29736 - Translation - English (LM)

Learning outcomes

The students are expected to have a good knowledge of the main theoretical issues in the field of Translation Studies and to be able to produce effective translations of different text types.

Course contents

 

The course is for the students of the II level degree course in ‘Language, Society and Communication' (LSC).

It will be offered in the second semester (all semester).

 

Course contents: Translation Studies: Theory and Practice

 

The course aims at introducing the contemporary debate about Translation Studies, and at providing the students with the methodology and the tools necessary to translate different text-types. Both the theoretical approach and its practical application aim in particular at showing how translation is not only a linguistic operation, but also a cultural one.

The course combines a theoretical and a practical approach. Lectures will provide an overview of scholarly research on translation, with particular attention to contemporary cultural-linguistic perspectives – especially those of Anglophone scholars. Such approaches will then be tested in the translation, from English into Italian, of different text-types: specialized (e.g., in the field of social science); semi-specialized (e.g., popular science and business in press magazines; tourist guides), and literary. They will have a certain degree of sophistication, but will not be of an exceedingly technical/complex nature. Approaches of some scholars who study translation from a systemic functional linguistics perspective will be also presented.

Considering aspects such as the inextricable link between text and context, the professional task of the translator, his/her identity and “visibility”, his/her ethics, the role of the commissioner, the purpose/function of a translation, the main types of translation and of translation strategies, the lectures will be strongly connected to the practical activity of translating, focussing on both the process of translation and the product. Methodologies will be suggested in order to solve problems arising, e.g., from cultural differences, linguistic varieties and language for specific purposes.

Students will be asked to translate short authentic texts and to discuss the translation problems they encountered, as well as the strategies they employed.

 

NOTE:

Since translation practice aims at producing texts that, in the publishing world/industry, require a native-speaker competence, the official course (Translation Studies) is exclusively based on translation from English into Italian. Therefore, it is highly recommended for native speakers of Italian. Non-native speakers of Italian should have a high proficiency in writing skills, because final evalutation will focus on the Italian target text and will not make exceptions for non-proficient Italian.

 

The course will include language classes (esercitazioni), strictly linked to the official course (Translation Studies).

 

Readings/Bibliography

 

Main course-book:

 

· Munday, Jeremy (2012), Introducing Translation Studies: Theories and Applications, 3rd edition, London/New York, Routledge.

 

The text will be available for students at the Department of Modern Languages, Literatures and Cultures library and also at Feltrinelli International, in Via Zamboni 7, Bologna (or it can be ordered online at http://www.amazon.com.)

 

Further Required Reading:

 

· Hatim, Basil & Mason, Ian (1990), Discourse and the Translator, London/New York, Longman: pp. 38-54.

 

· Manfredi, Marina (2008), Translating Text and Context: Translation Studies and Systemic Functional Linguistics, Vol. I, Translation Theory, Bologna, Dupress.

 

· Taylor, Christopher (1998), Language to Language, Cambridge, CUP: pp. 47-64 (for the Comment on Translation Strategies); pp. 112-126.

 

The texts will be available for students at the Department library. The Manfredi book will also be at Libreria Irnerio, in via Irnerio 27, Bologna.

 

Further bibliographical information will be provided during the course: the definitive programme will be available at http://campus.cib.unibo.it and the material (selected pages, chapters and articles) will be available at one of the photocopy shops in the vicinity of the Department. A list of recommended dictionaries will also be offered.

 

The texts for the practice of translation (exclusively drawn from authentic published sources) will be made available in a copy centre near the Department during the course and the source texts will be also published online (in ‘campus'), before each translation class.

 

As regards the language component (esercitazioni), a ‘dispensa' will be available from the copy centres in via Cartoleria and online at http://campus.cib.unibo.it, by the beginning of the course.

 

Teaching methods

 

Active class participation is strongly recommended. Translation is a practical activity and class work offers a good opportunity to focus on problems, look for diverse feasible solutions to solve them and to discuss the effects of certain choices. Moreover, class work offers the possibility to concretely practice the application of theoretical notions from the discipline of Translation Studies.

