TRN4030 - Introduction to Interpreting and Translation Studies

Leader: Dr Rita Wilson

Offered

Clayton First semester 2008 (Day)
Clayton Second semester 2008 (Day)

Synopsis

12-point, one-semester introductory core unit of the MA in Interpreting and Translation Studies (ITS). The language of instruction will be English, the seminar will allow both formal lectures and practical workshops. The unit will cover the theoretical disciplines which inform the recently emerged interdisciplinary fields of ITS; the history of interpreting and translation, and ITS (comparative linguistics, pragmatic and semiotic approaches); the various linguistic, cultural, social and other contextual factors involved in interpreting and translation work; the relevance of interpreting and translation theory to interpreting and translation practice; the basic theoretical principles of interpreting and translation; and interpreting and translation terminology

Objectives

On completion of the unit, students will:

1. Be able to identify and discuss significant historical developments in interpreting and translation studies,
2. Have learnt a metalanguage for articulating different paradigms in translation studies (structuralism, hermeneutics, semiotic, post-modernism, deconstruction),
3. Have acquired the ability to recognize interpreting and translation studies as an 'inter-discipline',
4. Be able to conceptualise the three dimensions of equivalence: hermeneutics (Humboldt, Schleiermacher, Koschmieder (tertium comparationis)); cognition (Kintsch, Kumaul, Rumelhart (prototypes and schemata)); pragmatics (Austin, Searle, Levinson (illocution and perlocution));
5. Be able to discuss in depth at least two translation theoretical paradigms and their historical embeddedness, including the applicability of this predominantly European theoretical framework to non-European languages.

Assessment

Written assignments (equivalent to 5500 words) : 60%
Final exam: (2 hours (2000 words) 25%;
Oral presentation (equiv 1500 words)15%

Contact hours

4 hours (1 x 1 hour seminar, 1 x 1 hour tutorial and 1 x 2 hour seminar) per week