This version of the course guide is provisional until the period for editing the new course guides ends.

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Theory of translation and interpreting

Code: 101286 ECTS Credits: 6
2024/2025
Degree Type Year
2500249 Translation and Interpreting OB 3

Contact

Name:
Christian Olalla Soler
Email:
christian.olalla@uab.cat

Teachers

(External) Lourdes Gay Punzano

Teaching groups languages

You can view this information at the end of this document.


Prerequisites

This subject requires a native or near-native level of Catalan (e.g. CEFR level C1).


Objectives and Contextualisation

The purpose of this course is for students to master the basic methodological and theoretical foundations that underpin translation and interpretation.

Upon finishing the course students should be able to:

  • Demonstrate an understanding and knowledge of the main areas covered in translation theory.
  • Apply their knowledge to solve basic translation theory problems.
  • Use this knowledge to make informed judgements on basic questions of translation theory.

Competences

  • Mastering the main methodological principles of translation. 
  • Mastering the methodological principles of interpretation.
  • Mastering the theoretical foundations of translation and interpretation.
  • Reasoning in a critical way.
  • Working effectively in teams.

Learning Outcomes

  1. Identifying the basic bibliography related to the theory of translation and interpretation: Identifying the basic bibliography related to the theory of translation and interpretation.
  2. Identifying the textual and dynamic nature of the translation equivalence: Identifying the textual and dynamic nature of the translation equivalence.
  3. Identifying the translation as an act of communication that is addressed to a recipient: Identifying the translation as an act of communication that is addressed to a recipient.
  4. Incorporating knowledge in order to make judgements about basic topics and problems of the theory of translation and interpretation: Incorporating knowledge in order to make judgements about basic topics and problems of the theory of translation and interpretation.
  5. Reasoning in a critical way: Analysing the coherence of one's own judgements and other people's.
  6. Reasoning in a critical way: Arguing the relevance of the judgements made.
  7. Students must demonstrate they know the different translation methods: Students must demonstrate they know the different translation methods.
  8. Students must demonstrate they know the different types of translation problems and errors: Students must demonstrate they know the different types of translation problems and errors.
  9. Students must demonstrate they know the fundamental notions and current tendencies of the theory of translation and interpretation: Students must demonstrate they know the fundamental notions and current tendencies of the theory of translation and interpretation.
  10. Students must demonstrate they know the phases of the translation process: Students must demonstrate they know the phases of the translation process.
  11. Students must demonstrate they know the techniques and strategies needed to solve interpretation problems: Students must demonstrate they know the techniques and strategies needed to solve interpretation problems.
  12. Students must demonstrate they know the techniques and strategies needed to solve translation problems: Students must demonstrate they know the techniques and strategies needed to solve translation problems.
  13. Working effectively in teams: Working effectively in teams.

Content

A) BASIC ASPECTS OF TRANSLATION

1. Definition of translation

-Intersemiotic, intralingual and interlingual translation

-Purpose and characteristics of translation


2. Classification of translation:

-Modalities

-Types

-Classes

-Methods


3. Fundamental notions of translation analysis

-Equivalence in translation

-Translation unit

-Translation invariance

-Methods of translation

-Translation techniques

-Translation strategies

-Translation problems

-Translation errors

 

B) MAIN THEORETICAL APPROACHES

1. Translation Studies/ Translatology

2. Linguistic approaches: comparative stylistics - P. Newmark

3. Textual approaches: components of textual analysis and its application to the study of translation - intertextuality - text typologies

4. Cognitive approaches: Interpretive Theory of Translation (ITT) - translation competence

5. Sociocultural approaches: E. Nida

6. Communicative approaches: B. Hatim and I. Mason

7. Functionalist approaches: skopos theory - the concept of loyalty: C. Nord

8. The Manipulation School: Hermans. Polysystem Theory: Even-Zohar and Toury

9. Translation and gender: feminist translation studies


Activities and Methodology

Title Hours ECTS Learning Outcomes
Type: Directed      
Lectures 30 1.2 7, 8, 10, 11, 12, 2, 1, 3, 4
Practical tasks 8 0.32 4, 5, 6
Tasks for acquiring critical knowledge of aspects related to translation theory 7.5 0.3 4, 5
Type: Supervised      
Preparation of exams and associated tasks 10 0.4 7, 8, 10, 9, 11, 12, 2, 1, 3, 4, 5, 6
Type: Autonomous      
Autonomous activities 90 3.6

1. Directed activities

- Lectures

- Tasks for acquiring critical knowledge of aspects related to translation theory

- Practical tasks on the basic aspects of and different approaches to translation theory; tasks for applying knowledge of the basic aspects of translation theory.

