Introductory description

This module will develop skills in translation from Italian to English and from English to Italian. Classes are run as workshops in which speakers of English work together with native speakers of Italian to produce weekly translations of literary, journalistic, and academic texts. Class activities and regular formative tasks explore techniques for conveying idiomatic expressions and strategies for translating culturally specific terms, helping students develop sensitivity to issues of register, tone and stylistic aspects of the source text . A range of group and individual formative tasks alongside regular feedback will help students track and reflect on their progress.

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.

Weeks 1-9: Visiting students will join the translation hour of IT301 Italian Language classes, working to produce translations in mixed groups with speakers of English. Classes will alternate from English to Italian and from Italian to English. Texts types will include fiction, journalistic texts, and critical works.

Learning outcomes

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

• An understanding of the challenges inherent in translation from and into English (syntax, register, idiom)
• Advanced reading skills across a variety of text types and registers
• Accuracy of grammatical and lexical terms in translation
• An ability to reflect on the process of translation and the features of a successful translation
• Sensitivity to the cultural and textual content of source texts

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 build students’ linguistic skills through activities that stimulate authentic target language production and develop sensitivity to the transference of meaning across languages. Students will work towards the production of nuanced, accurate and contextually sensitive materials through a range of language classes and guided independent learning.

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.