Course Description

This is an introduction to research on translation; it is not a course in translation theory.

The course aims to address students’ questions about translation, interpreting, and localization. In previous years we asked students what they wanted to know about these activities, and 181 questions were received. So the course tries to show how research might be able to answer the questions that are not dealt with in other courses. It does so by referring to the body of knowledge that has been accumulated in some 40 years of studies. The relevance of the research findings will be tested on a series of practical translation problems – in fact, by doing quick research in class. Most classes will require the reading of papers and will include in-class activities and discussions. Evaluation is graded and will be based on attendance, participation, and the completion of weekly worksheets.

Course Objectives

To introduce students to the concepts, methods, and metalanguage of translation research.

To present research as an activity that can support for the translation and interpreting professions and in which professionals can actively engage.  

To enable students to see translation and interpreting in terms of a series of problems to which more than one solution is valid.

Course Outline

The actual seminars will be designed and arranged to address the questions that students ask in the first session.

The following list reproduces what was done in 2013, and will probably not be followed in 2014.

Seminar 1

What is Translation Studies and does it matter?

Overview of the research field; the Holmes map of TS; the need to add people to the map; main research topics; the main data-gathering tools; the need to seek generalization, i.e. to ask “why” as well as “how” and “how much.”

Reading: Daniel Gile, “Why Translation Studies matters. A pragmatist’s viewpoint”

 Seminar 2                              

How to decide between people and things  

The primary decisions concern choice between alternatives, where there is no correct answer; the resolution of simple linguistic paradoxes; basic typologies of solutions (adapting Vinay and Darbelnet to Asian languages); the choice as being between people, not texts; the primacy of purpose (Skopos) and hence of relations with clients; the hypothesis that the one text is translated different ways for different purposes.

Reading: Exploring Translation Theories, chapter 4, “Purposes”

Seminar 3                              

Risk analysis, cognition, and how not to work too hard

Gouadec’s concept of project analysis; documentation and the calculation of effort; ways of reducing effort; automated translation procedures vs. “bump”-mode processing; the calculation of high- and low-risk problems; testing the hypothesis that professionals work less on low-risk problems; reasons why the hypothesis may be wrong; issues of trust.  Reading: Pym, Anthony. 2004. “Text and risk in translation”

 Seminar 4                              

Signaling status on the market (why being good is not enough)

Asymmetric information theory and why it is hard to explain translation and interpreting to outsiders; status as being distinct from skill or value; how to signal status (degrees, associations, professional exams, codes of ethics, aesthetics); the exchange of economic, symbolic and cultural capitals (Bourdieu); the effects of feminization, part-time work and freelancing.

Reading text: The status of the translation profession in the European Union (2012), Chapter 4, “Sociological modeling”.

Seminar 5                              

The ethics of “community” translation and interpreting

The rise of volunteer translation; activist engagement; the technologies that favor crowd-sourcing. What ethical problems do these developments pose for the translation professions?

Reading: Julie McDonough Dolmaya, “The ethics of crowdsourcing”       

Seminar 6                              

Where globalization is taking the work of translators and interpreters

The asymmetries of global information flows; why work into B; the different kinds of information needs; generalizing the concepts of localization so that they address all mediated communication; the pressures of economic capital; the concept of inculturation.

Reading: Johan Heilbron, “Structure and Dynamics of the World System of Translation”

Seminar 7                              

Measuring quality and productivity

The nature of quality in translation and interpreting; ways of quantifying subjective quality; ways of assessing impact and satisfaction (in both translation and interpreting); the importance of productivity; the effects of time pressure and poor source input.

Reading: Franz Pöchhacker, “Interpreting quality: global professional standards?”

OR                            

Class debate on whether translation and interpreting are the same or different.

Contact with students

All students are required to sign on to the course on i-learn and to upload a photo of themselves (there are a lot of students in the course and your professor has trouble with names).

Evaluation / Grading Policy

Evaluation with be graded and will be assessed in terms of 1) completion of worksheets on the weekly readings, and 2) group work on in-class activities.

Students who do not achieve a Pass on the basis of the above activities will be required to write a research paper, which will then constitute 50% of the total grade. 

Bibliography

Pym, Anthony. 2010/2014. Exploring Translation Theories. London and New York: Routledge. (Not obligatory.)

Video summaries of previous lectures on translation theory can be seen here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_G5oAMWfObI&list=PL835F930889F12D2A&feature=plcp

Some videos on basic research methodology can be seen here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tuWYiPoYebs&list=PLN5FBVLSIRbyt04MfTnOqeyq5xSTOBFgU