The course is aimed at students of the Master’s Degree in Translation studies programme, and therefore consistently focuses on translation universals in non-literary translation. Are texts created as translations in any way different from original, untranslated texts (in the same language)? If so, how can these differences be described? It is these questions that a branch of Translation Studies dealing with the so-called translation universals, i.e. phenomena with a higher distribution in translated texts than non-translated texts, disregarding the source language, is trying to answer.
Translation universals will thus be understood as phenomena with a higher distribution in translated texts than non-translated texts, disregarding the source language. Translation-specific tendencies include on the one hand simplification, conventionalization, lexical phrases untypical of the target language, lower distribution of lexis specific to the target language (all that compared with non-translated texts in the same language) and on the other hand text lengthening, interference, standardization, explicitation, dialect normalization, narrative point of view simplification, use of more conventional collocations, reduction of repetition (compared with source texts).
The main objective of the course is to make students learn to identify these phenomena and acquire skills and knowledge relevant for studying them in texts translated from English. Students will also develop a basic orientation in the methods and results of research in this branch of Translation Studies.
Students' own translations as well as public corpora and corpora developed in the Department of English and American Studies will be used throughout the course. Each student is going to use both her/his own translations and the corpus of non-literary translations and texts gradually developed in the Department which the students will help to build, too.
The study of translation-specific tendencies will be presented as an exciting point of view for cont
- Učitel: Renata Kamenická