 2. Supervised activities:

-  Preparation of exams and associated tasks

 3. Autonomous activities:

- Reading assignments (dossier/Moodle)

- Preparation of exams / group presentation. 

At the beginning of the course, the lecturers will notify students of the subject’s compulsory and/or recommended reading materials.

Annotation: Within the schedule set by the centre or degree programme, 15 minutes of one class will be reserved for students to evaluate their lecturers and their courses or modules through questionnaires.


Assessment

Continous Assessment Activities

Title Weighting Hours ECTS Learning Outcomes
Knowledge application test on basic aspects of translation theory (group presentation and assignment) 30% 1.5 0.06 7, 8, 11, 12, 5, 6, 13
Test/s of knowledge about fundamental approaches to translation theory 35% 1.5 0.06 9, 1, 4
Test/s on basic aspects of translation theory 35% 1.5 0.06 7, 8, 10, 11, 2, 3

Continuous assessment

Students must provide evidence of their progress by completing various tasks and tests. These activities are detailed in the table at the end of this section of the Study Guide.

Review

When publishing final marks prior to recording them on students' transcripts, the lecturer will provide written notification of a date and time for reviewing assessment activities. Students must arrange reviews in agreement with the lecturer.

Missed/failed assessment activities

Students may retake assessment activities they have failed or compensate for any they have missed, provided that those they have actually performed account for a minimum of 66.6% (two thirds) of the subject's final mark and that they have a weighted average mark of at least 3.5.

The lecturer will inform students of the procedure involved, in writing, when publishing final marks prior to recording them on transcripts. The lecturer may set one assignment per failed or missed assessment activity or a single assignment to cover a number of such activities. Under no circumstances may an assessment activity worth 100% of the final mark be retaken or compensated for. In case of retaking, maximum grade will be 5.

Classification as "not assessable"

In the event of the assessment activities a student has performed accounting for just 25% or less of the subject's final mark, their work will be classified as "not assessable" on their transcript.

Misconduct in assessment activities

Students who engage in misconduct (plagiarism, copying, personation, etc.) in an assessment activity will receive a mark of “0” for the activity in question. In the case of misconduct in more than one assessment activity, the student involved will be given a final mark of “0” for the subject. Assessment activities in which irregularities have occurred (e.g. plagiarism, copying, impersonation) are excluded from recovery.

Single assessment

Single assessment will include a minimum of three assessment activities of different typology, as stated in the evaluation guidelines.

 


Bibliography

1. Anthologies of texts on translation

Bacardí, Montserrat, Joan Fontcuberta, i Francesc Parcerisas, ed. 1998. Cent anys de traducció al català, 1891-1990: antologia. Biblioteca de traducció i interpretació 3. Vic: Eumo.

Catelli, Nora, i Marietta Gargatagli. 1998. El tabaco que fumaba Plinio: escenas de la traducción en España y América: relatos, leyes y reflexiones sobre los otros. 1. ed. Colección «La Estrella polar» 14. Barcelona: Del Serbal.

Gallén, Enric, ed. 2000. L'art de traduir: reflexions sobre la traducció al llarg de la història. 1. ed. Biblioteca de traducció i interpretació 4. Vic: Eumo.

Horguelin, Paul A. 1981. Anthologie de la manière de traduire : domaine français. Montreal: Linguatech.

Lafarga, Francisco, ed. 1996. El discurso sobre la traducción en la historia: antología bilingüe. 1a. ed. Humanidades 7. Barcelona: EUB.

Nergaard, Siri. 1993. La teoria della traduzione nella storia. Milano: Bompiani.

Robinson, Douglas, ed. 1997. Western translation theory: from Herodotus to Nietzsche. Manchester: St. Jerome.

Sabio Pinilla, José Antonio, i María Manuela Fernández Sánchez. 1998. O discurso sobre a tradução em Portugal: o proveito, o ensino e a crítica antologia (C. 1429 - 1818). Voz de Babel 5. Lisboa: Ed. Colibri.

Störig, Hans Joachim, ed. 1973. Das Problem des Übersetzens. Wege der Forschung 8. Darmstadt: Wiss. Buchgesellschaft.

Vega, Miguel Ángel, ed. 2004. Textos clásicos de teoría de la traducción. Ed. ampliada. Lingüística. Madrid: Cátedra.

2. Reference works

2.1.Supporting literature

Hurtado Albir, Amparo. 2011 [2001]. Traducción y traductología: introducción a la traductología. 5a ed. Lingüística. Madrid: Cátedra. Capítols VII (seccions 1 i 2) i VIII (secció 2.5).

Munday, Jeremy. 2001. Introducing translation studies: theories and applications. Londres; Nova York: Routledge. Capítols 1, 3, 5 i 6.

