware of the inextricable text-context connection and of the strategies employed, especially to solve problems arising from cultural differences, linguistic varieties and language for specific purposes. They are made familiar with the professional task of the translator, his/her visibility and ethics, the role of the client and the purpose/function of a translation. Language classes aim at improving students linguistic competence; over the two year period students knowledge of English should reach the level C2 according to the European framework in all four abilities. These classes will work in connection with the lectures to improve students writing skills in particular.

Course contents

The course is for the students of the II level degree course in ‘Language, Society and Communication' (LSC).

It will be offered in the second semester (all semester).

Course contents: Translation Studies - Theory and Practice

The course focuses both on the main theoretical issues of the discipline of Translation Studies and on the practical task of translating, in particular from English into Italian. It deals with written translation and with ‘interlingual translation', which was deemed by Jakobson (1959) ‘translation proper'.

Theoretical lessons and more practical ones offer the opportunity to heighten awareness of the importance of cultural context when translating. The key role of translation in shaping history and in the contemporary world is also highlighted, as well as the crucial work of the translator, whose activity is not passive or neutral, but laden with responsibility. Theoretical and practical issues will be also related to the intercultural role played by translation in contemporary society.

The course will firstly aim at answering some basic questions such as: “What is translation?” and “What is Translation Studies?”. Some key concepts in Translation Studies will be illustrated, such as the notions of ‘Equivalence' and of the ‘Unit of Translation', the latter strictly linked to the practice of translating. Indeed, the course combines a theoretical and a practical approach. On the one hand, it provides students with an overview of the main theories of Translation Studies and of different contemporary approaches and methods. On the other hand, students are asked to translate short authentic texts representative of a wide range of text-types (specialized, semi-specialized and also literary, as well as audiovisual) and to discuss the translation problems they encountered, as well as the strategies they employed. Even the most theoretical issues will be strongly connected to the practical activity of translating, focusing on both the process of translation and the product. From the point of view of translation practice, the focus will also be on differences in the use of lexico-grammatical structures in the source and target language because of different rhetorical/communicative strategies and expectations in the two speech communities, in different text-types. Particular attention will also be paid to the most common editing norms of the publishing industry.

The final aim of the course is to make students concretely realize that a meta-reflection can help them reflect on language choices in source texts and take informed translation decisions within a range of more/less acceptable and effective choices, also taking into account practical issues and constraints typical of the publishing world/industry.

 

NOTE: Students are advised to possess a high level of language competence in the source language (i.e., English), especially in reading/textual analysis and writing skills, as well as in the target language, i.e., Italian.

Students who decide to attend the course regularly may have the possibility of taking part in a project on translation, from Italian into English, of museum texts.

The course will also include language classes (esercitazioni), strictly linked to the official course (Translation Studies).

Readings/Bibliography

Main course-book:

· Munday, Jeremy (2016), Introducing Translation Studies: Theories and Applications, 4th edition, London/New York, Routledge.

The text will be available for students at the Department of Modern Languages, Literatures and Cultures library and also at Feltrinelli, at Piazza Ravegnana 1, Bologna (or it can be ordered online).

 

Further Required Reading:

· Hatim, Basil & Mason, Ian (1990), Discourse and the Translator, London/New York, Longman: pp. 38-54.

· Malone, Joseph L. (1988) The Science of Linguistics in the Art of Translation: Some Tools from Linguistics for the Analysis and Practice of Translation, Albany: State University of New York. (for the Comment on Translation Strategies).

· Manfredi, Marina (2008), Translating Text and Context: Translation Studies and Systemic Functional Linguistics, Vol. I, Translation Theory, Bologna, Dupress (Part A)

The texts will be available for students at the Department library. The Manfredi book will also be online at: http://amsacta.unibo.it/2441/

Further bibliographical information will be provided during the course, according to the activities carried out in class. Students will be provided, on the one hand, with further reference material; on the other hand, with a list of brief articles/chapters among which they will be able to choose selected aspect to explore. The final programme will be available online and the material will be available at one of the photocopy shops in the vicinity of the Department. A list of recommended dictionaries will also be offered.

