Theory and Techniques of Spanish Translation
A.Y. 2025/2026
Learning objectives
The course aims to provide students with a general knowledge of the main theoretical reflections developed in the field of translation studies and of the methodologies and techniques applicable to the translation of different types of written texts, as well as the acquisition of the specific terminology of the discipline.
These skills will also allow students, through the translation of several Spanish narrative texts to Italian, to enhance their abilities in: textual analysis; identification of the linguistic-rhetorical peculiarities of a literary work; elaboration of a translation strategy; linguistic documentation through lexicographic resources (dictionaries, corpora, databases); Italian rendering of a literary text in a foreign language; critical evaluation of the quality and characteristics of Italian translations of Spanish and Spanish-American narrative works.
These skills will also allow students, through the translation of several Spanish narrative texts to Italian, to enhance their abilities in: textual analysis; identification of the linguistic-rhetorical peculiarities of a literary work; elaboration of a translation strategy; linguistic documentation through lexicographic resources (dictionaries, corpora, databases); Italian rendering of a literary text in a foreign language; critical evaluation of the quality and characteristics of Italian translations of Spanish and Spanish-American narrative works.
Expected learning outcomes
At the end of the course, students should be able to:
- critically reflect on the main translation theories, both from a historical-cultural and methodological point of view;
- analyse a Spanish text in order to devise a translation strategy;
- consciously use their linguistic, literary and translating skills to produce an Italian version of a Spanish-language text;
- know and use the main lexicographic tools, both printed and computer-based, used in professional translation;
- justify and discuss, in written or oral form , their own translation choices;
- critically examine one or more Italian translations of a literary text in Spanish.
- critically reflect on the main translation theories, both from a historical-cultural and methodological point of view;
- analyse a Spanish text in order to devise a translation strategy;
- consciously use their linguistic, literary and translating skills to produce an Italian version of a Spanish-language text;
- know and use the main lexicographic tools, both printed and computer-based, used in professional translation;
- justify and discuss, in written or oral form , their own translation choices;
- critically examine one or more Italian translations of a literary text in Spanish.
Lesson period: Second semester
Assessment methods: Esame
Assessment result: voto verbalizzato in trentesimi
Single course
This course can be attended as a single course.
Course syllabus and organization
Single session
Responsible
Lesson period
Second semester
Course syllabus
The program is structured in two parts:
Part A (6 ECTS): Fundamentals of Spanish-Italian Translation Theory and Practice
Part B (3 ECTS): Contemporary Theories of Translation
Part A (6 ECTS) aims to provide an introduction to translation theory and practice. In particular, the course, with a workshop-based approach and emphasis on translation practice, seeks to equip students with the theoretical and methodological tools necessary for the literary translation of Spanish and Latin American texts. Main topics include: introduction to Translation Studies; key translation issues in related languages (Spanish-Italian); translation techniques, methods, and strategies; stages of the translation process and its professional implications (the translator and the publishing field); translation from a textual perspective; the literary text and its translation; elements of translation theory and methodology.
Part B (3 ECTS) offers a diachronic overview of the main contemporary theoretical trends in translation. Through the reading of theoretical texts, the course explores different approaches shaped by cultural and ideological shifts, such as systemic theories, feminist theories of translation, and postcolonial theory. In addition, it presents the main theoretical perspectives on literary translation through the analysis of existing translations and case studies related to the Spanish and Latin American context.
Students who wish to obtain 6 ECTS will follow only Part A; students who wish to obtain 9 ECTS must complete the full program (Parts A and B).
The program is valid until September 2027.
Part A (6 ECTS): Fundamentals of Spanish-Italian Translation Theory and Practice
Part B (3 ECTS): Contemporary Theories of Translation
Part A (6 ECTS) aims to provide an introduction to translation theory and practice. In particular, the course, with a workshop-based approach and emphasis on translation practice, seeks to equip students with the theoretical and methodological tools necessary for the literary translation of Spanish and Latin American texts. Main topics include: introduction to Translation Studies; key translation issues in related languages (Spanish-Italian); translation techniques, methods, and strategies; stages of the translation process and its professional implications (the translator and the publishing field); translation from a textual perspective; the literary text and its translation; elements of translation theory and methodology.
