69309 - Translation from Italian into French I (First Language)

Course contents

The course aims to introduce students to the theoretical and practical elements of translating from Italian to French. The course will give the students translation skills in dealing with texts of varying content and increasing difficulty. In particular, emphasis will be placed on:

- the methodological skills: text translation analysis (type of text, senders and recipients communicative contents and intentions...) and the ability to carry out documentary and terminological research on line;

- disciplinary skills: becoming progressively familiar with a range of disciplines and their specific languages;

- language skills: in order to reach a correct level of written French. The course provides an analysis of examples of interferences between the source language and the target language;

- editorial skills: introduction to basic French typography rules.

Readings/Bibliography

GRAMMAR BOOKS

Compulsory

Le nouveau côte à côte, M.F. Merger, L. Sini, Amon, 2013

Recommended

F. BIDAUD, Grammaire du français pour Italophones + Exercices de grammaire française pour Italophones, Utet Università

 

DICTIONARIES

Dictionnaire unilingue : Le Petit Robert

(Edition Abonnés - logiciel en ligne recommended )

& « Les Usuels » :

• Dictionnaire des synonymes, nuances et contraires, Le Robert
• Dictionnaire des combinaisons de mots, Le Robert

Teaching methods

The course includes:

Part I - translations periodically assigned as homework (via the Virtuale e-learning platform) with discussions during the lesson and individual feedback.

Part II - a comparative Italian / French linguistic study and exercises (classroom and homework assignments) to consolidate grammatical structures and to focus on interference between Italian and French on a syntactic / morphological level. A "flipped-classroom" approach will be proposed and importance will be given to the development of the learner's autonomy in his/her learning. Therefore, in order to give more space to active participation during the lessons, learners will be asked to prepare themselves each week following the indications provided during the course.

Students must attend 70% of the lessons held during the course.

Assessment methods

• Two short mid-term tests for the Italian / French contrastive part: students will be asked to translate sentences containing examples of interference at a syntactic/morphological level. Dictionaries may not be used. The test accounts for 1/3rd of the overall grade for the active translation.

• Final exam (3-hour written examination): students will be asked to translate a text (250-300 words) belonging to one of the text types introduced in class. Consultation of dictionaries and a selection of on-line resources will be permitted. The final exam accounts for 2/3rd of the overall grade for the active translation.

The final registered mark will be an average of each subject’s mark: French > Italian translation (1st semester) and Italian > French translation (2nd semester).

Learning assessment scale:

30-30L: Excellent level. The candidate possesses excellent translation skills, with a very high level of competence in the target language.

27-29: Above average level. The candidate makes only minor errors, and shows a solid command of the required skills and competences.

24–26: Generally sound level. The candidate displays a number of shortcomings, indicating a reasonable command of the required skills and competences.

21-23: Adequate level. The candidate displays significant shortcomings and only an adequate command of the required skills and competences.

18–20: Minimum level. The candidate only meets the minimum level required and shows a minimal command of the required skills and competences.

< 18 Fail: The candidate does not meet the required standard and shows a wholly inadequate command of the required skills and competences.

Teaching tools

- Material provided by the instructor (authentic texts selected on the basis of linguistic, functional and socio-cultural objectives): tourist information leaflets, informative and didactic leaflets (Ministry of Health), administrative communications, press articles…;

- Paper-based (monolingual/bilingual dictionaries, thesaurus, grammar reference books, etc.) or multimedia (on line dictionaries, on line documentation, etc.) tools, which are recommended when tackling translation exercises;

- Use of communication resources on the Virtuale E-learning platform (compulsory)

- use of Power Point presentations (which can be downloaded on the Virtuale E-learning platform)

The login password will be provided during the first lesson.

Office hours

See the website of Samantha Iafrate