Course Title: Context and Practice of Translation 1A (English into LOTE) Mandarin
Part B: Course Detail
Teaching Period: Term1 2007
Course Code: LANG5449
Course Title: Context and Practice of Translation 1A (English into LOTE) Mandarin
School: 365T Global Studies, Soc Sci & Plng
Campus: City Campus
Program: C6067 - Advanced Diploma of Translating and Interpreting
Course Contact : Miranda Lai
Course Contact Phone: +61 3 992523523
Course Contact Email:miranda.lai@rmit.edu.au
Name and Contact Details of All Other Relevant Staff
Nominal Hours: 80
Regardless of the mode of delivery, represent a guide to the relative teaching time and student effort required to successfully achieve a particular competency/module. This may include not only scheduled classes or workplace visits but also the amount of effort required to undertake, evaluate and complete all assessment requirements, including any non-classroom activities.
Pre-requisites and Co-requisites
Successfully complete the bilingual intake test.
Course Description
This course aims to provide students with the skills and knowledge in written transfer, the primary competency of the Professional Translator, and the ability to apply relevant theoretical frameworks and contextual knowledge required of the particular assignment.
National Codes, Titles, Elements and Performance Criteria
National Element Code & Title: |
VBN927 Context and Practice of Translation 1A (English into LOTE) Mandarin |
Learning Outcomes
On completion of this module you will be expected to be able to:
- Translate passages that embody a reasonable level of linguistic and conceptual difficulty from English into LOTE, exhibiting appropriate use of transfer skills and achieving acceptable meaning-based renderings. Produce renderings in the Target Language that are appropriate to the context of the text in lexis, idiom, register, collocation, style, etc.
- Examine in depth a range of institutional and professional contexts in which interpreting and translating take place as professional activities, and apply related concepts and vocabulary within more complex translation practice.
- Research Australia’s and the LOTE-speaking country’s institutional and professional contexts that arise in a substantial translation text.
- Collaborate in developing acceptable equivalences (in English or the LOTE as applicable) for terminology relating to these contexts.
- Apply a variety of techniques for translating words and terms that are difficult to transfer due to cultural factors.
- Provide a comprehensive rationale for each equivalence.
- Translate passages under formal NAATI conditions.
Details of Learning Activities
In small groups you will develop the skills and knowledge to perform complex translation tasks. In particular, the instruction will aim to assist you to:
• Undertake translation tasks from English into the LOTE, involving a range of ancillary skills as incorporated into aspects of textual analysis: context, idiom, collocation, register, stylistics, etc.
• Use monolingual and bilingual dictionaries, glossaries, thesauri and other appropriate databases used by professional translators in an appropriate manner.
• Compile monolingual and bilingual glossaries and databases in line with Australian and international professional practices.
• Develop appropriate translation techniques, such as transference, cultural equivalence, functional equivalence, transposition and ability to evaluate the merits and demerits of such techniques.
• Link translation practice to the theoretical frameworks studied in Theoretical Bases of Interpreting & Translating, and to the ethical, professional and role aspects studied in Ethics and Professional Practice of Interpreting & Translating.
• Understand and apply the meaning-based approach to translation.
• Produce highly accurate translations containing no major errors, particularly those that extend beyond the word / phrase level and lead a student into making subsequent significant errors of cause / effect, etc.
• Produce complete translations (no ‘censoring’, summarising or providing extraneous information).
• Make appropriate choice of vocabulary, particularly medium- and high-frequency vocabulary.
• Ensure correct spelling, punctuation and capitalisation, and where applicable, correct formation of script or ideographs.
• Choose appropriate register.
• Transfer lines of cohesion (causes and effects, and inter-relationships between elements) and maintain the logical order of the original argument.
• Demonstrate proficiency in grammar of both languages and general absence of systemic grammar errors that permeate the entire translation (eg in English, consistently choosing inappropriate tenses, singular/plural, articles, etc).
• Recognise and understand idioms in the source language and apply appropriate strategies to translate idioms.
• Avoid non-idiomatic language, particularly where it would impede understanding of the target text.
• Avoid collocational errors, including use of inappropriate collocations from the source language (eg when translating into English, choosing the source-language collocation ‘hard money’ in¬stead of the English word ‘coins’).
• Deal proficiently with problems at and above the word level in the source text.
• Proofread to eliminate errors such as missed words or phrases.
• Use translator’s notes appropriately (i.e. neither under-used nor over-used, and clearly identified as translator’s notes in one of the commonly accepted ways)
• Use available resources, including the Internet, to research contextual issues relevant to translation projects.
Teaching Schedule
Students will be provided with a program calendar outlining a series of weekly themes/topics that form a guide for study and practice.
Learning Outcomes scheduled as follows:
Learning Outcomes 1 & 2 will be scheduled during the semester as notified by the teacher.
Learning Outcome 3 - Formal Exam will take place during the University’s formal examination period immediately following the end of semester.
Learning Resources
Prescribed Texts
References
Other Resources
To be advised by teacher.
Overview of Assessment
Three Learning Outcome tasks.
Assessment Tasks
Application of contextual knowledge to a translation text: A short class presentation on a translated text, identifying contextual factors and their role in the translation process. (25%)
Class test: Reflecting NAATI formal exam conditions, translate two out of three passages embodying a reasonable degree of difficulty from English into LOTE. (25%)
Formal examination. Translate two out of three passages embodying a reasonable degree of difficulty from English into LOTE under NAATI exam conditions. (50%)
Assessment Matrix
Learning Outcome activities have been designed in accordance with specified competencies.
Course Overview: Access Course Overview