 

 

Official course (Translation Studies):

The official course (6 hours a week, all II semester) involves the following activities:

a) Lectures held by the professor of the course;

b) Individual study of course texts;

c) Other activities including:

- the translation of short texts – specialized, semi-specialized and literary – in small groups or individually;

- discussion of translation problems encountered and the problem-solving strategies adopted.

 

All students who regularly attend the lectures will be able to access a selection of the class PPTs through an online Distribution List.

 

Note: Students are advised to possess a C1 level in the source language (i.e., English), especially in reading/textual analysis and writing skills, and a high level of language competence in the target language (i.e., Italian, preferably as mother tongue or language of habitual use), in writing skills.

 

Language componenent(Esercitazioni):

The course will include 36 hours of language classes (esercitazioni), which will be held by Dr. Nigel James.

Language classes aim at the acquisition of communicative language skills through various activities. The focus is on the translation, from Italian into English, of a wide variety of text types which are commonly translated into the second language in the professional world. Principal text types include: tourism-related texts, technical brochures, promotional material, and promotional/informative circular letters, and abstracts of scientific articles.

 

Both the official course (Translation Studies) and the language classes (esercitazioni) will be held in the second semester.

 

Dr. N. James' office hours: see  http://people.unibo.it/it/nigel.james

 

Students are advised to regularly consult the PERSONAL WEB PAGE of their Professor (Manfredi), where all notices are kept up to date.

 

 

Assessment methods

 

The final exam linked to the official course (Translation Studies) will consist of a written test and an oral test. It will count for 75% of the mark.

 

In addition, there will also be a written exam on the language component of the course (esercitazioni).  Students must pass this written part of the exam before they can take the oral exam and register their final mark on almaesami. This exam accounts for approximately 25 % of the final mark.

 

 

Exam structure

 

Official course (Translation Studies):

The final exam will consist of a written test and an oral test. Its main component is the written exam, which consists of  2 parts (3 sections):

 

Part 1

(A) The first part (Section A) focusses on the theory of translation. Students are asked to provide answers to various types of theoretical questions, in English (maximum of 18, and a ‘bonus' one, which is optional) on translation theory (based on the main textbook and the required reading). These questions can be ‘multiple choice', ‘True/False' and ‘yes/no', students may also be asked to ‘match items' and/or ‘fill in the blanks' (with items provided below), or to complete a brief ‘cloze'-type passage. Finally, they may be requested to answer ‘open-ended' questions requiring a brief answer (in English). Time allowed to perform task ‘A' is 45 minutes. No dictionaries are allowed for task A.

 

Part 2

The second part of the exam tests the ability to translate from English into Italian and an awareness of the translator's task. It consists of sections B and C.

(B) Section B is centred on translation practice. Students will be required to provide a translation, from English into Italian, of a specialized/ semi-specialized or literary text (roughly 300 words), which can be chosen between 2 proposed. The translation task will be introduced by a communicative situation and by a professional-like translation ‘commission', to guide the student in his/her assignment. Texts-types will be similar to those dealt with during the course (source texts will be available online at http://campus.cib.unibo.it and at one of the photocopy shops near the Department).

 

(C) Section C is centred on a comment on translation strategies. Students will be asked to offer a brief comment (in English) on the main translation strategies they have employed in their own translation, following J. Malone's (1988) approach and terminology as illustrated by C. Taylor (1998) – see Required reading. They are asked to comment on them, offering some illustrative examples and explaining briefly – but in cohesive prose, rather than schematically – the reason(s) and/ or effect(s) of their choices.

Time allowed to perform tasks in part ‘2' (B and C) is 3 hours. The use of all kinds of dictionaries is permitted for part 2 (monolingual, bilingual, synonyms), but not in electronic form.