The texts for the practice of translation from English into Italian (exclusively drawn from authentic published sources) will be made available in a copy centre near the Department during the course and the source texts will also be published online, before each translation class.

As regards the language component (esercitazioni), a ‘dispensa' will be available from the copy centres in via Cartoleria and online, by the beginning of the course.

Teaching methods

Active class participation is strongly recommended.

Translation is a practical activity and class work offers a good opportunity to focus on problems, look for diverse feasible solutions to solve them and to discuss the effects of certain choices. Moreover, class work offers the possibility to concretely practice the application of theoretical notions from the discipline of Translation Studies.

Official course (Translation Studies):

The official course (6 hours a week, all II semester) involves the following activities:

a) Lectures held by the professor of the course;

b) Individual study of course texts;

c) Other activities including:

- the translation of short texts – specialized, semi-specialized and literary – in small groups or individually;

- discussion of translation problems encountered and the problem-solving strategies adopted.

All students who regularly attend the lectures will be able to access a selection of the class PPTs online.

Language componenent (Esercitazioni):

The course will include 36 hours of language classes (esercitazioni), which will be held by Dr. Nigel James.

Language classes aim at the acquisition of communicative language skills through various activities. The main focus is on the translation, from Italian into English, of a wide variety of text-types. Principal text-types include: tourism-related texts, technical brochures, promotional material, and abstracts of scientific articles.

Both the official course (Translation Studies) and the language classes (esercitazioni) will be held in the second semester.

Students are advised to regularly consult the PERSONAL WEB PAGE of their Professor (http://www.unibo.it/docenti/marina.manfredi ), where all notices are kept up to date, and of their language teacher as well(http://people.unibo.it/it/nigel.james ).

Assessment methods

The final exam linked to the official course (Translation Studies) will consist of a written test and an oral test. It will count for 2/3 of the mark.

In addition, there will also be a written exam on the language component of the course (esercitazioni). Students must pass this written part of the exam before they can take the oral exam and register their final mark on Almaesami. This exam accounts for approximately 1/3 of the final mark.

 

Exam structure

Official course (Translation Studies):

The final exam will consist of a written test and an oral test. Its main component is the written exam, which consists of 2 parts (3 sections):

Part 1

(A) The first part (Section A) focusses on the theory of translation. Students are asked to provide answers to various types of theoretical questions (a maximum of 18, and a ‘bonus' one, which is optional) on translation theory (based on the main textbook and the required reading). These questions can be ‘multiple choice', ‘True/False' and ‘yes/no', students may also be asked to ‘match items' and/or ‘fill in the blanks' (with items provided below), or to complete a brief ‘cloze'-type passage. Finally, they may be requested to answer ‘open-ended' questions requiring a brief answer. Time allowed to perform task ‘A' is 45 minutes. No dictionaries are allowed for task A.

Part 2

The second part of the exam tests the ability to translate, from English into Italian, and an awareness of the translator's task. It consists of sections B and C.

(B) Section B is centred on translation practice. Students will be required to provide a translation, from English into Italian, of a specialized/ semi-specialized or literary text (a maximum of 350 words), which can be chosen between 2 proposed. The translation task will be introduced by a communicative situation and by a professional-like translation ‘commission', to guide the student in his/her assignment. Text-types will be similar to those dealt with during the course (source texts will be available online andat one of the photocopy shops near the Department).

(C) Section C is centred on a comment on translation strategies. Students will be asked to offer a brief comment on the main translation strategies they have employed in their own translation, following J. Malone's (1988) approach and terminology – see Required reading. They are asked to comment on them, offering some illustrative examples and explaining briefly (max. 300 words) – but in cohesive prose, rather than schematically – the reason(s) and/ or effect(s) of their choices.

Time allowed to perform tasks in part ‘2' (B and C) is 2 hours and 45 minutes. The use of all kinds of dictionaries is permitted for part 2 (monolingual, bilingual, synonyms), but not in electronic form.

