Essentials of translation (written intercultural mediation) – language C German, level 1 3200-L1-1PPPCN1
Essentials of translation: workshops, 30h.
Direction of translation: C–A.
Student’s time investment:
30 class hours
30hrs for individual preparation
In sum: 60hrs, which corresponds to 2 ECTS
The aim of the course is for the students to acquire basic skills in translation of non-literary but also non-specialist texts concerning the above topics.
COURSE CONTENTS:
1. Workflow and work hygiene;
2. Stages of translation, with a special focus on the production and verification of the target text;
3. Translator’s essential skills (evaluating the usefulness of information acquired, methods of working with dictionaries, encyclopaedias etc.; data search on the Internet and evaluation of data quality; application of parallel texts);
4. Techniques and strategies of translation (paraphrasing, syntactic transformations on sentence and paragraph levels, modifying word order to accommodate the theme-rheme structure, adequate means for providing cohesion;
5. Verifying collocations, using parallel and analogous texts, as well as corpora;
6. Ways of rendering various types of texts, of varied register, style and their markers – a practical approach;
7. Basic skills in the pragmatics of translation – defining the target readership and their needs with reference to a particular situation of translation;
8. Selected specific problems of Polish-English translational confrontation, e.g. non-equivalent vocabulary; proper names in languages A and in C, including the rules of transcription and transliteration; declension of foreign-language proper names in Polish; honorific forms, third-language and third-culture elements in translation.
9. Text revision and proofreading.
10. Editorial requirements.
FORMS OF WORK:
Among others: individual translation (at home or in class) and discussion on different solutions; consulting parallel or analogous texts and other resources; error identification and correction in one’s own work and in the exemplifying material provided by the teacher; exercises preventing interference, exercises focusing on enhancing text cohesion and coherence; glossary work; project work (team work).
METHODS OF WORK:
Discussion, group work, individual work, presentations, project work, etc.
SUBJECT MATTER OF THE TRANSLATED TEXTS:
political/economic/social matters, culture, geography/tourism, popular science
CREDIT REQUIREMENTS: presence and satisfactory performance in class, systematic preparation of translations assigned for the class, timely submission of translations (at least satisfactory) of all assigned texts and completing other tasks including, if required, an end-of-term translation or contribution to project work; satisfactory performance at mid-semester control tests and the final test.
Type of course
Mode
Prerequisites (description)
Course coordinators
Learning outcomes
Knowledge
After completing the course, the student:
- knows the basic terminology in the field of linguistics (including translation studies) (K1_W02)
- knows and understands the relationships between languages and their role in culture (K1_W07)
- knows and understands the basic concepts and principles of intellectual property protection and copyright (K1_W09)
- knows and understands the principles of professional ethics (K1_W13)
- has knowledge about designing a path for his/her own development and professional advancement (K1_W14)
- has basic knowledge of the principles of creating and developing various forms of entrepreneurship in the translation market (K1_W16)
- knows the basic types of translation, has knowledge of translation as a process, knows and is able to recognize the translator's role in the act of communication (S1.1_W06)
- knows and understands the basics of a translator's craft and the main translation techniques (S1.1_W08)
- knows the principles of professional ethics for a translator (S1.1_W13)
- understands the necessity of elf-education and deepening knowledge of translation and the latest translation technologies (S1.1_W14)
Skills
After completing the course, the student:
- has an advanced knowledge>understanding of the rules of correct Polish and applies them in practice (K1_U08)
- is able to use sources (dictionaries, lexicons, encyclopedias, parallel texts), adequately assessing their usefulness in searching for translation equivalents (S1.1_U03)
- is able to conduct a basic analysis of the source text, identifying the most important translation problems (S1.1_U04)
- is able to translate a relatively easy text from the foreign language studied into Polish and vice versa, meeting basic quality requirements (S1.1_U05)
- is able to accurately identify the intended recipient of the translation and apply translation techniques appropriate to his/her needs and the client's requirements (S1.1_U06)
- is able to know and reasonably apply modern information technologies in translation and text editing (S1.1_U07)
- is able to use corpus data in searching for equivalents and preparing translations (S1.1_U09)
Social competences
After completing the course, the student:
- is ready to think and act in an entrepreneurial manner within translation projects (K1_K08)
Assessment criteria
Credit is given on basis of: grades for particular assignments; continuous assessment (on basis of attendance, preparedness for the classes, participation in the discussions, individually done translation work, mid-term written tests, final test, end-of-term translation assignment). Each requirement, if assigned, must be fulfilled independently, hence their share in the final mark is not determined.
The criteria of grading written assignments:
99% – 100 – 5!
98% – 91% – 5
90% – 86% – 4.5
85% – 76% – 4
75% – 71% – 3.5
70% – 60% – 3
below this level – 2 (unsatisfactory – fail grade).
Two absences are allowed. (If the limit is exceeded, the student should ask the teacher for compensation assignments; if the number of absences exceeds 50%, the student fails the course in accordance with the Rules of Study).
Bibliography
Specified individually by particular teachers.
Additional information
Additional information (registration calendar, class conductors, localization and schedules of classes), might be available in the USOSweb system: