Theory and Techniques of English Translation
A.Y. 2019/2020
Learning objectives
The aim of this course is to provide students with methodological tools to analyse a literary text from a translation perspective. Students will learn how to examine a text from a linguistic, stylistic and rhetorical point of view, taking into consideration the historical-cultural context in which the text was written and its authorial and linguistic peculiarities. The course also aims at increasing the students' awareness of the different issues a translator should tackle; in fact, a selected choice of texts written in English will be addressed considering the interdependence between client/publisher, translator and model reader.
Expected learning outcomes
At the end of the course students will be familiar with the main theories that have animated and still animate the international panorama of Translation Studies. Particular attention will be paid to contemporary translation theories - from the 1950s to the present - and to the Translation Studies perspective. In addition, students will be able to identify the dominant of a text, the model reader of its translation and the main rhetorical, linguistic and cultural aspects of the source text, paying particular attention to its literary genre and linguistic variety. Thanks to different translation techniques students will be able to cope with the deforming tendencies, manipulations and rewritings that every text can undergo in translation, and they will reflect on the ethics of difference in translation.
Lesson period: year
Assessment methods: Esame
Assessment result: voto verbalizzato in trentesimi
Single course
This course cannot be attended as a single course. Please check our list of single courses to find the ones available for enrolment.
Course syllabus and organization
Single session
Lesson period
year
Course syllabus
The course, whose title is Translating Otherness. Translation as the ethics of difference, consists of the following three units:
A: Contemporary translation theories (20 hours, 3 credits)
B: Translating the 20th and 21st centuries (20 hours, 3 credits)
C: Women in translation (20 hours, 3 credits)
Students who want to acquire 6 credits should study units A and B; students intending to acquire 9 credits should study the whole program (units A, B and C).
Units A and B will be taught in the second semester.
Unit A will provide an overview of the main theories that have characterised Translation Studies, with particular reference to the theories that have shaped the different contemporary approaches and methodologies in the field of Translation Studies. In Unit B, students will be asked to translate texts by 20th and 21st century anglophone writers, which will be then analyzed in class, in light of the self/other paradigm, as well as of the foreignizing and domesticating strategies. The discussion is also meant to build a critical approach towards the transparency and opacity of translation in relation to cultural difference. Finally, unit C promotes a critical reflection on the translation of women's voices and of genders, in order to identify the deforming tendencies and the manipulations or rewritings that might affect translated texts.
The course program is accepted until February 2021. Since the summer session of 2021, students will have to study the 2020-21 course program exclusively.
A: Contemporary translation theories (20 hours, 3 credits)
B: Translating the 20th and 21st centuries (20 hours, 3 credits)
C: Women in translation (20 hours, 3 credits)
Students who want to acquire 6 credits should study units A and B; students intending to acquire 9 credits should study the whole program (units A, B and C).
Units A and B will be taught in the second semester.
Unit A will provide an overview of the main theories that have characterised Translation Studies, with particular reference to the theories that have shaped the different contemporary approaches and methodologies in the field of Translation Studies. In Unit B, students will be asked to translate texts by 20th and 21st century anglophone writers, which will be then analyzed in class, in light of the self/other paradigm, as well as of the foreignizing and domesticating strategies. The discussion is also meant to build a critical approach towards the transparency and opacity of translation in relation to cultural difference. Finally, unit C promotes a critical reflection on the translation of women's voices and of genders, in order to identify the deforming tendencies and the manipulations or rewritings that might affect translated texts.
The course program is accepted until February 2021. Since the summer session of 2021, students will have to study the 2020-21 course program exclusively.
Prerequisites for admission
The course, taught entirely in Italian, the course materials and the bibliography require a good competence both in English and Italian. Erasmus students and students participating in other mobility projects are invited to send an email to [email protected] in order to discuss any necessary adaptations of the course program.
Teaching methods
The course employs the following teaching methods: lectures, translation assignments, group reading and analysis of source and target texts, seminars on translation for theatre.
Teaching Resources
The course has a website on the Ariel online teaching platform (https://epantaleottti.ariel.ctu.unimi.it/), on which students can find all the texts and materials provided during the lessons.
The following list contains the optional and compulsory bibliography for the three units of the course. Editions of reference are indicated.
Bibliography for attending students
Introductory texts about translation (Optional)
Franca Cavagnoli, La voce del testo, Milano, Feltrinelli, 2012.
Susan Bassnett, Translation Studies, London; New York, Routledge, 2013 [Fourth edition].
Bibliography for each unit (Mandatory)
Unit A
Siri Nergaard (edited by), Teorie contemporanee della traduzione, Milano, Bompiani, 2002.
Unit B
Lawrence Venuti, L'invisibilità del traduttore. Una storia della traduzione, Roma, Armando editore, 1999.
Unit C
Elena Di Giovanni & Serenella Zanotti (edited by), Donne in traduzione, Milano, Bompiani, 2018.
Bibliography for non-attending students
Introductory texts about translation (Optional)
Franca Cavagnoli, La voce del testo, Milano, Feltrinelli, 2012.
Susan Bassnett, Translation Studies, London; New York, Routledge, 2013 [Fourth edition].
Bibliography for each unit (Mandatory)
Unit A
Siri Nergaard (edited by), Teorie contemporanee della traduzione, Milano, Bompiani, 2002.
Jeremy Munday, Introducing Translation Studies: Theories and Applications, Londra; New York, Routledge, 2016.