A Facsimile of the exam will be provided online during the course.

The oral exam – which must be taken after passing the written one and also the written exam on the language component (esercitazioni) – starts from a brief discussion of the student's written exam and expands on some theoretical issues mainly based on the texts to be found on a list of selected readings (short articles and book chapters), among which the student can freely choose (both list and material will be made available during the course).

 

Language componenent (Esercitazioni):

The written exam for the ‘esercitazioni' component will be a practical translation, from Italian into English, of approximately 250 words. There will be one translation offered and it will be of a type similar to the text-types offered during the course. Time allowed to perform the task is 90 minutes. The use of monolingual and bilingual dictionaries is permitted.

A Facsimile will be available online at the beginning of lessons.

 

Marking criteria and levels

As far as the official course (Translation Studies) is concerned, section ‘A' is worth a maximum of 9 points; section ‘B' a maximum of 15 points and section ‘C' a maximum of 6 points (a score of 30 points corresponds to a mark of 30/30). Part ‘1' (Theory) and Part ‘2' (Practice) cannot be taken separately. They must be taken in the same ‘appello' and the mark of the written exam will be the sum of scores obtained in ‘A' + ‘B' + ‘C'.

The oral exam gives the student the possibility to raise the mark obtained in the written exam, by adding up to 3 points.

Evaluation will be based on the student's performance in the various components of the exam. Translation practice, from English into Italian, will be evaluated along a range of possibilities typically related to translation, i.e., positively, from ‘brilliant' to ‘appropriate' and to ‘satisfactory' (which broadly correspond to ‘excellent', ‘good', ‘satisfactory'), or negatively, from ‘inappropriate', to ‘undesirable'/‘approximative'/‘misleading' and to ‘containing serious errors'. However, translation competence is not sufficient to get a high mark and even to pass the exam: students also need to show they are able to discuss their translation choices and demonstrate knowledge of the main theories of Translation Studies, and how to apply them. Thus, students who produce an effective and accurate translation from English into Italian, also as far as editing is concerned – functionally equivalent to the source text and acceptable for the communicative situation that is intended for in the target language and context –, who show the ability to discuss their translation method and critically justify their translation choices, who show a good knowledge of the main theories of translation and the capacity to apply the theoretical concepts to the analysis of translation products, using the proper metalanguage, will obtain an excellent mark. Students who produce a mediocre translation, who justify their choices in a mechanical way and who show an imprecise knowledge of the main translation theories without the capacity to apply them will pass the exam but with a low mark. Finally, students who display seriously insufficient translation competence, analytical capacity and theoretical awareness will not pass the exam.

 

Language component (Esercitazioni):

In order to obtain a good pass mark, students must: focus attention on the source message in both linguistic/stylistic features and subject matter; bring the target text closer to the target reader whilst adhering as closely as possible to the linguistic elements of the source text. Lexico-grammatical accuracy is of major importance. Papers will be assessed on the basis of language requirements at the C2 level of the Common European Framework.

The final mark is calculated as follows: the score obtained in the Translation Studies component (written exam + oral exam) is multiplied by 2, and added to the score obtained in the language component. This figure is divided by 3.

Students cannot refuse a passing mark (a score of at least 18/30) in any of the single (partial) exams taken towards the final average mark in the course. Only the final average mark itself can be refused, obliging the student in that case to take each single exam again. Marks obtained in written exams remain valid for 4 exam sessions only, including the sessions they were taken in.

 

Written exams take place once in each exam session; oral exams are held twice.

The 2 written exams can be taken in any order and it is not obligatory to take/pass both exams in the same exam session, but it is not possible to take the oral and register the final mark for the overall course until ALL exam components have been passed.

The exam is the same for attenders and non-attenders.

Taking part in experimental activities will involve an alternative type of assessment.

Teaching tools

Lectures will involve Power Point presentations.

Translation practice (English-Italian) will involve groupwork and the use of dictionaries.

Links to further information

https://www.unibo.it/sitoweb/marina.manfredi

Office hours

See the website of Marina Manfredi