Introductory description

This cross-SMLC module introduces students to translation as a specific set of skills. It situates the practice of translation within the context of relevant theories developed in the field of Translation Studies, and raises awareness of the role of translation and translators in contemporary society. Adopting an interdisciplinary perspective and integrating a linguistic approach with sociological and cultural theories, the module presents case studies related to the students’ language specialisms, which challenge a purely textual approach to translation.
By looking at the role of translators, as well as publishers and editors, students are encouraged to approach translation as a multifaceted cultural process involving several diverse agents and perspectives in both source and target culture.

Module web page

Module aims

Outline syllabus

This is an indicative module outline only to give an indication of the sort of topics that may be covered. Actual sessions held may differ.

Week 1: Translation in theory and practice
The lecture and seminar will introduce the theory and practice of translation, in its multiple forms (ranging from literary translation to community interpreting).
Week 2: Translation and World Literature
This session will analyse the relationship between translation, national canons and world literature, examining the role of translation in the production, distribution and reception of cultural artefacts. The seminar will discuss in more detail translation in relation to world literature.
Week 3: Translation and Publishing
In this session, students will be introduced to the sociological theory of translation in relation to the publishing market. The lecture and seminars will prompt students to shift their focus from the concept of translation as a text to that of translation as a cultural product and process. The analysis of the publishing field at a national level will enhance a deeper understanding of cultural exchanges on a translational level.
Week 4: Translators as social agents
The lecture and seminar will invite students to reflect on the role of translators as cultural producers and agents, also from a historical perspective. This session will draw on the concept of narrative and look at the intersection between translation and sociological narratives (e.g. Baker) in the formation of identity and in the reception of authors and translators, as well as in contexts of trauma and conflict.
Week 5: Audio-visual Translation
The lecture and seminar will focus on how translation is used in the film industry throughout the world. The session will invite students to reflect upon the cultural, aesthetic, and operational aspects at play in the cultural transfer of subtitles and dubbing.
Week 6: Reading week
Week 7: Translation and advertising
The session will focus on how translation is used in old and new media, including the internet. It will also explore translation in commercial advertising. The session will invite students to reflect upon the cultural, sociological, and aesthetic aspects of language contact in globalised, translingual media.
Week 8: Translation as a profession
This final session will look at the range of professional tools, options and resources available today to translators.
Week 9: Translation Project
Workshop for the design and fine-tuning of translation projects with practical examples and peer-assessed tasks.
Week 10: Portfolios Drop-in
Drop-in session for assessment.

Learning outcomes

By the end of the module, students should be able to:

• Level 6: Demonstrate the ability to critically analyse and evaluate the linguistic, cultural, and sociological implications of translating cultural products
• Level 5: Demonstrate the ability to critically analyse the linguistic and cultural implications of translating cultural products
• Level 6: Build on their language specialism and cross-cultural awareness to conceive an original, scholarly rigorous translation portfolio
• Level 5: Level 6: Build on their language specialism and cross-cultural awareness to conceive a scholarly rigorous translation portfolio
• Level 6: Demonstrate sophisticated knowledge and critical understanding of key concepts in translation studies
• Level 5: Demonstrate knowledge and critical understanding of key concepts in translation studies
• Level 5: Demonstrate an ability to use appropriate Translation Studies terminology to critically reflect on the specific strategies that translators adopt when translating
• Level 6: Demonstrate an ability to use sophisticated Translation Studies terminology to critically reflect on and evaluate the specific strategies that translators adopt when translating