A Facsimile of the exam will be provided online during the course, at http://campus.cib.unibo.it.

 

The oral exam (in English) – which must be taken after passing the written one and also the written exam on the language component (esercitazioni) – starts from a brief discussion of the student's written exam and expands on some theoretical issues mainly based on the texts to be found on a list of selected readings (short articles and book chapters), among which the student can freely choose (both list and material will be made available during the course).

 

Language componenent (Esercitazioni):

The written exam for the ‘esercitazioni' component will be a practical translation, from Italian into English, of approximately 250 words. There will be one translation offered and it will be of a type similar to the text types offered during the course. Time allowed to perform the task is 90 minutes. The use of monolingual and bilingual dictionaries is permitted.

A Facsimile will be available online (see Prof. M. Manfredi, ‘materiale didattico': http://campus.cib.unibo.it) at the beginning of lessons.

 

 

Marking criteria and levels

 

As far as the official course (Translation Studies) is concerned, section ‘A' is worth a maximum of 9 points; section ‘B' a maximum of 15 points and section ‘C' a maximum of 6 points (a score of 30 points corresponds to a mark of 30/30). Part ‘1' (Theory) and Part ‘2' (Practice) cannot be taken separately. They must be taken in the same ‘appello' and the mark of the written exam will be the sum of scores obtained in ‘A' + ‘B' + ‘C'.

The oral exam gives the student the possibility to raise the mark obtained in the written exam, by adding up to 3 points.

 

Evaluation will be based on the student's performance in the various components of the exam. Translation practice, from English into Italian, will be evaluated along a range of possibilities typically related to translation, i.e., positively, from ‘brilliant' to ‘appropriate' and to ‘satisfactory' (which broadly correspond to ‘excellent', ‘good', ‘satisfactory'), or negatively, from ‘inappropriate', to ‘undesirable'/‘approximative'/‘misleading' and to ‘containing serious errors'. However, translation competence is not sufficient to get a high mark and even to pass the exam: students also need to show they are able to discuss their translation choices and demonstrate knowledge of the main theories of Translation Studies, and how to apply them. Thus, students who produce an effective and accurate translation from English into Italian – functionally equivalent to the source text and acceptable for the communicative situation that is intended for in the target language and context –, who show the ability to discuss their translation method and critically justify their translation choices, who show a good knowledge of the main theories of translation and the capacity to apply the theoretical concepts to the analysis of translation products, using the proper metalanguage, will obtain an excellent mark. Students who produce a mediocre translation, who justify their choices in a mechanical way and who show an imprecise knowledge of the main translation theories without the capacity to apply them will pass the exam but with a low mark. Finally, students who display seriously insufficient translation competence, analytical capacity and theoretical awareness will not pass the exam.

 

Language componenent (Esercitazioni):

In order to obtain a good pass mark, students must: focus attention on the source message in both linguistic/stylistic features and subject matter; bring the target text closer to the target reader whilst adhering as closely as possible to the linguistic elements of the source text. Lexico-grammatical accuracy is of major importance. Papers will be assessed on the basis of language requirements at the C2 level of the Common European Framework.

 

The final mark is calculated as follows: the score obtained in the Translation Studies component (written exam + oral exam) is multiplied by 3, and added to the score obtained in the language component. This figure is divided by 4.

Students who pass the written exam components with a score of at least 18/30 may NOT take the exam again. Marks obtained in written exams remain valid for 4 exam sessions (starting from May 2015).

 

Written exams take place once in each exam session; oral exams are held twice. It is not obligatory to pass the two written exams in the same exam session, but it is not possible to take the oral and register the final mark for the overall course until all exam components have been passed.

 

The exam is the same for attenders and non-attenders.

 

Teaching tools

Lectures will involve Power Point presentations.

Translation practice (English-Italian) will involve groupwork and the use of dictionaries.

 

Links to further information

http://tp://www.unibo.it/docenti/marina.manfredi

Office hours

See the website of Marina Manfredi