95374 - Translation - French Exercises (Lm)

Course contents

The translation seminars, linked to the core course in French Translation, aim to examine, through a contrastive Italian/French approach, the morphosyntactic specificities of both languages, the mastery of which is essential for tackling the specific linguistic challenges encountered in translation. The final written assessment involves the translation of a passage from Italian into French.

Educational objectives:

• In order to translate texts (of various types) from Italian into French, the learning objectives focus on the acquisition and mastery of 1) the morphosyntactic structures of French; 2) the semantic and lexical specificities of both languages; 3) sociolinguistic adaptation, particularly through the concepts of linguistic repertoire, variation (diachronic, diaphasic, diastratic, diatopic, diamesic), heteroglossia, sociolect, and specialised languages; 4) intercultural competence.

• The translation process also involves 1) establishing the expectations of the context in which both the source text and the target text will be read, in order to formulate appropriate hypotheses and translation strategies; 2) mastering translation techniques, so as to grasp and render cultural references and realia, thereby avoiding trivialisation and a flattening of the source text’s intended meaning.

A significant part of the exercises will therefore be devoted to the

critical comparison of original texts and published translations, in order to analyse 1) the translator’s intentions; 2) translation strategies: literal translation, target-oriented translation, source-oriented translation; 3) lexical and/or morphosyntactic constraints, and idioms; 4) translation techniques such as adaptation, étoffement/elaboration, explicitation, compensation, loss, expansion, omission, unjustified additions, surtraduction/hyper-translation, sous-traduction/under-translation, and interference...

For detailed program, methodology, educational content, exam test, see webpage of the lecturer [MANCONI: https://www.unibo.it/sitoweb/teresa.manconi/contenuti-utili] and

https://www.unibo.it/it/studiare/insegnamenti-competenze-trasversali-moocs/insegnamenti/insegnamento/2026/529212

 

Readings/Bibliography

Marie-France Merger & Lorella Sini, Le nouveau côte à côte, Amon, 2013

Teaching methods

Written translation:

• translation of various types of Italian texts into French (and/or vice versa)

• development of a coherent and cohesive translation strategy, in line with the target audience’s expectations and the intended context of use

• (General learning objectives)

Educational strategies and methodology:

• following a path of progressive difficulty, giving students a text, to be translated for the next lesson;

• during the next lesson: sharing of individual translations, discussion and negotiation of the text, and in-depth analysis of linguistic and methodological aspects.

Assessment methods

The written exam on the language component of the course (esercitazioni), must be passed before the exam of the official course. It will make up part of the final mark.

Written examination and final assessment:

• 1 final written examination (translation from Italian to French - approximately 300 words / time allowed: 3 hours): May/September/January session;

• Evaluation: understanding of the source-text; strategies adopted to translate linguistic variations or other features of the text; fluency of the translated text; Grammatical and lexical accuracy

During the exam students can use : monolingual and bilingual dictionaries, glossaries, course material, Internet, etc.

The use of AI tools during the examination is prohibited in any form, including chatbots, text generators, advanced translation tools, content synthesisers and tools built into devices. Any use of AI is considered a breach of the principle of honesty and fairness set out in the Policy and may result in the examination being cancelled by the lecturer.

N.B. Each part of the exam is valid for 4 exam sessions.

Teaching tools

• Teaching materials (PPT) uploaded to the virtual learning platform
• Text types: comics, children’s books, novels, essays, newspaper articles, songs
• Marie-France Merger & Lorella Sini, Le nouveau côte à côte, Amon, 2013

Office hours

See the website of Catia Nannoni