PACTE. 2003. «Building a Translation Competence Model». En Triangulating Translation: Perspectives in Process Oriented Research, editat per Fábio Alves, 43-66. Amsterdam: John Benjamins.

Sánchez Trigo, Elena. 2002. Teoría de la traducción: convergencias y divergencias. Vigo: Universidade de Vigo, Servicio de Publicacións.

Stolze, Radegundis. 2005. Übersetzungstheorien: eine Einführung. 4., Überarb. Aufl. Narr-Studienbücher. Tübingen: Narr. 

2.2. Books on translation theory

Hatim, Basil, i Ian Mason. 1990. Discourse and the translator. Language in social life series. Londres; Nova York: Longman.

Reiss, Katharina, i Hans J. Vermeer. 1984. Grundlegung einer allgemeinen Translationstheorie. Linguistische Arbeiten 147. Tübingen: M. Niemeyer.

3. Basic reference bibliography

Baker, Mona. 2011. In other words: a coursebook on translation. 2nd ed. Abingdon; Nova York: Routledge.

Bassnett, Susan. 2014. Translation studies. Fourth edition. New accents. Londres;Nova York: Routledge.

Bell, Roger T. 2016. Translation and Translation: Theory and Practice. Editat per Christopher Candlin. Londres; Nova York: Routledge.

Bradford, Richard. 1994. Roman Jakobson: life, language, art. Critics of the twentieth century. Londres; Nova York: Routledge.

Brufau Alvira, Nuria. 2009. «Traducción y género: propuestas para nuevas éticas de la traducción en la era del feminismo transnacional». Tesi doctoral, Universidad de Salamanca.

Castro Vázquez, Olga. 2008. «Género y traducción: elementos discursivos para una reescritura feminista». Lectora, núm. 14: 285-301.

Catford, J. C. 1978. A Linguistic Theory of Translation: An Essay in Applied Linguistics. 5th impr. Language and Language Learning 8. Oxford: Oxford Univ. Press.

Delisle, Jean. 1980. L'analyse du discours comme méthode de traduction: initiation à la traduction française de textes pragmatiques anglais: théorie et pratique. Cahiers de traductologie, no 2. Ottawa: Éditions de l'Université d'Ottawa.

Etkind, Efim. 1982. Un art en crise. Essai de poétique de la traduction poétique. Lausana: L'Age d'Homme.

Fawcett, Peter D. 2003. Translation and language: linguistic theories explained. Translation theories explained. Manchester; Northampton: St. Jerome Pub.

Gallego Roca, Miguel. 1994. Traducción y literatura: los estudios literarios ante las obras traducidas. 1. ed. Ensayos Júcar 12. Madrid: Ediciones Júcar.

García Yebra, Valentín. 1982. Teoría y práctica de la traducción. Biblioteca románica hispánica 3, Manuales 53. Madrid: Gredos.

Godayol, Pilar. 2000. Espais de frontera: gènere i traducció. 1. ed. Biblioteca de traducció i interpretació 5. Vic: Eumo.

Gutt, Ernst-August. 1991. Translation and relevance: cognition and context. Oxford; Cambridge: B. Blackwell.

Hartmann, R. R. K. 1980. Contrastive textology: comparative discourse analysis in applied linguistics. Studies in descriptive linguistics, v.5. Heidelberg: Groos.

Hatim, B., i I. Mason. 1990. Discourse and the translator. Language in social life series. Londres; Nova York: Longman.

Hermans, Theo, ed. 1985. The Manipulation of literature: studies in literary translation. Nova York: St. Martin's Press.

———. 1999. Translation in Systems: Descriptive and Systemic Approaches Explained. 1. publ. Translation Theories Explained 7. Manchester: St. Jerome Publ.

Hewson, Lance, i Jacky Martin. 1991. Redefining translation: the variational approach. Londres: Routledge.

Holmes, James S. 1988. Translated! papers on literary translation and translation studies. Approaches to translation studies, v. 7. Amsterdam: Rodopi.

House, Juliane. 1977. A model for translation quality assessment. Tübinger Beiträge zur Linguistik ; 88. Tübingen: TBL-Verlag Narr.

Hurtado Albir, Amparo. 2001. Traducción y traductología: introducción a la traductología. 5a ed. Lingüística. Madrid: Cátedra.

Ladmiral, Jean-René. 1994. Traduire: théorèmes pour la traduction. Collection Tel. Paris: Gallimard.

Larose, Robert. 1989. Théories contemporaines de la traduction. 2. éd., 2. impr. Quebec: Presses de l'Univ. du Québec.

Larson, Mildred L. 1998. Meaning-based translation: a guide to cross-language equivalence. 2nd ed. Lanham: University Press of America.