Indicative reading list

Apter, Emily. 2004. “Global Translation: The ‘Invention’ of Comparative Literature, Istanbul, 1933.” In Debating World Literature, edited by Christopher Prendergast, 76-109. London and New York: Verso.
Apter, Emily. 2006. The Translation Zone: A New Comparative Literature. Princeton and Oxford: Princeton University Press.
Asad, Talal. 1986. “The Concept of Cultural Translation in British Social Anthropology.” In Writing Culture: The Poetics and Politics of Ethnography, edited by James Clifford and George E. Marcus. 141-164. Berkeley, Los Angeles: University of California Press.
Asad, Talal. 1995. “A Comment on Translation, Critique, and Subversion.” In Between Languages and Cultures: Translation and Cross-Cultural Texts, edited by Anuradha Dingwaney and Carol Maier, 325-332. Pittsburgh and London: University of Pittsburgh Press.
Baker, Mona. 2006. Translation and Conflict: A Narrative Account, London and New York: Routledge.
Bassnett, Susan. 1998. “The Translation Turn in Cultural Studies.” In Constructing Cultures: Essays on Literary Translation, edited by Susan Bassnett and André Lefevere, 123-140. Clevedon: Multilingual Matters.
Bauman, Zygmunt. 1987. Legislators and Interpreters: On Modernity, Post-Modernity and Intellectuals. London: Polity Press.
Benjamin, Walter. 1968/1999. “The Task of the Translator.” in Illuminations, translated by Harry Zorn. London: Pimlico.
Bourdieu, Pierre. 2008. “A Conservative Revolution in Publishing.” Translation Studies 1 (2): 123-153.
Casanova, Pascale. 2004. The World republic of Letters, translated by M.B. DeBevoise, Cambridge, MA and London: Harvard University Press.
Cronin, Michael. 2003. Translation and Globalization. London and New York: Routledge.
Delabastita, Dirk, and Rainier Grutman, eds. 2005. Fictionalising Translation and Multilingualism, thematic issue of Linguistica Antverpiensia, New Series 4.
Dingwaney, Anuradha. 1995. “Introduction: Translating ‘Third World’ Cultures.” In Between Languages and Cultures: Translation and Cross-Cultural Texts, edited by Anuradha Dingwaney and Carol Maier, 3-15. Pittsburgh and London: University of Pittsburgh Press.
Doerr, Nicole. 2012. “Translating Democracy: How Activists in the European Social Forum Practice Multilingual Deliberation.” European Political Science Review 4 (3): 361-384.
Even-Zohar, Itamar. 1990. “Polysystem Studies.” Poetics Today 11 (1) (Spring).
Kellman, Steven G. 2000. The Translingual Imagination, Lincoln and London: University of Nebraska Press.
Kellman, Steven G., ed. 2003. Switching Languages: Translingual Writers Reflect on Their Craft. Lincoln and London: University of Nebraska Press.
Moretti, Franco. 1998. An Atlas of the European Novel 1800-1900. London and New York: Verso.
Moretti, Franco. 2004. “Conjectures on World Literature.” In Debating World Literature, edited by Christopher Prendergast, 148-162. London and New York: Verso.
Pratt, Mary Louise. 2002. “The Traffic in Meaning: Translation, Contagion, Infiltration.” Profession (MLA Journal): 25-36.
Sapiro, Gisèle. 2008. “Translation and the Field of Publishing.” Translation Studies 1 (2): 154-166.
Spivak, Gayatri C. 1993. “The Politics of Translation.” In Outside in the Teaching Machine, 179-200. New York and London: Routledge.
Toury, Gideon. 1980. In Search of a Theory of Translation, Tel Aviv: The Porter Institute for Poetics and Semiotics.
Toury, Gideon. 1995. Descriptive Translation Studies and Beyond. Amsterdam: John Benjamins.
Tymoczko, Maria. 1999a. Translation in a Postcolonial Context: Early Irish Literature in English Translation. Manchester: St. Jerome.
Venuti, Lawrence, ed. 1992. Rethinking Translation: Discourse, Subjectivity, Ideology. London and New York: Routledge.
Venuti, Lawrence. 1995. The Translator’s Invisibility: A History of Translation. London and New York: Routledge.
Wolf, Michaela, and Alexandra Fukari, eds. 2007. Constructing a Sociology of Translation. Amsterdam: John Benjamins.

View reading list on Talis Aspire

International

All modules delivered in SMLC are necessarily international. Students engage with themes and ideas from a culture other than that of the UK and employ their linguistic skills in the analysis of primary materials from a non-Anglophone context. Students will also be encouraged to draw on the experiences of visiting exchange students in the classroom and will frequently engage with theoretical and critical frameworks from across the world.

Subject specific skills

This module will develop students’ analytical skills through engaging with primary materials in the target language and their translations, as well as theoretical literature. It will build students’ capacity to engage with aspects of translation and cultural exchange through analysis of this primary material and through seminar discussion aimed at deeper critical thinking. In particular, students’ awareness of translation and translators will be enhanced through lectures and seminars which engage in scholarship in the field.

Transferable skills

All SMLC culture modules demand critical and analytical engagement with artefacts from target-language cultures. In the course of independent study, class work and assessment students will develop the following skills: written and oral communication, creative and critical thinking, problem solving and analysis, time management and organisation, independent research in both English and their target language(s), intercultural understanding and the ability to mediate between languages and cultures, ICT literacy in both English and the target language(s), personal responsibility and the exercise of initiative.