Part B (3 ECTS) offers a diachronic overview of the main contemporary theoretical trends in translation. Through the reading of theoretical texts, the course explores different approaches shaped by cultural and ideological shifts, such as systemic theories, feminist theories of translation, and postcolonial theory. In addition, it presents the main theoretical perspectives on literary translation through the analysis of existing translations and case studies related to the Spanish and Latin American context.
Students who wish to obtain 6 ECTS will follow only Part A; students who wish to obtain 9 ECTS must complete the full program (Parts A and B).
The program is valid until September 2027.
Prerequisites for admission
The course is conducted entirely in Spanish. Therefore, the following prerequisites are required: an excellent knowledge of both Spanish and Italian.
Teaching methods
The course includes workshop-based activities, both individual and group. The lessons are built on active student participation and the completion of various activities such as: 1) translation, revision, and discussion of translation choices; 2) contrastive analysis of different translations of the same text; 3) analysis, contextualization, and discussion of the theoretical and critical texts examined during the course.
Teaching Resources
The course has a webpage on the Ariel online teaching platform and a webpage on Microsoft Teams. Bibliographic materials will be made available on both platforms. The course requires the study of the following bibliography:
Reference materials for attending students
Part A
1. Hurtado Albir, Amparo. Traducción y traductología. Introducción a la traductología. Madrid: Cátedra. Cap. I "Definición de la traducción", pp. 25-42.
2. Bellos, David. 2012. Un pez en la higuera. Una historia fabulosa de la traducción. Barcelona: Ariel. Cap. 3 "¿Por qué lo llamamos 'traducción'?" pp. 31-43, Cap. 14. "¿Cuántas palabras tenemos para 'café'?", pp. 175-184.
3. Lefèvre, Matteo. La traduzione dello spagnolo. Teoria e pratica. Roma: Carocci editore. Cap. 2 "Aspetti e problemi generali della traduzione spagnolo-italiano", pp. 49-68.
4. Diadori, Pierangela. 2012. Teoria e tecnica della traduzione. Strategie, testi e contesti. Firenze: Le Monier Università. Cap. 1.1 "Fasi di lavoro", Cap. 1.1 "Problematiche", Cap. 1.3 "Strategie". Cap. 1.4 "Etica, ideologia e traduzione", pp. 3-81.
5. Pérez Vicente, Nuria. Traducción y contexto. Aproximación a un análisis crítico de traducciones con fines didácticos. Urbino: Quattro Venti. Cap. 1 "Enfoque textual y traducción", Cap. 2 "El texto literario y su traducción" pp. 15-31.
6. Recoder Serrallarés, María José. 2005. "Documentación para la traducción literaria: cuestiones metodológicas". En Consuelo Gonzalo García y Valentín García Yebra (eds). Manual de documentación para la traducción literaria. Madrid: Arco Libros, pp. 101-116.
7. Martín Ruano, M. Rosario. 2007. "El 'giro cultural' de la traducción: perspectiva histórica, conflictos latentes y futuros retos". En Emilio Ortega Arjonilla (ed.), El giro cultural de la traducción. Frankfurt: Peter Lang, pp. 39-59.
Parte B
1. Piñero Gil, Eulalia. 2015. "Traducción y género. Evolución teórica y práctica de una poética feminista". En María Azucena Penas Ibáñez (ed.), La traducción: nuevos planteamientos teórico-metodológicos. Madrid: Editoriales Síntesis, pp. 239-260.
2. Castro, Olga e María Laura Spoturno. 2020. "Feminismos y traducción: apuntes conceptuales y metodológicos para una traductología feminista transnacional", Mutatis Mutandis. Revista Latinoamericana de Traducción, 13(11), 11-44.
3. Lusetti, Chiara. 2018. "I Self-Translation Studies: Panorama di una disciplina" en G. Cartago & J. Ferrari (eds.), Momenti di storia dell'autotraduzione, Milán, Edizioni Universitarie di Lettere Economia Diritto, 153-168.
