78589 - Cultural Mediation: English (Third Language)

Learning outcomes

The student knows the basic strategies of language mediation and is able to use them in basic communication situations.

Course contents

In order to introduce students to language mediation, and help them be professionally autonomous in basic communicative situations, this module will teach the basics of language mediation starting with a brief theoretical introduction to it. The module will then involve preparatory exercises, using simulations of interpreter-mediated exchanges between English and Italian native speakers in daily and professional contexts, mainly pertaining to tourism (restaurants, food, hotels, travel agencies), transport (stations, airports) and fashion. This course also introduces the practice of sight translation from English into Italian, and “gist translation” from Italian into English.

Readings/Bibliography

Reference works

Russo, M. e G. Mack (a cura di) (2005). Interpretazione di trattativa: la mediazione linguistico-culturale nel contesto formativo e professionale. Milano: Hoepli.

Fogazzaro, E. e L. Gavioli (2004). “L’interprete come mediatore: riflessioni sul ruolo dell’interprete in una trattativa d’affari”. In G. Bersani Berselli, G. Mack, D. Zorzi (a cura di), Linguistica e interpretazione. Bologna: CLUEB. 169-191.

Gusdorf F. (1993). Words médiascopique du vocabulaire anglais. Parigi: Ellipses.

Further references, if such may be the case, will be provided during the course according to students’ needs.

Teaching methods

Each topic will be introduced by a short lexical overview in order for students to acquire specific vocabulary and develop terminology research skills. Students will then be actively involved in role-play situations and in sight translation exercises. At the same time, students will start to train memory, learn to identify keywords and develop synthesis and reformulation skills, as a preparation to interpreting. Students will be asked to actively participate in the learning process, both those called upon to act as “language mediators”, and those in the audience, who will observe the performances of their fellow-students in a consistent and constructive way and learn from them.

Students must attend at least 70% of scheduled classes.

Assessment methods

Students’ learning of mediation strategies and vocabulary will be carried out on a regular basis throughout the year, for each of the topics described above. Nevertheless, this module will be assessed with a final exam through the active involvement of students in the mediation of a bilingual exchange on topics dealt with during the year and in a sight translation test from English into Italian of around 80-100.

The students will be assessed on their level of understanding of the source language and the level of their target language output and the overall management of the communicative situation.

The final mark for the module will then be averaged out (at 50%) against the mark of the Language and culture module.

Teaching tools

Networked PC and beamer

Online and paper dictionaries

Monolingual or multilingual corpora

Podcasts and videos

Exercises will mainly be presented in digital or paper format.

Exercises and materials used in class will be routinely uploaded on the module’s Moodle page.

Office hours

See the website of Irene Frosi