Faculdade de Ciências Sociais e Humanas

Translation Studies

Code

73217166

Academic unit

Faculdade de Ciências Sociais e Humanas

Department

Línguas, Culturas e Literaturas Modernas

Credits

12

Teacher in charge

Maria Zulmira Castanheira

Weekly hours

2

Teaching language

Portuguese

Objectives

a) To become familiar with the different research fields in Translation Studies;
b) To supply the students with conceptual and methodological tools in the area of Translation Studies, which
will enable them to frame, understand and analyse the phenomenon of translation;
c) To raise students’ awareness of current issues in the field of Translation Studies;
d) To awaken an awareness for the importance of historical, social, political and cultural factors in translation;
e) To promote the ability to use the theoretical and methodological apparatus critically;
f) To develop competence for autonomous research in the field of Translation Studies.

Prerequisites

Subject matter

This seminar aims to be an introduction to Translation Studies (TS), a broad research field which is rapidly
developing. As such, the following topics will be considered:
•What is translation? The nature and complexity of the translation process
•Translation as intercultural communication
•The role of translation and the huge demand for translation in a globalized world
•The emergence of the new academic discipline of TS in the 1970s: James S. Holmes’ ‘Map’
•TS as an interdiscipline: interaction with neighbouring disciplines
•Central issues in the study of translation
•Translation analysis and evaluation: different approaches
•Key terms and concepts — definition and problematization (equivalence, fidelity, acceptability,
intranslatability, interlingual, intralingual and intersemiotic translation, indirect translation, domestication,
foreignization, invisibility of the translator, rewriting, etc.)
•Research methodologies/resources
•Key bibliography

Bibliography

Baker, Mona and Gabriela Saldanha, eds. Routledge Encyclopedia of Translation Studies. 2nd ed. Abingdon and New York: Routledge, 2011.
Bassnett, Susan. Translation. London and New York: Routledge, 2013.
Bassnett, Susan. Translation Studies. 4th edition, updated. London and New York: Routledge, 2013.
House, Juliane. Translation. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2009.
Kuhiwczak, Piotr and Karin Littau, eds. A Companion to Translation Studies. Clevedon, Buffalo, Toronto:
Multilingual Matters, 2007.
Munday, Jeremy. Introducing Translation Studies: Theories and Applications. 3 rd edition. London and New York: Routledge, 2012.
Munday, Jeremy, ed. The Routledge Companion to Translation Studies. London and New York: Routledge, 2009.
Palumbo, Giuseppe. Key Terms in Translation Studies. London and New York: Continuum, 2009.
Venuti, Lawrence, ed. The Translation Studies Reader. 3rd edition. Abingdon and New York: Routledge, 2012.

Teaching method

Seminars of a theoretical-practical nature, in which the theoretical presentation of the themes is articulated with group commentary, critique and debate on the texts and students’ oral presentations on aspects of the curriculum.

Evaluation method

Students’ research will be guided and supported with a view to preparing them for the writing of the individual final paper. The assessment method followed will consist of rewarding regular attendance, keeping up with required reading, contributing to debates by means of spontaneous interventions in class, displaying a capacity for establishing relations at the conceptual level and consistency in developing arguments, making brief oral presentations upon previous request, and writing an individual research paper of about 15 pages (excluding bibliography and appendices) on one of the themes of the curriculum.

Courses