Reference materials for non-attending students
Part A
1. Hurtado Albir, Amparo. Traducción y traductología. Introducción a la traductología. Madrid: Cátedra. Cap. I "Definición de la traducción", pp. 25-42.
2. Bellos, David. 2012. Un pez en la higuera. Una historia fabulosa de la traducción. Barcelona: Ariel. Cap. 3 "¿Por qué lo llamamos 'traducción'?" pp. 31-43, Cap. 14. "¿Cuántas palabras tenemos para 'café'?", pp. 175-184.
3. Lefèvre, Matteo. La traduzione dello spagnolo. Teoria e pratica. Roma: Carocci editore. Cap. 2 "Aspetti e problemi generali della traduzione spagnolo-italiano", pp. 49-68.
4. Diadori, Pierangela. 2012. Teoria e tecnica della traduzione. Strategie, testi e contesti. Firenze: Le Monier Università. Cap. 1.1 "Fasi di lavoro", Cap. 1.1 "Problematiche", Cap. 1.3 "Strategie". Cap. 1.4 "Etica, ideologia e traduzione", pp. 3-81.
5. Pérez Vicente, Nuria. Traducción y contexto. Aproximación a un análisis crítico de traducciones con fines didácticos. Urbino: Quattro Venti. Cap. 1 "Enfoque textual y traducción", Cap. 2 "El texto literario y su traducción" pp. 15-31.
6. Recoder Serrallarés, María José. 2005. "Documentación para la traducción literaria: cuestiones metodológicas". En Consuelo Gonzalo García y Valentín García Yebra (eds). Manual de documentación para la traducción literaria. Madrid: Arco Libros, pp. 101-116.
7. Coseriu, Eugenio. 1985. El hombre y su lenguaje. Madrid: Gredos. Cap. X "Lo erróneo y lo acertado en la teoría de la traducción", pp. 214-239.
8. García Yebra, Valentín. 1984. Teoría y práctica de la traducción. Madrid: Gredos. Cap. 1 "Ideas generales sobre la traducción", pp. 29-42.
9. Martín Ruano, M. Rosario. 2007. "El 'giro cultural' de la traducción: perspectiva histórica, conflictos latentes y futuros retos". En Emilio Ortega Arjonilla (ed.), El giro cultural de la traducción. Frankfurt: Peter Lang, pp. 39-59.
10. Kramsch, Claire. 1998. Language and Culture. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Cap. 1 "The relationship of Language and Culture", pp. 3-14.
Parte B
1. Piñero Gil, Eulalia. 2015. "Traducción y género. Evolución teórica y práctica de una poética feminista". En María Azucena Penas Ibáñez (ed.), La traducción: nuevos planteamientos teórico-metodológicos. Madrid: Editoriales Síntesis, pp. 239-260.
2. Castro, Olga e María Laura Spoturno. 2020. "Feminismos y traducción: apuntes conceptuales y metodológicos para una traductología feminista transnacional", Mutatis Mutandis. Revista Latinoamericana de Traducción, 13(11), 11-44.
3. Grutman, Rainier, and Trish Van Bolderen. 2014. "Self-Translation". In A Companion to Translation Studies, edited by Sandra Bermann, and Catherine Porter. West Sussex: Wiley-Blackwell, 2014, pp. 323-332.
4. Lusetti, Chiara. 2018. "I Self-Translation Studies: Panorama di una disciplina" en G. Cartago & J. Ferrari (eds.), Momenti di storia dell'autotraduzione, Milán, Edizioni Universitarie di Lettere Economia Diritto, 153-168.
Reference materials for attending students
Part A
1. Hurtado Albir, Amparo. Traducción y traductología. Introducción a la traductología. Madrid: Cátedra. Cap. I "Definición de la traducción", pp. 25-42.
2. Bellos, David. 2012. Un pez en la higuera. Una historia fabulosa de la traducción. Barcelona: Ariel. Cap. 3 "¿Por qué lo llamamos 'traducción'?" pp. 31-43, Cap. 14. "¿Cuántas palabras tenemos para 'café'?", pp. 175-184.
