Teaching Translation at University Level James Dickins Prof

Teaching Translation at University Level James Dickins Prof. of Arabic University of Leeds

Four contexts in Britain • Language and Literature BA: translation as a language-learning exercise • Language and Literature BA: translation as a special skill • Translation (also Translation and Interpreting) BA • Translation (also Translation and Interpreting) MA

Context 1: Language and Literature BA: translation as a language-learning exercise • Historical development of language teaching: 1. 2. 3. 4. Grammar-translation method Direct method Audio-lingual method Communicative method • Grammar-translation method ‘officially’ disappeared by about 1960, but still in practice used in some university courses

Context 2: Language and Literature BA: translation as a special skill • Some universities have only traditional Language and Literature BAs, but offer specific modules in: 1. 2. 3. 4. (General) Translation Specialised Translation Interpreting Translation theory

Context 3: Translation (also Translation and Interpreting) BA E. g. • • • Heriot-Watt University of Salford University of Aston University of Westminster University of Surrey

Context 4: Translation (also Translation and Interpreting MA) E. g. • • • Edinburgh University Heriot-Watt University of Durham University of Leeds University of Manchester University of Salford University of Aston University of Westminster University of Surrey

Context 3: Translation (also Translation and Interpreting) BA – for Arabic • University of Salford • University of Westminster

Context 4: Translation (also Translation and Interpreting) MA – for Arabic • • University of Durham University of Leeds University of Salford University of Westminster

Leeds MA in Applied Translation Studies (Arabic) as an example • • • Compulsory modules: Computer-Assisted Translation: Semesters 1 & 2 Methods and Approaches in Translation Studies: Semester 1 • • • Optional modules: Six of the following modules (including at least 2 Specialised Translation modules) Specialised Arabic-English Translation A. Semester 1 Specialised English-Arabic Translation A. Semester 1 Specialised Arabic-English Translation B. Semester 2 Specialised English-Arabic Translation B. Semester 2 Principles and Applications of Machine Translation. Semester 2 Introduction to Screen Translation. Semester 2 Corpus Linguistics for Translators. English for Translators. Semester 1 Introduction to Interpreting Genres in Translation. Semester 1 • • Summer Dissertation or Extended Translations Practical (Specialised) Translation thus ‘embedded’ within overall ‘translation theory and skills’ programme.

Materials for practical translation modules (Arabic) • In Other Words, by Mona Baker (includes Arabic examples, but not specifically about Arabic) • English-Arabic/Arabic-English Translation: A Practical Guide, by Basil Hatim • Thinking Arabic Translation, by James Dickins, Ian Higgins, and Sandor Hervey • In-house materials

In Other Words, by Mona Baker: organisation • Based around equivalence: Ch. 2: Equivalence at word level Ch. 3: Equivalence above word level Ch. 4: Grammatical equivalence Ch. 5: Textual equivalence: thematic and information structures Ch. 6: Textual equivalence: cohesion Ch. 7: Pragmatic equivalence

English-Arabic/Arabic-English Translation: A Practical Guide, by Basil Hatim: organisation • Based around text types: Translating Legal Texts The Preamble The Legal Article Initial and Concluding Legal Articles Translating Detached Exposition The Synopsis The Summary The Abstract The Report (Person-oriented/Entity-oriented) The News Report (Non-evaluative/Evaluative) The Report (Formulaic/Executive/Personalized) Translating Argumentation The Less Involved Through-argument The More Involved Through-argument The Explicit Counter-argument The Implicit Counter-argument The Suppressed Counter-argument

Thinking Arabic Translation, by James Dickins, Ian Higgins, and Sandor Hervey: organisation • Based around matrices, levels and ranks Ch. 1 Ch. 2 Ch. 3 Ch. 4 Ch. 5 Ch. 6 Ch. 7 Ch. 8 Ch. 9 Ch. 10 Ch. 11 Ch. 12 Ch. 13 Ch. 14 Ch. 15 Ch. 16 Ch. 17 Preliminaries to translation as a process Preliminaries to translation as a product Cultural transposition Compensation Denotative meaning and translation issues Connotative meaning and translation issues Phonic/graphic and prosodic issues in translation Grammatical issues in translation Sentential issues in translation Discourse and intertextual issues in translation Metaphor Language variety and translation: register, sociolect and dialect Textual genre as a factor in translation Translating technical texts Translating constitutional texts Translating consumer-oriented texts Revising and editing TTs

Other possible types of module organisation • Subject-fields – – • Genres (used at Leeds) – – • Politics Science Religion Business Journalistic texts General and administrative texts Scientific and technical texts Literary texts Specific-problem based, e. g. – – Compounds Coordination/subordination Sentence-length Metaphors

Class organisation • Teacher-focused: – leads discussion, esp. based on his/her own TT – students contribute as asked by teacher • Student-focused – Simple individual • E. g. one student writes up their version of TT on acetate / board – Multiple individual • E. g. a number of students write up bits of their versions of TT on acetate / board – Group • E. g. students work in groups to produce versions of TT / parts of TT • Teacher- and student-focused – E. g. teacher puts up his/her TT on acetate, students put up theirs on acetate / board

Student class preparation • No pre-class work Advantage: spontaneity of class work Disadvantage: not much work is covered in class • Pre-class work on key elements Advantage: students deal with key issues before class Disadvantage: class work can still be slow • Full pre-class translation Advantage: students have full TT to discuss before class Disadvantage: students don’t receive any pre-class guidance on particularly difficult elements • Pre-class work on key elements followed by full pre-class translation

Pre-class work on key elements followed by full pre-class translation: steps 1. Students receive ST (previous class) 2. Students receive ‘key points’ questions relating to ST (previous class) 3. After a few days, students receive proposed answers to ‘key points’ questions (via e-mail, etc. ) 4. Students produce full TT (for next class) 5. Students discuss their TTs with reference also to TT produced by teacher in class 6. Teacher hands out teacher TT, with translation notes (‘strategic decisions’ and ‘decisions of detail’)

Pre-class work on key elements followed by full preclass translation: Step 1 - students receive ST (previous class)

Pre-class work on key elements followed by full preclass translation: Step 2 - students receive ‘key points’ questions relating to ST (previous class)

Pre-class work on key elements followed by full preclass translation: Step 3 - students receive proposed answers to ‘key points’ questions

Pre-class work on key elements followed by full preclass translation: Step 4 - Students produce full TT (for next class) • Either: – Students bring this work with them to the class, for class discussion in comparison with TT produced by teacher • Or: – Teacher marks the work before the class, for further discussion in comparison with teacher TT in class

Pre-class work on key elements followed by full preclass translation: Step 5 - Students discuss their TTs with reference also to TT produced by teacher in class. • TT (from Tutor’s Handbook to Thinking Arabic Translation)

Pre-class work on key elements followed by full pre-class translation: Step 6 - teacher hands out teacher TT, with translation notes (‘strategic decisions’ and ‘decisions of detail’)

Step 6 – contd.

Thank you very much for listening!