18414 - Translation from Italian into English II (First Language) (CL1)

Learning outcomes

To be able to deal with a semi-technical text, be aware of the problems it poses and render the semantics of the message clearly in the foreign language in a form that is grammatically and lexically appropriate and acceptable for the text typology.

Course contents

The texts chosen for the translations will deal with technical aspects of one of the crucial topics of the world of today. The length of the texts chosen will be medium--to-long, such as to develop the abilities to translate not only a descriptive but also an argumentative text, with what that implies, for example, for the choice of verbal tenses.

Readings/Bibliography

A fundamental author for this type of text is Newmark, while important (but less so since they are more specialised) are Sager and M.T. Cabré; Mary Snell-Hornby is a useful reference point as are the authors of the rather generic but clear and all-inclusive Skopos approach. In the so-called "West", Saints Jerome and Augustin are key authors, Schleiermacher (early XIX century) is a key figure and more recently Eugene Nida has been - and still is - fundamental. Input from other civilizations would be very useful but those working in the “Western” world in the translation studies field seem rather backward in publishing considerations from outside the “West”. Gayatri Spivak makes very useful comments on the practice of translation in post-colonial, gendered and subaltern-class / nation contexts. A recent publication (2009) is the volume Oltre l'Occidente, edited by R.M. Boletteiri Bosinelli and E. Di Giovanni.

Teaching methods

Much of the translation and correction will be done in class on both an individual and a collective basis. The new lesson period strructure means that students will do more work than in the past outside the formal structures in lecture/seminar rooms. Generic bilingual dictionaries are possibly a necessary evil, but monolingual learners' dictionaries and in general monolinguals are better tools. Internet should be used for frequency checking of lexis and structural phrases but even then it leads to problems at times. Googlescholar has proved itself of great use for technical and semi-technical texts.

 

Assessment methods

Examination at the end of the course, with the use of mono- and bilingual dictionaries together with the students' self compiled glossaries.

 

Teaching tools

Much of the work will be done in class; on the basis of this and authoritative parallel texts, students will be expected to compile their own glossaries. Care is obviously needed in consulting the Internet; attention will be drawn to different conventions used in standard British and American (USA) Englishes. For collocations, consult the British National Corpus, available on line from most computers in the faculty, which also give access to the 28-volume version of the Oxford English Dictionary; the Merriam-Webster is of course freely available from any Internet connection. A guide to good practice in writing in English will be distributed during the course.

Office hours

See the website of Derek Boothman