3. Lefèvre, Matteo. La traduzione dello spagnolo. Teoria e pratica. Roma: Carocci editore. Cap. 2 "Aspetti e problemi generali della traduzione spagnolo-italiano", pp. 49-68.
4. Diadori, Pierangela. 2012. Teoria e tecnica della traduzione. Strategie, testi e contesti. Firenze: Le Monier Università. Cap. 1.1 "Fasi di lavoro", Cap. 1.1 "Problematiche", Cap. 1.3 "Strategie". Cap. 1.4 "Etica, ideologia e traduzione", pp. 3-81.
5. Pérez Vicente, Nuria. Traducción y contexto. Aproximación a un análisis crítico de traducciones con fines didácticos. Urbino: Quattro Venti. Cap. 1 "Enfoque textual y traducción", Cap. 2 "El texto literario y su traducción" pp. 15-31.
6. Recoder Serrallarés, María José. 2005. "Documentación para la traducción literaria: cuestiones metodológicas". En Consuelo Gonzalo García y Valentín García Yebra (eds). Manual de documentación para la traducción literaria. Madrid: Arco Libros, pp. 101-116.
7. Martín Ruano, M. Rosario. 2007. "El 'giro cultural' de la traducción: perspectiva histórica, conflictos latentes y futuros retos". En Emilio Ortega Arjonilla (ed.), El giro cultural de la traducción. Frankfurt: Peter Lang, pp. 39-59.
Parte B
1. Piñero Gil, Eulalia. 2015. "Traducción y género. Evolución teórica y práctica de una poética feminista". En María Azucena Penas Ibáñez (ed.), La traducción: nuevos planteamientos teórico-metodológicos. Madrid: Editoriales Síntesis, pp. 239-260.
2. Castro, Olga e María Laura Spoturno. 2020. "Feminismos y traducción: apuntes conceptuales y metodológicos para una traductología feminista transnacional", Mutatis Mutandis. Revista Latinoamericana de Traducción, 13(11), 11-44.
3. Lusetti, Chiara. 2018. "I Self-Translation Studies: Panorama di una disciplina" en G. Cartago & J. Ferrari (eds.), Momenti di storia dell'autotraduzione, Milán, Edizioni Universitarie di Lettere Economia Diritto, 153-168.
Reference materials for non-attending students
Part A
1. Hurtado Albir, Amparo. Traducción y traductología. Introducción a la traductología. Madrid: Cátedra. Cap. I "Definición de la traducción", pp. 25-42.
2. Bellos, David. 2012. Un pez en la higuera. Una historia fabulosa de la traducción. Barcelona: Ariel. Cap. 3 "¿Por qué lo llamamos 'traducción'?" pp. 31-43, Cap. 14. "¿Cuántas palabras tenemos para 'café'?", pp. 175-184.
3. Lefèvre, Matteo. La traduzione dello spagnolo. Teoria e pratica. Roma: Carocci editore. Cap. 2 "Aspetti e problemi generali della traduzione spagnolo-italiano", pp. 49-68.
4. Diadori, Pierangela. 2012. Teoria e tecnica della traduzione. Strategie, testi e contesti. Firenze: Le Monier Università. Cap. 1.1 "Fasi di lavoro", Cap. 1.1 "Problematiche", Cap. 1.3 "Strategie". Cap. 1.4 "Etica, ideologia e traduzione", pp. 3-81.
5. Pérez Vicente, Nuria. Traducción y contexto. Aproximación a un análisis crítico de traducciones con fines didácticos. Urbino: Quattro Venti. Cap. 1 "Enfoque textual y traducción", Cap. 2 "El texto literario y su traducción" pp. 15-31.
6. Recoder Serrallarés, María José. 2005. "Documentación para la traducción literaria: cuestiones metodológicas". En Consuelo Gonzalo García y Valentín García Yebra (eds). Manual de documentación para la traducción literaria. Madrid: Arco Libros, pp. 101-116.
7. Coseriu, Eugenio. 1985. El hombre y su lenguaje. Madrid: Gredos. Cap. X "Lo erróneo y lo acertado en la teoría de la traducción", pp. 214-239.
