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2010/1 Module Catalogue
 Module Code: TRAM178 Module Title: TRANSLATING CULTURES
Module Provider: Language & Translation Studies Short Name: TRAM178
Level: M Module Co-ordinator: ASIMAKOULAS D Dr (Lang & Trans)
Number of credits: 15 Number of ECTS credits: 7.5
 
Module Availability

Semester 1
Assessment Pattern

Unit(s) of Assessment
Weighting Towards Module Mark (%)
1 guided commentary
30%
1 essay of 3000 words
70%
Qualifying Condition(s): An average mark of 50% is required to pass the module.

Module Overview

This module focuses on issues of global, national, regional and gender identities through the lens of translation activity. Translation will be examined in a broad rather than a narrow sense, as a metaphor for processes of meaning-making in a complex and highly mediated world. The module will focus on the linguistic and cultural resources employed by translators to assimilate, channel and exploit discourses and voices in their respective environments. Examples are offered from the areas of literature, tourism, politics and journalism. The module is suitable for students with different language backgrounds.
Prerequisites/Co-requisites

None.
Module Aims

This module is designed to offer students an overview of translation as a site of power struggle, and of articulation/legitimation of specific types of identity. The central issues addressed concern the ways in which translation is influenced by the context in which it emerges, but also the ways in which it is used to ‘manage’ thresholds of similarity and otherness. Throughout the semester, the analytical usefulness of various conceptual tools will be examined from the angle of ideological/cultural awareness and problem-solving.

Learning Outcomes
On successful completion of this module, students will be able to:
  • relate the fundamentals of key theoretical approaches to the researching of cultural facets of translation;
  • discuss the complex interaction of language resources and institutional or personal agendas in source and target texts;
  • trace and analyse the intercultural factors affecting specific outputs in translation activity;
  • develop/make effective use of relevant conceptual tools that will be transferable to other modules in their programme;
  • practise problem-solving and priority-setting skills which will be useful for future employment, for example, in the translation world.
Module Content
  • Introduction to key concepts pertaining to culture and culture-specific experiences;
  • Practice in applying these concepts to students’ respective source text-target text language pairs; practical ST analysis exercises;
  • Integration of cultural, political, ideological and ethical considerations as well as aspects of audience design in translation;
  • Ideological manipulation and the notion of hybridity in translation;
  • Exploration of issues pertaining to social movements and/or (the role of) politicized translation;
  • The differential ‘framing’ or organisation of experience in culturally-bound texts.
Methods of Teaching/Learning

2 hours per week for 1 semester: 20-22 hours’ class contact over the semester. Interactive language seminars (in English) including practical tasks; lesson materials will focus on translations into or from English, so they will be accessible to students of varied language backgrounds.
Selected Texts/Journals
Passages for analysis and relevant case-studies are provided by the lecturer.
 
Essential reading:
Bassnett, Susan and André Lefevere (eds)   (1998) Constructing Cultures: Essays on Literary Translation. Clevedon: Multilingual Matters.
Calzada Pérez, Maria (ed.)(2003)Apropos of Ideology. Translation Studies on Ideology – Ideologies in Translation Studies, Manchester: St. Jerome Publishing.
Cronin, Michael (2003) Translation and Globalization. London and New York: Routledge.
Dann, Graham. (1996) The Language of Tourism. A Sociolinguistic Perspective. Wallingford: CAB International.
Hickey, Leo (ed.) (1998) The Pragmatics of Translation. Clevedon: Multilingual Matters.
Katan, David (2004) Translating Cultures, Manchester: St Jerome Publishing.
Pym, Anthony (ed.) (2001) “The Return to Ethics” Special Issue of The Translator, 7(2).
Robinson, Douglas (1997) Translation and Empire. Postcolonial Theories Explained. Manchester: St. Jerome Publishing.
Snell-Hornby, Mary, Zuzana Jettmarová and Klaus Kaindl (eds) (1997) Translation as Intercultural Communication: Selected Papers from the EST Congress, Prague 1995. Amsterdam: John Benjamins.
Snell-Hornby, Mary, Franz Pöchhacker and Klaus Kaindl (eds) (1994) Translation Studies: An Interdiscipline: Selected Papers from the Translation Studies Congress, Vienna 1992. Amsterdam: John Benjamins.
 
Recommended reading:
Anderman, Gunilla (ed.) (2007) Voices in Translation: Bridging Cultural Divides. Clevedon, Buffalo, Toronto: Multilingual Matters.
Bielsa, Esperanc"§a and Susan Bassnett (2009) Translation in Global News. London & NY: Routledge.
Cronin, Michael (2006) Translation and Identity. London and New York: Routledge.
Harvey, Keith (2003) Intercultural Movements. American Gay in French Translation. Manchester: St. Jerome Publishing.
Khan A. Mahmood, Michael D. Olsen and Turgut Var (eds) (1993) Van Nostrand Reinhold’s Encyclopedia of Hospitality and Tourism. New York: International Thomson Publishing.
Schäffner, Christina and Anita Wenden (eds) Language and Peace. Aldershot: Dartmouth Publishing.
Torresi, Ira (2010) Translating Promotional and Advertising Texts. Manchester: St Jerome Publishing.
Trosborg, Anna (ed.) (1997). Text Typology and Translation. Amsterdam and Philadelphia: John Benjamins Publishing.
Venuti, Lawrence (ed.) (2004) The Translation Studies Reader. New York and London: Routledge.
von Flotow, Luise (1997) Translation and Gender. Translating in the Era of Feminism. Manchester: St Jerome Publishing.
 
Background reading in the following journals:

Annals of Tourism Research – Tourism Studies – Current Issues in Tourism – Babel – CULTUS – Meta – Perspectives/Studies in Translatology – Target – The Translator - Journal of Pragmatics – Communication Studies- Journal of Language and Politics – Language in Society – Journal of Multilingual and Multicultural Development.

Last Updated

17 December 2010