Lederer, Marianne. 1994. La traduction aujourd'hui: le modèle interprétatif. Collection F Références. Vanves: Hachette.

Lörscher, Wolfgang. 1991. Translation performance, translation process, and translation strategies: a psycholinguistic investigation. Language in performance 4. Tübingen: G. Narr.

Malblanc, Alfred. 1977. Stylistique comparée du français et de l'allemand: essai de représentation linguistique comparée et étude de traduction. 5. éd rev. Bibliothèque de stylistique comparée 2. Paris: Didier.

Margot, Jean-Claude. 1979. Traduire sans trahir: La theorie de La traduction et son application aux textes bibliques. Lausana: Age d'homme.

Meschonnic, Henri. 1972. «Propositions pour une poétique de la traduction». Langages, núm. 28: 49-54.

Mounin, Georges. 1982. Les problèmes théoriques de la traduction. Collection tel 5. Paris: Gallimard.

Munday, Jeremy. 2012. Introducing translation studies: theories and applications. Third edition. Londres; Nova York: Routledge.

Neubert, Albrecht, i Gregory M. Shreve. 1992. Translation as Text. Kent: Kent State University Press.

Newmark, Peter. 1988. A textbook of translation. Nova York: Prentice-Hall International.

Nida, Eugene A., i Charles R. Taber. 2003. The theory and practice of translation. Leiden; Boston: Brill.

Nord, Christiane. 1991. Textanalyse und Übersetzen: theoretische Grundlagen, Methode und didaktische Anwendung einer übersetzungsrelevanten Textanalyse. 2., neu Bearbeitete Aufl. Heidelberg: J. Groos.

———. 2018. Translating as a purposeful activity: functionalist approaches explained. Second edition. Translation theories explored. Lonndres; Nova York: Routledge.

Papegaaij, Bart, i Klaus Schubert. 2019. Text Coherence in Translation. Reprint 2019. Berlin: De Gruyter Mouton.

Rabadán, Rosa. 1991. Equivalencia y traducción: problemática de la equivalencia translémica inglés-español. León: Univ. de León.

Reiß, Katharina. 1993. Texttyp und Übersetzungsmethode: der operative Text. 3., Unveränd.Aufl. Heidelberg: Groos.

Scavée, Pierre, i Pietro Intravaia. 1984. Traité de stylistique comparée: analyse comparative de l'Italien et du Français. Paris: Didier.

Seleskovitch, Danica. 1975. Langage, langues et mémoire: étude de la prise de notes en interprétation consécutive. Cahiers Champollion. Paris: Lettres modernes.

Seleskovitch, Danica, i Marianne Lederer. 2001. Interpréter pour traduire. 4. éd. revue et corr. Collection de «Traductologie» 1. Paris: Didier Érudition.

Snell-Hornby, Mary. 1988. Translation studies: an integrated approach. Amsterdam; Philadelphia: J. Benjamins.

Steiner, George. 1975. After Babel: aspects of language and translation. Londres; New York: Oxford University Press.

Toury, Gideon. 2012. Descriptive translation studies--and beyond. 2nd expanded ed. Benjamins translation library, v. 100. Amsterdam; Philadelphia: John Benjamins.

Vázquez-Ayora, Gerardo. 1977. Introducción a la traductología: curso básico de traducción. Washington: Georgetown University Press.

Vermeer, Hans J. 1983. Aufsätze zur Translationstheorie. Heidelberg: Autopublicación.

———. 2014. Towards a General Theory of Translational Action: Skopos Theory Explained. Florència: Taylor and Francis.

Vinay, Jean-Paul, i Jean Darbelnet. 2011. Stylistique comparée du français et de l'anglais: méthode de traduction. Nouvelle éd. revue et corrigée. Bibliothèque de stylistique comparée 1. Paris: Didier.

Von Flotow-Evans, Luise. 1997. Translation and Gender: Translating in the «Era of Feminism». Translation Theories Explained 2. Manchester: St. Jerome.

Wilss, Wolfram. 1977. Übersetzungswissenschaft: Probleme und Methoden. Stuttgart: Klett.

———. 1996. Knowledge and Skills in Translator Behavior. Amsterdam; Philadelphia: John Benjamins.

Wotjak, Gerd, ed. 2013. La Escuela traductológica de Leipzig: sus inicios, su credo y su florecer (1965-1985). Studien zur romanischen Sprachwissenschaft und interkulturellen Kommunikation 90. Frankfurt am Main: Peter Lang.


Software

We will work with the most usual tools to edit documents.

Language list

Name Group Language Semester Turn
(TE) Theory 1 Catalan first semester morning-mixed
(TE) Theory 2 Catalan second semester morning-mixed