8. García Yebra, Valentín. 1984. Teoría y práctica de la traducción. Madrid: Gredos. Cap. 1 "Ideas generales sobre la traducción", pp. 29-42.
9. Martín Ruano, M. Rosario. 2007. "El 'giro cultural' de la traducción: perspectiva histórica, conflictos latentes y futuros retos". En Emilio Ortega Arjonilla (ed.), El giro cultural de la traducción. Frankfurt: Peter Lang, pp. 39-59.
10. Kramsch, Claire. 1998. Language and Culture. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Cap. 1 "The relationship of Language and Culture", pp. 3-14.
Parte B
1. Piñero Gil, Eulalia. 2015. "Traducción y género. Evolución teórica y práctica de una poética feminista". En María Azucena Penas Ibáñez (ed.), La traducción: nuevos planteamientos teórico-metodológicos. Madrid: Editoriales Síntesis, pp. 239-260.
2. Castro, Olga e María Laura Spoturno. 2020. "Feminismos y traducción: apuntes conceptuales y metodológicos para una traductología feminista transnacional", Mutatis Mutandis. Revista Latinoamericana de Traducción, 13(11), 11-44.
3. Grutman, Rainier, and Trish Van Bolderen. 2014. "Self-Translation". In A Companion to Translation Studies, edited by Sandra Bermann, and Catherine Porter. West Sussex: Wiley-Blackwell, 2014, pp. 323-332.
4. Lusetti, Chiara. 2018. "I Self-Translation Studies: Panorama di una disciplina" en G. Cartago & J. Ferrari (eds.), Momenti di storia dell'autotraduzione, Milán, Edizioni Universitarie di Lettere Economia Diritto, 153-168.
Assessment methods and Criteria
The exam consists of a written translation test from Spanish into Italian, which is preparatory to an oral exam. The oral exam is an individual interview in Spanish, during which the instructor will ask questions on the topics covered in the syllabus. The questions are designed to assess knowledge of the texts in the bibliography, critical reflection, the use of specialized terminology, and the analysis and commentary of the translation choices made in the written translation.
Non-attending students must contact the instructor at least 20 days before the exam in order to arrange the procedures for completing the written translation.
Notes: The final grade is expressed on a scale of thirty, and the student has the right to refuse it (in which case it will be recorded as 'withdrawn'). The minimum passing grade is 18/30. The exams are intended to assess the acquisition and elaboration of theoretical content, personal reflection on the proposed topics, and the use of specialized terminology relevant to the fields of study covered by the course. The exam does not require rote learning, but rather a critical elaboration of the content related to the bibliographic readings included in the syllabus.
International or incoming Erasmus students are strongly encouraged to contact the instructor promptly. The exam arrangements for students with disabilities and/or specific learning disorders (SLD) must be agreed upon with the instructor, in accordance with the relevant Office
Non-attending students must contact the instructor at least 20 days before the exam in order to arrange the procedures for completing the written translation.
Notes: The final grade is expressed on a scale of thirty, and the student has the right to refuse it (in which case it will be recorded as 'withdrawn'). The minimum passing grade is 18/30. The exams are intended to assess the acquisition and elaboration of theoretical content, personal reflection on the proposed topics, and the use of specialized terminology relevant to the fields of study covered by the course. The exam does not require rote learning, but rather a critical elaboration of the content related to the bibliographic readings included in the syllabus.
International or incoming Erasmus students are strongly encouraged to contact the instructor promptly. The exam arrangements for students with disabilities and/or specific learning disorders (SLD) must be agreed upon with the instructor, in accordance with the relevant Office
Modules or teaching units
Unita' didattica A
L-LIN/07 - LANGUAGE AND TRANSLATION - SPANISH - University credits: 3
Lessons: 20 hours
Unita' didattica B
L-LIN/07 - LANGUAGE AND TRANSLATION - SPANISH - University credits: 3
Lessons: 20 hours
Unita' didattica C
L-LIN/07 - LANGUAGE AND TRANSLATION - SPANISH - University credits: 3
Lessons: 20 hours
Professor(s)