Cultural Awareness through Translation

obligatory courses

The course is devoted to the issue of translating culture-specific items, both from English into Polish and vice-versa. During the classes the participants will be preparing translations of texts containing culture-specific items, and deciding about the degree of their translatability as well as about the best strategies and techniques to apply in a given context. The translation tasks will be preceded and followed by a discussion aiming at both strengthening the students' cultural awareness and making them understand the role and significance of this awareness in the translation process.

The course is part of the practical English programme organized for third year students. It is meant for those who would like to learn about the role and significance of cultural awareness in the translation process, and also, through practical translation, to strengthen their own awareness as regards similarities and differences between the English and Polish cultural contexts. The course centers around the issues of translatability and translation equivalence in relation to culturally marked elements appearing in written texts of various kind. Its aim is to let the participants decide for themselves about the degree of difficulty involved in rendering a range of culture-specific items, concepts and situations across the two languages, and about the most feasible translation strategies and techniques to be employed to deal with those elements in the process of translation. The students will be presented with a varied selection of source texts containing cultural elements, written both in English and in Polish, and asked to translate them into the other language, preceded and followed by a discussion concerning the loss and/or gain of meaning and connotation, and the shift concerning respective reader reactions as results of the translation. Focus will be given to the existence of many possible ways of solving one and the same translation problem, depending on the kind of element in question, the context, the type and purpose of the text, the intention of the source author and that of the translator, and the characteristics of the target reader, thus emphasizing the nature of translation as a decision-making process. The activities will also stress both the vitality of treating the text to be translated as a whole, and the fact that texts are usually embedded in the source culture even if they lack overt traces of cultural markedness. Additionally, the classes will attempt to address the issue of dealing with target culture and third culture elements present in source texts.

Requirements: 1) attendance and active participation in class activities, 2) satisfactory completion of both home and in-class assignments. The final grade will be given on the basis of the results of all the work done by the participants throughout the course, both in class and at home.

Baker, Mona (1992) In Other Words. A Coursebook on Translation, London / New York: Routledge.

Baker, Mona ed. (1998) Routledge Encyclopedia of Translation Studies, London / New York: Routledge.

Bassnett, Susan (2002) Translation Studies, 3rd ed. London / New York: Routledge.

Hatim, Basil - Jeremy Munday (2004) Translation. An advanced resourcebook, London / New York: Routledge.

Hejwowski, Krzysztof (2007) Kognitywno-komunikacyjna teoria przekładu, Warszawa: Wydawnictwo Naukowe PWN.

Korzeniowska, Aniela (1998) Explorations in Polish-English Mistranslation Problems, Warszawa: Wydawnictwa Uniwersytetu Warszawskiego.

Korzeniowska, Aniela - Piotr Kuhiwczak (2005) Successful Polish-English Translation. Tricks of the Trade, 3rd ed. Warszawa: Wydawnictwo Naukowe PWN.

Lefevere, André ed. (1992) Translation / History / Culture. A Sourcebook, London / New York: Routledge.

Newmark, Peter (1981) Approaches to Translation, Oxford: Pergamon Press.

Newmark, Peter (1988) A Textbook of Translation, Harlow: Longman.

Shuttleworth, Mark - Moira Cowie (1997) Dictionary of Translation Studies, Manchester: St Jerome Publishing.

Venuti, Lawrence ed. (2000) The Translation Studies Reader. London and New York: Routledge.

Wojtasiewicz, Olgierd (1996) Wstęp do teorii tłumaczenia, 2nd ed. Warszawa: TEPIS.

The student knows that translation takes place in a cultural context and understands the imprortance of this fact. The student knows about the potential translation problems that result from cultural differences and knows what strategies and techniques may be used to overcome those problems. The student can use the strategies and techniques appropriate for the particular translation task.

Code reference: K_W07, K_U03,4, 5, 11,12, 13,17

The student:

K_W07 has basic knowledge of translation theories and is aware of complexities of the translation process.

K_U03 is able to express himself/herself in English correctly, with precision and coherence, adjusting language forms to the communicational context.

K_U04 is able to present the aquired knowledge in a clear and logical way in the oral and written form.

K_U05 is able to monitor and diagnose the correctness of the Polish and English languages in use.

K_U11 is able to appreciate the diversity of opinions presented in assigned reading and class discussions, using them as a source of inspiration rather than a threat to his/her own value system.

K_U012 is able to recognise cultural symbols and use cultural codes in interpersonal and intercultural discourse.

K_U013 is able to find information in different sources, evaluate its relevance and interpret it for theoretical and practical purposes in the context of English studies.

K_U17 knows English at least at the C1 level according to the European framework of reference for languages.

The student's performance is assessed on the basis of the following: attentance and active participation in in-class activities, the quality of 4-5 home assignments (translations from English into Polish and vice-versa) and of the in-class translation (usually the last but one class in the semester)

The retake consists in translating new extra texts equal in number to the translations the students failed to submit and/or for which s/he received negative grades. The submitted translations must obtain positive grades.

Two or three (to be determined by a specific group teacher) formally justified absences are allowed.