69427 - Translation from English into Italian I (Second Language)

Academic Year 2021/2022

  • Teaching Mode: Traditional lectures
  • Campus: Forli
  • Corso: First cycle degree programme (L) in Intercultural and Linguistic Mediation (cod. 8059)

Learning outcomes

The student knows the basic tools (grammar books, dictionaries and corpora) and basic translation methods (for the analysis of a source text and its transfer into a target text). S/he is able to employ these tools and methods applying them to the task of translating a variety of simple texts from English into Italian. S/he is able to identify and use the most adequate basic translation strategies, depending on the communicative functions of the texts to be translated.

Course contents

Students will be shown how to approach a variety of text genres (reviews, press releases, manuals) on different topics (tourism, entertainment, technology) corresponding to a variety of translation problems. The aim is to facilitate the acquisition of competences that can be then further developed and applied to more specialised areas. The lecturer will introduce basic tools and key theories in translation studies (e.g. equivalence, functionalist approaches, descriptive and cultural approaches). The latter will be used to perform comparative analyses of different source texts, aimed at improving the students' awareness of decision-making in translation.

Readings/Bibliography

The texts used in class will be made available on Moodle or distributed by the lecturer in class.

Reference text: Munday, J. 2016. Introducing translation studies. (4th edition). Oxford: Routledge. (selected chapters)

Teaching methods

Lessons take place mainly in workshop-like mode and include translation and text analysis exercises (individual or in small groups), the correction of (and reflection on) individual translations carried out as homework, and post-translation revision activities (peer-review). Lessons in which tools and key theoretical notions are presented take place in lecture mode.

Students are expected to attend at least 70% of the module lessons.

Assessment methods

Learning is verified during the course through observation and interaction in class and through the correction of individual and/or group translations.

The final exam lasts 120 minutes and consists of the translation, with the sole help of monolingual dictionaries and thesauri of the two languages, of two short extracts of texts on a similar theme, belonging to text types that may or may not have been addressed during the course. The total length of the two excerpts is between 150 and 170 words. In addition to the two translations, students carry out a guided comparative analysis of the two excerpts, answering 7 questions relating to the texts themselves and to the translation strategies to be adopted for their rendering into Italian.

The exam papers from previous years are made available to students for individual practice and  for a mock exam corrected individually by the teacher.

The assessment is aimed at ascertaining the possession of the following skills and competences: comprehension of the English text, writing in Italian, awareness of the discursive norms operating in the two languages and in the two textual genres, capacity to translate according to these norms, ability to analyse the text with a view to translating it.

The 30 points available for the exam are assigned on the basis of  translation performance, subtracting points according to the seriousness of the errors made, and adding points for particularly good choices. The evaluation of the guided analysis (excellent, good, sufficient, insufficient) adds or subtracts up to a maximum of 2 points from the final mark obtained for the translation. The total or partial absence of the analysis results in exam failure.

The final mark for the Integrated Course is the mathematical average of the marks obtained in the two modules.

Teaching tools

Networked PC and video projector. Texts are presented in digital or printed format. Online monolingual dictionaries and other Internet resources are used during the lessons (both lectures and workshops).

As concerns the teaching methods of this course unit, all students must attend the online Modules 1, 2 on Health and Safety.

Office hours

See the website of Silvia Bernardini

SDGs

Quality education

This teaching activity contributes to the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals of the UN 2030 Agenda.