94907 - Interpretation From Italian Into English (Language C) I

Academic Year 2022/2023

  • Teaching Mode: Traditional lectures
  • Campus: Forli
  • Corso: Second cycle degree programme (LM) in Interpreting (cod. 8060)

    Also valid for Second cycle degree programme (LM) in Interpreting (cod. 8060)

Learning outcomes

L.O. 1

Students acquire and develop the basic techniques associated with both consecutive and simultaneous interpreting, i.e. sight translation, memory and recall, note-taking, reformulation, split attention, décalage, anticipation and delivery.

L.O. 2

Students practise, personalise and fine-tune their interpreting skills from Italian into English.

Course contents

Interpreting is a craft, a combination of innate and acquired skills that requires time and patience, but above all, practice, to be mastered. By breaking down the complex skills of conference interpreting and practising each one in isolation, would-be interpreters will be able to internalise them and employ them automatically. This means that their mental capacity can now be focused on another skill or task, in this case the language adroitness and fluency required of non-native interpreters.

The course will focus on several key components of conference interpreting, including:

active and passive listening;

speech/text analysis;

comprehension;

information processing and storing; and

re-expressing.

Students will implement the strategies acquired during the first semester, including reformulation and problem-solving strategies that are particularly useful when dealing with complex Italian syntax and register, information density, and other challenges, such as speed of delivery and something so seemingly simple as numbers.

As students will be working into a TL that is not their mother tongue, exercises and tips will be proffered to ensure the use of simple but effective and prevalent forms of expression in English. Also, students will be coached in public speaking, as this is an important part of their training. And as general knowledge is crucial due to the broad range of topics covered in meetings, students will need to ensure they keep abreast of current affairs, culture-bound concepts, etc.

Readings/Bibliography

(Req)uired Reading, (Rec)ommended Reading

  1. (REQ) BERSANI B., MACK, G. and ZORZI, D. (Eds.), Linguistica e interpretazione, CLUEB Bologna, Biblioteca della SSLMIT- Forlì, 2004.
  2. (REQ) FALBO C., RUSSO M., STRANIERO SERGIO F. (Eds.), Interpretazione simultanea e consecutiva. Problemi teorici e metodologie didattiche, Hoepli, Milano, 1999.
  3. (REQ) GILE D., Basic Concepts and Models for Interpreter and Translator Training, Benjamins, Amsterdam/Philadelphia, 1995.
  4. (REQ) GILLIES A., Note-taking for Consecutive Interpreting. A Short Course, Second Edition, Routledge, London, 2017.
  5. (REQ) PÖCHHACKER F. and SHLESINGER M. (Eds.), The Interpreting Studies Reader, Routledge, London, 2002.
  6. (REQ) PÖCHHACKER F., Introducing Interpreting Studies, Routledge, London, 2004.
  7. (REQ) ROZAN J-F., La Prise de Notes en Interprétation Consécutive, Librairie de l'Université, Genève, 1956.
  8. (REQ) VIEZZI M. and GARZONE G. (Eds), Interpreting in the 21st Century, Benjamins, Amsterdam/Philadelphia, 2002 [pp 95-106, 121-130].
  9. (REC) GAIBA F., The Origins of Simultaneous Interpretation: The Nuremberg Trial, Ottawa University Press, Ottawa, 1998.
  10. (REC) GRAN L., L’annotazione grafica nell’interpretazione consecutiva, Università degli Studi di Trieste, Trieste, 1985.
  11. (REC) RICCARDI A., Dalla traduzione all'interpretazione. Studi di interpretazione simultanea, LED Edizioni Universitarie, Milano, 2003.
  12. (REC) VIEZZI M., Aspetti della qualità in interpretazione, Sert, Trieste, 1996.
  13. www.aiic.net

Teaching methods

Original speeches (in video or audio format) on a multitude of topics, ranging from politics to finance, from the environment to the refugee crisis, will be used to train students.

Students will be shown how to prepare for an interpreting job and will be given or be asked to prepare glossaries for upcoming exercises.

Lessons will be held remotely on Zoom. Students with English as their B language will be assigned a booth for the duration of the course.

Students will also be provided with guidelines on how to practise at home.

In view of the adopted teaching methods, and in order to attend the course, students are required to participate in Training Modules 1 and 2 on safe and healthy learning environments [https://elearning-sicurezza.unibo.it/] in e-learning mode.

Assessment methods

Students will be assessed during all lessons and feedback will be provided on their progress and performance in consecutive and simultaneous interpreting. The focus will be their ability to use the techniques and strategies proposed during the course and their linguistic dexterity.

At the end of the academic year, students will be required to provide an exact and faithful reproduction of a speech from Italian into English, in both consecutive and simultaneous form. The topics of the consecutive (+- 5 minutes) and simultaneous (+-7-8 minutes) interpreting exams will be current and/or social, political and economic affairs or any of the topics dealt with during the year. The topic(s) of the exam will be communicated to the students five days in advance via Moodle. The results of the exam will be published on Moodle a few days after the exam (to respect their privacy, only the registration numbers of the students will be shown).

The exam will account for 50% of the final mark of the EN&IT interpreting module. The final grade is the combined result of all four exams (Consecutive IT><EN and Simultaneous IT ><EN). Students who pass at least 50% of the exams they are required to do are entitled to keep the grades and finalise their overall mark once they have done all four exams (see "Congelamenti" under Interpreting EN>IT).

If this course has been selected as an optional course by students with English as their B Language, it will count as a separate exam and not as part of the Interpreting EN>IT module.

Rifiuto del voto: Students can choose to re-take a module or the entire exam ONLY ONCE.

Students with English A: If a student chooses to re-take both exams into English, but does not pass both exams into Italian, then the student will be required to sit the entire exam again (regardless of his/her grade) as 50% of the two modules has not been passed.

Grading for both consecutive and simultaneous (indicative, more details will be provided closer to the end of the academic year):

Between 28 and 30 with honours:

complete and accurate reproduction of the ST (source text) in the TL;

minor mistakes that do not distort the cohesion and sense of the original speech;

appropriate language and register;

insignificant grammatical and pronunciation errors.

Between 25-27 (Good) or 21-24 (Fair):

few omissions or inaccuracies (provided they are not serious);

mistakes that only slightly impact the cohesion and sense of the original speech;

occasional unfitting use of language and register;

minor grammatical, syntactic and pronunciation errors.

Passing grade (between 18 and 20):

omissions and distortions that do not affect the message of the original;

mistakes in language use and register that do not affect the audience's comprehension;

grammatical, syntactic and pronunciation errors that do not vex a native speaker.

Fail (below 18):

significant inconsistencies and major errors;

distortions, additions and/or omissions of key concepts;

mistakes in target language grammar/syntax/word choice and pronunciation that hinder comprehension.

A consecutive that is long-winded and convoluted and lasts longer than the original is an automatic fail.

Teaching tools

The following tools will be used (this is merely an indicative list):

audio and video recordings;

digital or printed documents;

electronic dictionaries;

glossaries.

Office hours

See the website of Veronica Irene Cioni