Contemporary Approaches to Translation Studies I 3301-JS2803
Although work is planned for a fifteen-week semester, eleven main topics will be brought to the foreground for analysis, reflection and discussion. Some will obviously cover more than one week. The aim of the course is not only to introduce students to how Translation Studies has been perceived over the last few decades in Poland and the Western World but also to show what is actually involved in the translation process of a literary text. It is also necessary to look into what lies behind every translation action.The eleven topics are:
1. What the notion 'Translation Studies' actually means and how the central issues were perceived in 1981 by Susan Bassnett, one of the main promoters of the discipline.
2. How we understand those central issues today and how certain approaches have changed over the last few decades.
3. What Translation Studies is concerned with today.
4. Approaching translation as a cross-cultural event as represented by Mary Snell-Hornby's integrated approach to Translation Studies.
5. DTS (Descriptive Translation Studies) and the target-text oriented approach to translation.
6. The Manipulation School and the notion of 'rewriting literary fame'.
7. The Functionalist Approach to translation as represented by H.Vermeer and K.Reiss in their 'skopostheorie'.
8. The understanding of 'adequacy' and 'equivalence', also from the point of view of Vermeer, Reiss, and as promoted by Christiane Nord.
9. The notion of fidelity in correspondence with Lawrence Venuti's understanding of 'foreignization' and 'domestication'.
10. The translator's (in)visibility and what this involves.
11. A review of the different 'turns' Translation Studies has taken over the last thirty years and the state of the discipline today.
Literature accompanying the above topics can be found in the list below. When necessary, additional reading material will be provided. To illustrate certain problems, different translations will be brought into class for analysis and discussion. Students will also be given the opportunity to do their own translations and time will be provided for discussion.
Education at the language level B2+
Type of course
Mode
Prerequisites (description)
Course coordinators
Learning outcomes
Knowledge: the student will be able to
- Identify and characterize on an advanced level the place and status of linguistics and translation studies within the humanities
- Describe on an advanced level the current trends in linguistic and translation research within English studies
Abilities: the student is able to
- Apply advanced terminology and notions pertinent to the discipline (linguistics / translation studies, literary studies, culture and religion studies)
- Apply knowledge obtained during the course of studies to account for and solve a problem, thereby completing a research task related to the discipline linguistics
- Analyze linguistic, literary and cultural phenomena and draw generalizations on their basis in the context of societal, historical and economic factors on an advanced level
- Discern alternative methodological paradigms within a given discipline
- Participate in group projects, collaborate with others and be a team leader in conducting collaborative research, presentations and other tasks included in the curriculum
- Present knowledge in a coherent, precise and linguistically correct manner in English on the C2 level according to the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages, ensuring an appropriate register and form
Social competences: the student is ready to
- Apply knowledge and skills obtained during the course of studies to undertake lifelong learning, as well as personal and professional development
- Take responsibility for performing one’s professional duties, with due respect for the work of others, obey and develop the ethical norms in professional and academic settings related to the disciplines included in the curriculum of English studies
- Assess critically one’s own knowledge and skills related to the studies
Assessment criteria
Requirements: Regular class attendance and participation in discussions (max. 3 absences are allowed); 3-4 short translation tasks during the course; a semester paper on a chosen subject but linked to the issues discussed throughout the course. The work should not exceed 1 500 words.
Bibliography
Bassnett, Susan (1991) Translation Studies, rev. ed. London & New York: Routledge.
Bassnett, Susan & André Lefevere (1998) Constructing Cultures. Essays on Literary Translation, Clevedon: Multilingual Matters.
Bowker, Lynne et al eds (1998) Unity in Diversity? Current Trends in Translation Studies, Manchester UK: St Jerome Publishing.
Gentzler, Edwin (1993) Contemporary Translation Theories, London & New York: Routledge.
Kuhiwczak, Piotr & Karin Littau eds. (2007) A Companion to Translation Studies, Clevedon: Multilingual Matters.
Nord, Christiane (1997) Translating as a Purposeful Activity. Functionalist Approaches Explained.
Snell-Hornby, Mary (1995) Translation Studies: An Integrated Approach, rev. ed. Amsterdam/Philadelphia: John Benjamins Publishing Company.
Snell-Hornby, Mary (2006) The Turns of Translation Studies, Amsterdam/Philadelphia: John Benjamins Publishing Company.
Venuti, Lawrence (1995) The Translator's Invisibility. A History of Translation, London & New York: Routledge.
Wierzbicka, Anna (1997) Understanding Cultures through Their Key Words: English, Russian, Polish, German, Japanese, New York & Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Additional information
Additional information (registration calendar, class conductors, localization and schedules of classes), might be available in the USOSweb system: