Finding an Audience. Translating Contemporary Polish Dramas 3301-JS2820
The central problem, says veteran translator Ranjit Bolt, is that "theoretically there is no such thing as translation. Translating a French word will never get its full implications across to the English - it's an impossibility." This is certainly a challenging position to absorb for potential translators of theatrical pieces. But it is a challenge which will be the motto of this course, which will look broadly at the issue of the translation of theatrical works. This approach will include textual analysis, historical and more recent case-studies and assessments of the careers of theatrical translation practitioners. The principle languages will be between Polish and English, but other European languages and their relationship with English and Polish may be considered and incorporated into the course. Of central importance in the course will be the idea of the play finding a home and an appreciative audience in a new culture and in this regard I will be presenting some histories of Irish plays in Poland and elsewhere. Students in turn will be welcome to propose their own case-studies – which may include musicals – for presentation in this regard, all of which will be established early on in the course.
Education at language level B2+."
Topics which will be discussed and taught:
1. Drama in translation as a cultural encounter
2. The voice of the practitioner (translator of drama)
3. Performability
4. Translation strategies for dialogue, lyric, register and cultural specific items
5. Re-location and acculturation
During the course we shall translate and discuss fragments of plays by the following Polish dramatists:
Tadeusz Słobodzianek, Dorota Masłowska, Sławomir Mrożek and Janusz Głowacki.
Other non-Polish playwrights which will feature as topics for discussion and comparison are:
George Bernard Shaw, Martin McDonagh, Sean O’Casey, Dario Fo, Samuel Beckett, Sarah Ruhl, and Tennessee
Williams
Type of course
Course coordinators
Learning outcomes
Knowledge: the graduate will be able to
K_W01 Identify and characterize on an advanced level the place and status of linguistics within the humanities (drama studies focused on text)
K_W02 Describe on an advanced level the current trends in into theatre translation within English studies
Abilities: the graduate is able to
K_U01 Apply advanced terminology and notions pertinent to the discipline (linguistics, literary studies, culture and religion studies)
K_U03 Apply knowledge obtained during the course of studies to account for and solve a problem, thereby completing a research task related to the discipline of translation studies; and finding next contexts in a new culture for translated plays.
K_U04 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; and understanding the concept of acculturation
K_U05 Discern alternative methodological paradigms within a discipline; such as theatre in translation as a meeting point for cultures.
K_U08 Participate in group projects, collaborate with others and be a team leader in conducting collaborative research, presentations and other tasks included in the curriculum; such as analysing the approach of the translator to theatrical commissions.
K_U09 Present knowledge in a coherent, precise and linguistically correct manner in English on level C2 according to the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages, ensuring an appropriate register and form
Social competences: the graduate is ready to
K_K02 Apply knowledge and skills obtained during the course of studies to undertake lifelong learning, as well as personal and professional development; for example, as a translator of theatrical texts
K_K03 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 translations studies and drama studies with a focus on text and performability, not to mention translation strategies for dialogue and lyrics).
K_K04 Assess critically one’s own knowledge and skills related to the translation of theatrical plays
Assessment criteria
* This course is for MA students
* Grading activities: Participation in class, presentations, term paper, translations.
* Retake exam: the completion of an extra task.
Two / three absences are allowed.
20% of absences is allowed.
Education at language level B2+."
Bibliography
BAKER, Mona (ed), Routledge Encyclopaedia of Translation Studies (London: Routledge, 2001/2005).
BASSNETT, Susan, ‘Ways through the labyrinth: strategies and methods for translating theatre texts’, in Theo Hermans (ed.) The manipulation of literature: studies in literary translation (New York: St. Martin Press, 1984, pp. 87-102).
- ‘Translating for the Theatre: the Case Against Performability’, in TTR: Traduction, Terminologie, Rédaction, vol. 4, n° 1 (Montréal: Association Canadienne de Traductologie, 1991: 99-111).
- ‘Still Trapped in the Labyrinth: Further Reflections on Translation and Theatre’ in Susan Bassnett & André Lefevere (ed), Constructing Cultures: Essays on Literary Translation (Clevedon/ Philadelphia/ Toronto/ Sydney/ Johannesburg: Multilingual Matters, 1998: 90-108).
CAMERON, Kate, ‘Performing Voices: Translation and Hélène Cixous’ in Carole- Anne Upton (ed), Moving Target: Theatre Translation and Cultural Relocation (Manchester, UK & Northampton, MA: St Jerome Publishing, 2000: 101-112).
De SENNA, Pedro, ‘This Blasted Translation: Or Location, Dislocation, Relocation’ in Journal of Adaptation in Film & Performance, vol. 2 n. 3 (Bristol: Intellect Books, 2009: 255-265).
ESPASA, Eva, ‘Performability in Translation: Speakability? Playability? Or just Saleability?’ in Carole-Anne Upton (ed), Moving Target: Theatre Translation and Cultural Relocation (Manchester, UK & Northampton, MA: St Jerome Publishing, 2000: 49-62).
FERNANDES, Alinne Balduino Pires, ‘Between words and silences: Translating for stage and the enlargement of paradigms’ in Scientia Traductionis 7 (2010): 119-133.
KEANE, Barry. Irish Drama in Poland. Staging and Reception 1900-2000 (Bristol: Intellect Ltd, 2016).
SNELL-HORNBY, Mary, ‘Is This a Dagger Which I see Before me? The non-verbal language of drama’ in Fernando Poyatos (ed), Nonverbal Communication and Translation (London: John Benjamins Publishing, 1997: 187-202).
- The Turns of Translation Studies: New Paradigms or Shifting Viewpoints? (Amsterdam/ Philadelphia: Johns Benjamins Publishing, 2006).
VENUTI, Lawrence, The Translator’s Invisibility (London/ New York: Routledge, 1995).
* Important sources will also be e-teatr.pl and miscellaneous reviews from broadsheets and trade press.
Additional information
Additional information (registration calendar, class conductors, localization and schedules of classes), might be available in the USOSweb system: