87876 - A Language - Interpreting from English into Italian I (5 ECTS) (CL2)

Learning outcomes

Students know and are able to use the basic consecutive and simultaneous interpreting techniques from English into Italian.

Course contents

The course will focus on developing students' skills concerning the analysis, comprehension and reproduction of spoken speeches from English into Italian, and on their control of their delivery and of the communicative event.

Consecutive and simultaneous interpreting skills will be developed through preliminary exercises of sight translation, memorizing and note-taking. Students will be mainly exposed to original speeches, some of them containing difficulties such as information redundancy, high speech rate, unusual accents and varieties of English, lack of coherence and/or cohesion so as to develop specific strategies.

Due to limited booth space, students will be divided into two classes, each class receiving 40 hours of interpreting from English into Italian from Ira Torresi (mainly in the first semester) + 20 hours from Maura Radicioni (mainly in the second semester).

Those studying English as Language A will additionally attend classes of interpreting from Italian into English with prof. Veronica Irene Cioni.

Readings/Bibliography

A Readings list will be given during the Interpreting Theory course.

Teaching methods

Practical exercise in class, monitored by the teacher and peers; self-training and self-monitoring. All texts used in class and at the exam are original speeches, audio- or video-recorded.

Assessment methods

End-of-course assessment consists in one consecutive and one simultaneous interpreting tests from English into Italian, each one accounting for 50% of the final mark of the Interpreting from English into Italian I module. Both tests are taken in the booth on the same day, and their topic is communicated via Moodle one week in advance. Exam results are given via Moodle's forum (only student registration numbers, not names, will be shown) a few days after the exam.

Marks will be given as follows: (0-17): major inconstistencies, several errors, distortions, additions and/or omissions of key concepts; mistakes in target language grammar/syntax/word choice/pronunciation/ planning mistakes that hinder comprehension. (18-20): recurrent but minor errors, distortions, additions and/or omissions; mistakes in target language grammar/syntax/word choice/pronunciation/planning mistakes that make comprehension difficult. (21-24) few, local imprecisions, generalizations, small additions and/or omissions; the target text can be followed despite a few target language grammar/syntax/word choice/pronunciation/planning mistakes. (25-27): good overall coherence and cohesion, few imprecisions; good command of target language, good use of voice. (28-30): very good coherence and cohesion; very good command of target language, very good use of voice.

For those studying English as A language, the mark of the Interpreting from English into Italian I module is then averaged out (at 50%) against the mark for Interpreting from Italian into English I, whose tests are structured in the same way as those into Italian, and are taken on the same day. (But see "Congelamenti" below.)

"Congelamenti": student must take all the relevant Italian < > English interpreting tests on the same day (A language: consecutive and simultaneous into Italian, consecutive and simultaneous into English; B language: consecutive and simultaneous into Italian). If at least 50% of the tests - 2 tests for A Language, 1 test for B Language - is assessed positively, the tests that have been passed are kept as good. All the remaining English interpreting tests must be taken together, and the 50% rule continues to apply.

Example: English is my A language. The first time I sit the exam, I pass only the simultaneous into Italian and the consecutive into English. The second time over, I take the remaining two tests and pass the consecutive into Italian. The following time, I re-take the simultaneous interpreting test into English. The final mark is an average of all 4 tests.

NB1 instructors may choose to give students a general assessment of single tests that have been passed, without telling them the mark.

NB2 if Interpreting from Italian into English I is taken as a free choice exam (opzionale) by students with English as a B language, it counts as a separate exam for the purposes of "Congelamenti" and marking.

“Rifiuto del voto”: if a studenti s not satisfied with her/his exam results, s/he may re-take the whole exam or one of its modules only once. E.g. if I choose to retake an exam that was marked 19, and next time the mark is 18, I can no longer re-take it. NB: this has an effect on “Congelamenti” (see above). If English is my A language, and I pass consecutive into English + the entire Interpreting into Italian module (with 18), if I choose to re-take the Interpreting into Italian module, then the consecutive into English test cannot be kept as good, because it no longer accounts for 50% of all tests.

Teaching tools

Audio- and video-recordings of real working situations and from the Internet.

Office hours

See the website of Ira Torresi

See the website of Valeria Penazzi