Literary Translation

Code:

MTSL081

Acronym:

TL

Keywords
Classification	Keyword
OFICIAL	Language Sciences - Translation

Instance: 2022/2023 - 1S

Active?	Yes
Responsible unit:	Department of Germanic Studies
Course/CS Responsible:	Master of Arts in Translation and Language Services

Cycles of Study/Courses

Acronym	No. of Students	Study Plan	Curricular Years	Credits UCN	Credits ECTS	Contact hours	Total Time
MTSL	14	Study plan	2	-	3	21,5	81

Teaching language

Portuguese

Objectives

Students should acquire or develop the fundamental skills to carry out literary translations, taking into account a series of prior questions about the nature of the text to be translated, the specificities of the author's individual style and idiolectal characteristics, the function of the translation, bearing in mind that the literary translator has to make certain decisions, opting for one or another possible strategy, valuing, however, always the coherence of his/her translational options throughout the text.

Learning outcomes and competences

Throughout the semester, students will learn or perfect their skills in the area of literary translation and will be able to:

carry out a complex analysis of the literary work to be translated, taking into consideration questions about the nature of the text, the socio-historical, cultural, aesthetic context in which it was written, the specificities of the author's individual style and idiolectal marks;

develop a prior translation strategy, taking into account the context of the translation, its purpose and the characteristics of the source text as well as the author's individual style

be aware of specific difficulties related to the language pair, particularly those of a syntactical and lexical nature

develop a coherent strategy for the translation of cultural aspects of the source text;

work out a coherent strategy for the translation of geographical names, toponyms and proper names, bearing in mind the purpose of the translation

be aware of the importance of coherence in all the translational choices made above.

Working method

Presencial

Pre-requirements (prior knowledge) and co-requirements (common knowledge)

Students should have an interest in literature and a sensibility for literary language, not only in their mother tongue, but also in other languages they have mastered and/or studied. In principle, the essential focus will be on the analysis and production of literary translations into the mother tongue (mainly Portuguese). This presupposes sensitivity to aspects of literary style and a taste for recreating, in translation, specific aspects of a given text, taking into account the author, his or her individual style, the phase of the work in question (both in the analysis and in the production of the tradition) and specific features of the culture of the target language (which does not necessarily have to be Portugal and the literary culture and reception in Portugal).

Program

Furthermore, the difficulties of translation resulting from the language pair in question (the language of the original text being ideally English, Spanish, French or German, and the target language, i.e. the language of the translated text, Portuguese) will be discussed, namely syntactic or lexical difficulties. Another relevant aspect of the analysis is the various registers of language (e.g. the translation of spoken language, such as in dialogues or dramatic texts), the types of text, cultural and geographical adaptations (e.g. in the translation of toponyms, proper names or designations related to the source culture).

Students will submit a research paper and/or a translation assignment in which they present a literary text (or an excerpt from a text) of their choice, confront it with existing translations, taking into account in their analysis the issues mentioned above, and (or) present a proposal for the translation of the chosen text. The texts in question should ideally be prose or dramatic texts.


Bibliography:

Apel, Friedmar; Kopetzki, Annette (2003²): Literarische Übersetzung. Stuttgart: Metzler.

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

Even-Zohar, Itamar (1997²) (1990): „Polysystem Studies“. In: Poetics Today. International Journal for Theory and Analysis of Literature and Communication. Bd. 11, Nr. 1.

Toury, Gideon (2012²) (1995): Descriptive Translation Studies - and beyond. Amsterdam / Philadelphia: John Benjamins Publishing Company.

Venuti, Lawrence (2008²) (1995): The Translator’s Invisibility. A history of translation. London / New York: Routledge.

A more complete bibliography will be provided throughout the semester.

Mandatory literature

Venuti, Lawrence ; The Translator’s Invisibility. A history of translation., Routledge, 2008

Teaching methods and learning activities

The classes presuppose active participation of the students, both in the discussion of the source and target texts analysed and through the presentation of analytical and/or translation projects.

Software

Zoom
Microsoft Office (Word, Powerpoint, Excel)

keywords

Humanities
Humanities > language sciences
Humanities
Humanities > Literature
Humanities > language sciences > Languages
Humanities > language sciences > Linguistics

Evaluation Type

Distributed evaluation without final exam

Assessment Components

Designation	Weight (%)
Participação presencial	20,00
Teste	30,00
Trabalho escrito	30,00
Prova oral	20,00
Total:	100,00

Amount of time allocated to each course unit

Designation	Time (hours)
Elaboração de projeto	20,00
Estudo autónomo	27,00
Frequência das aulas	21,50
Trabalho escrito	12,50
Total:	81,00

Eligibility for exams

Attendance is compulsory (minimum 75%, as stipulated by FLUP's evaluation rules).

Calculation formula of final grade

The calculation of the classification is made through the results obtained in the evaluation components, taking into account their respective weight.

Examinations or Special Assignments

Not applicable.

Internship work/project

Not applicable.

Special assessment (TE, DA, ...)

Working students and other students legally excused from regular class attendance should contact the lecturer at the beginning of the semester to arrange an alternative modality of assessment.

Classification improvement

Only the written examination is open to improvement/appeal for assessment.