Unit B
Lawrence Venuti, L'invisibilità del traduttore. Una storia della traduzione, Roma, Armando editore, 1999.
Franca Cavagnoli, La traduzione letteraria anglofona. Il proprio e l'altrui - English e Englishes _ Gli autori postcoloniali di Lingua Inglese, Milano, Hoepli, 2017.
Unit C
Elena Di Giovanni & Serenella Zanotti (edited by), Donne in traduzione, Milano, Bompiani, 2018.
André Lefevere, Translation, Rewriting, and the Manipulation of Literary Fame, London; New York, Routledge, 2017.
The following list contains the optional and compulsory bibliography for the three units of the course. Editions of reference are indicated.
Bibliography for attending students
Introductory texts about translation (Optional)
Franca Cavagnoli, La voce del testo, Milano, Feltrinelli, 2012.
Susan Bassnett, Translation Studies, London; New York, Routledge, 2013 [Fourth edition].
Bibliography for each unit (Mandatory)
Unit A
Siri Nergaard (edited by), Teorie contemporanee della traduzione, Milano, Bompiani, 2002.
Unit B
Lawrence Venuti, L'invisibilità del traduttore. Una storia della traduzione, Roma, Armando editore, 1999.
Unit C
Elena Di Giovanni & Serenella Zanotti (edited by), Donne in traduzione, Milano, Bompiani, 2018.
Bibliography for non-attending students
Introductory texts about translation (Optional)
Franca Cavagnoli, La voce del testo, Milano, Feltrinelli, 2012.
Susan Bassnett, Translation Studies, London; New York, Routledge, 2013 [Fourth edition].
Bibliography for each unit (Mandatory)
Unit A
Siri Nergaard (edited by), Teorie contemporanee della traduzione, Milano, Bompiani, 2002.
Jeremy Munday, Introducing Translation Studies: Theories and Applications, Londra; New York, Routledge, 2016.
Unit B
Lawrence Venuti, L'invisibilità del traduttore. Una storia della traduzione, Roma, Armando editore, 1999.
Franca Cavagnoli, La traduzione letteraria anglofona. Il proprio e l'altrui - English e Englishes _ Gli autori postcoloniali di Lingua Inglese, Milano, Hoepli, 2017.
Unit C
Elena Di Giovanni & Serenella Zanotti (edited by), Donne in traduzione, Milano, Bompiani, 2018.
André Lefevere, Translation, Rewriting, and the Manipulation of Literary Fame, London; New York, Routledge, 2017.
Assessment methods and Criteria
The exam is made up of a preliminary written test and of an oral test. The written test consists of the translation of a literary passage of about 1000/1500 characters. The time allowed is 3 hours. Students can bring their laptops (for electronic dictionaries) or their paper dictionaries - both bilingual and monolingual. The oral test includes open questions and a critical discussion and analysis of one or more texts from the bibliography. This part has a variable duration, depending on the number of units prepared by the candidate, and is carried out in Italian. Erasmus students or students participating in other mobility projects can be tested either in Italian or in English.
The written test aims at verifying the students' comprehension of English texts, as well as the lexical, terminological and rhetorical accuracy of their translations into Italian, and their rendering of the syntactic structure and cultural aspects of the source text. The mark is expressed in thirtieths and constitutes 50% of the final evaluation. The results will be sent by email or uploaded on the course website (https://epantaleottti.ariel.ctu.unimi.it/), within the date chosen for the oral exam. Students are free to reject the mark, by emailing their decision to [email protected], before the oral test. Candidates can check their revised test during the oral exam. The oral test is meant to verify the knowledge of the bibliography, the candidate's ability to contextualize authors and works, their terminological accuracy and their critical thinking about the topics addressed in the course. The final mark is expressed in thirtieths, and students are free to reject it during the exam.
Note for attending students:
An interim written test is scheduled in each semester. The average mark of the two written tests will constitute 50% of the final evaluation. Only the students achieving a positive outcome in both tests can take the oral exam directly.
The written test aims at verifying the students' comprehension of English texts, as well as the lexical, terminological and rhetorical accuracy of their translations into Italian, and their rendering of the syntactic structure and cultural aspects of the source text. The mark is expressed in thirtieths and constitutes 50% of the final evaluation. The results will be sent by email or uploaded on the course website (https://epantaleottti.ariel.ctu.unimi.it/), within the date chosen for the oral exam. Students are free to reject the mark, by emailing their decision to [email protected], before the oral test. Candidates can check their revised test during the oral exam. The oral test is meant to verify the knowledge of the bibliography, the candidate's ability to contextualize authors and works, their terminological accuracy and their critical thinking about the topics addressed in the course. The final mark is expressed in thirtieths, and students are free to reject it during the exam.
Note for attending students:
An interim written test is scheduled in each semester. The average mark of the two written tests will constitute 50% of the final evaluation. Only the students achieving a positive outcome in both tests can take the oral exam directly.
Unita' didattica A
L-LIN/12 - LANGUAGE AND TRANSLATION - ENGLISH - University credits: 3
Lessons: 20 hours
Unita' didattica B
L-LIN/12 - LANGUAGE AND TRANSLATION - ENGLISH - University credits: 3
Lessons: 20 hours
Unita' didattica C
L-LIN/12 - LANGUAGE AND TRANSLATION - ENGLISH - University credits: 3
Lessons: 20 hours