Translation of Scientific Texts (French)
Code
722111049
Academic unit
Faculdade de Ciências Sociais e Humanas
Department
Línguas, Culturas e Literaturas Modernas, Secção de Estudos Espanhóis, Franceses e Italianos
Credits
6
Weekly hours
3 letivas + 1 tutorial
Teaching language
Portuguese
Objectives
1) To acquire specific knowledge on scientific terminology related to the selected texts.
2) To be able to understand the source text in order to produce an accurate translation.
3) To acquire competence to analyse and solve terminological and notional issues using translation tools such as glossaries, corpora, parallel texts and specialized dictionaries.
4) To always keep in mind the need for clarity and grammatical correction in the target text.
5) To be able to produce autonomous translations of the selected scientific texts.
Prerequisites
None.
Subject matter
1. Introduction to issues related to scientific translation
2. Planning the translation work
2.1. Prior evaluation of the context of the source text
2.2. Evaluation of the communicative context: senders and addressees
2.3. Research methodologies and translation tools
3. Translating scientific texts
3.1. Semantic interpretation and linguistic analysis of the source text: terminology, idiom, lexicological issues and morphological and syntactic structures
3.2. Stylistic analysis of the source text: discourse, word-order, clear and obscure phraseologies
3.3. Critical and contrastive analysis of translations
3.4. Solution of terminological difficulties: compilation of glossaries, use of specialized dictionaries and comparable texts
3.5. The target text: problemas of composition.
Bibliography
1) Bernardo, A. M. (1996). \"A criação de neologismos científicos e técnicos. Algumas considerações metodológicas\". Runa. Revista Portuguesa de Estudos Germanísticos, 26, pp. 783-794.
2) Loffler-Laurian, A.-M. (1995). \"Quelques indicateurs de continuité dans le discours de vulgarisation scientifique\". M. Ballard (org). Relations discursives et traduction. Lille: Presses Universitaires.
3) Magalhães, F. J. (1997). Da tradução profissional em Portugal. Estudo sociológico. Lisboa: Edições Colibri.
4) Maillot, J. (1981). La traduction scientifique & technique. Paris: Technique & Documentation.
5) Salada, A. M. N. (1997). A tradução especializada. Dissertação de mestrado. Lisboa: FCSH, UNL.
6) Somers, H. (ed) (2003). Computers and Translation: A Translators Guide. Philadelphia: John Benjamins Publishing Company.
Teaching method
The postgraduate seminars are both theoretical (25%) and practical (75%), so that 75% minimum attendance is required. The teaching methodologies are based on the following activities: translations of different scientific texts, carried out in class after previous preparation at home; grammatical analysis of the source text; supervised discussion of the specific problems of scientific translation based on theoretical bibliography and the comparative method; improvement, in the classroom, of translations prepared at home; information, supervised research and use of relevant translation resources and tools for scientific translation; and production of glossaries, word lists or databases, individually or as a group, using the Moodle platform.
Evaluation method
Assessment will focus on three main areas: 1) oral and written translation practice in class (40%); 2) a written exam (30%); and 3) an individual translation of a scientific article supervised by the teacher in tutorial sessions (30%).