Teoria da Tradução

Objectives

By the end of the semester, students should:
- Know the key theories in the field of translation studies;
- Critically consider the several translation theories he is familiar with;
- Think of translation as more than a linguistic product, considering how it relates to politics and ideology;
- Be aware of the role translation plays in the contact between cultures;
- Critically analyze their own translation practice;
- Theoretically justify their translation options;
- Analyze translation, by correctly applying theoretical principles and concepts and focusing both on linguistic and extralinguistic aspects.

Program

I – A brief history of translation theory
1. From St. Jerome to the twentieth century
2. Translation Studies
II – Translation theory in the twentieth and twentieth-first century
1. Translation and linguistics: the instrumental and hermeneutic conceptions of language
2. Theoretical concepts: translatability and autonomy; equivalence and linguistic shifts; reception and function.
3. Translation strategies: free vs literal; dynamic vs formal; domestication vs foreignization
4. Literary translation vs translation of pragmatic or technical texts
5. Translation, culture and politics: identity and ideology; power and minorities

Teaching Methodologies

Reading, commenting and debating of theoretical texts on translation;
Analysis and comment on literary and non-literary translations, in view of the theoretical texts being studied;
Brief translation exercises, followed by a reflection on the adopted translation strategies and their implications.
Evaluation:
Final paper – 75%
Three oral presentations on the different stages of the final paper – 15%, thus distributed:
Presentation 1: subject and corpus choice – 2%
Presentation 2: list of translation cases under analysis – 6%
Presentation 3: final presentation of the paper, before rendering its written version – 7%
Participation in class – 10%

Bibliography

Antologia da disciplina, que contem algumas das mais representativas reflexões teóricas sobre a tradução do século XX e XXI, assim como as seguintes obras
BAKER, Mona (ed.) (2001) Routledge encyclopedia of translation studies. Londres, Nova Iorque: Routledge.
BASSNETT, Susan (2002) Translation Studies. London, New York: Routledge.
BARRENTO, João (2002) O poço de Babel. Para uma poética da tradução literária. Lisboa: Relógio D'Água.
KUHIWCZAK, Piotr, LITTAU, Karin, (ed.) (2007) A companion to translation studies, Clevedon, Buffalo, Toronto:
Multilingual Matters LTD.
LEFEVERE, André (1992) Translation, rewriting and the manipulation of literary frame. Londres: Routledge.
MUNDAY, Jeremy (2001) Introducing translation studies. London, New York, Routledge.
VENUTI, Lawrence (ed.) (2000)The translation studies reader. London, New York: Routledge.
VENUTI, Lawrence (1995) The translator's invisibility. Londres, Nova Iorque: Routledge.