Hong Kong Shue Yan University
Department of English Language & Literature
2nd term, 2015-2016
Course Title:
Introduction to Translation
Course Code:
ENG 140
Year of Study:
1st
Number of Credits:
3
Duration in Weeks:
15
Contact Hours per Week:
Lecture (2 hours)
Tutorial (1 hour)
Pre-requisite(s):
Nil
Prepared by:
Dr. Kanglong LIU
Course Aims
This course lays the foundation for the translation programme and for all elective courses in
the translation field offered by the English Department. It aims at equipping students with
the necessary skills and techniques which they need to produce quality translations.
Emphasis is placed on studying the similarities and differences between Chinese and English
on lexical, syntactical and textual levels and their influences on translation. In this course,
some mainstream translation theories that are of immediate importance to E/C and C/E
translations will also be covered by relating to the authentic examples taken from real-world
settings. After studying this course, students are expected to understand and grasp the basic
translation principles and master the correct procedures for analyzing the source text and
produce proper target text.
Course Outcomes, Teaching Activities and Assessment
Course Intended Learning Outcomes (ILOs)
Upon completion of this course students should be able to:
ILO1
Understand the role played by translation in the process of intercultural
communication
ILO2
Identify and mediate between Chinese and English linguistic and cultural
difference in translation
ILO3
Grasp the basic principles and techniques of both C/E and E/C translation
ILO4
Apply some basic translation theories and use them as guidelines in their
own translations
ILO5
Understand translation studies as an interdisciplinary subject
TLA1
TLA2
Teaching and Learning Activities (TLAs)
Demonstration of Chinese and English cultural differences and their
influences on translation
Identification of Chinese and English linguistic differences through textual
analysis
2
TLA3
TLA4
TLA5
TLA6
TLA7
AT1
AT2
AT3
AT4
Translation of texts from E-C & C-E
Revision of poorly-translated texts
Oral Presentations by students
In-class Discussions
Screening of film excerpts
Assessment Tasks (ATs)
Exercises and translation project
Oral Presentation
Class participation and discussion
Final Examination
30%
20%
10%
40%
TOTAL 100%
Alignment of Course Intended Learning Outcomes, Teaching and Learning Activities and
Assessment Tasks
Course Intended Learning
Teaching and Learning
Assessment Tasks
Outcomes
Activities
ILO1
TLA1,3,5,6
AT1,2,3
ILO2
TLA1,2,3,4,5,6,7
AT1,2,3,4
ILO3
TLA1,2,3,4,5,6
AT1,2,3,4
ILO4
TLA3,4,6
AT1,2,4
ILO5
TLA5,6
AT2,3,4
Course Outline
Week 1
 General Introduction
Week 2
 Nature and problems of E-C Translation
1. Nature of translation
2. Types of translation
3. What is translation studies?
4. Reference tools
Readings
Baker, M. (2000) In Other Words: A Coursebook on Translation, Beijing : Foreign Language
and Research Press, 1-9.
Munday, Jeremy (2008) Introducing Translation Studies: Theories and Applications 2nd edition,
London and New York: Routledge, 4-9.
Week 3
 Language difference between Chinese and English & Translation (I)
1. Translation on word level
2. Differences in lexical constructions between Chinese and English
Readings
Baker, M. (2000) In Other Words: A Coursebook on Translation, Beijing: Foreign Language
and Research Press, 10-16.
張春柏。2003。《英漢漢英翻譯教程》。北京：高等教育出版社。頁 31-49。
3
Week 4
 Language difference between Chinese and English & Translation (II)
1. Translation methods: transplantation, negation, affirmation
2. Translation of names
Readings
Baker, M. (2000) In Other Words: A Coursebook on Translation, Beijing: Foreign Language
and Research Press, 17-44.
張春柏。2003。《英漢漢英翻譯教程》。北京：高等教育出版社。頁 50-106。
Week 5
 Language difference between Chinese and English & Translation (III)
1. Translation on sentence level
2. Syntactic differences between Chinese and English: parataxis vs. hypotaxis
3. Chinese theme-rheme structures vs. English Subject-predicate structures
4. Aspect markers in Chinese vs. Tense in English
5. Active and passive voice in Chinese and English
Readings
Baker, M. (2000) In Other Words: A Coursebook on Translation, Beijing: Foreign Language
and Research Press, 82-118.
思果。2003。《翻譯研究》（中文語法部分）。臺北: 大地出版社。
黃國彬。2001。<破陣子，伏長蛇——談英語句法的漢譯>，載《語言與翻譯》。臺
北：九歌出版社。頁 79-84。
Week 6
 Language difference between Chinese and English & Translation (IV)
1. Coherence in textual translation
2. Potential Problems in Achieving textual equivalence in E/C and C/E translations and
Possible Solutions
Readings
Baker, M. (2000) In Other Words: A Coursebook on Translation, Beijing: Foreign Language
and Research Press, 82-118.
楊林。2007。《英漢文學語篇翻譯中的連貫問題研究》。寧夏人民出版社，頁 82101。
Week 7
 Culture and translation (I)
1. Language and culture
2. Cultural image in translation
3. Untranslatability in translation
Readings
House, Juliane (2002) ‘Universality and Culture Specificity in Translation’, in Alessandra
Riccardi (ed) Translation Studies: Perspectives on an Emerging Discipline, Cambridge;
New York : Cambridge University Press, 92-110.
Nida, Eugene (2001) Contexts in Translating, Amsterdam; Philadelphia: J. Benjamins Pub.
Co., 13-28.
Week 8
 Culture and translation：Idioms and proverbs (II)
1. Contrastive studies of idioms in Chinese and English
4
2. Domestication vs. foreignisation
3. Translation techniques: summarizing, compensation, direct translation + notes
Readings
Snell-Hornby, Mary (2006) The Turns of Translation Studies: New Paradigms or Shifting
Viewpoints?, Amsterdam; Philadelphia: J. Benjamins Pub. Co., 145-148.
金惠康。2004。《跨文化交際翻譯續編》。北京：中國對外翻譯出版公司。頁 131141。
Week 9
 Culture and translation：Translation of colour words (III)
1. Colour words and their connotations
2. Colour words in Hong Lou Meng
Readings
Jin, Serena S. H. (1995) “Colour Terms.” In Chan Sin-wai and David E. Pollard, eds. An
Encyclopaedia of Translation and Interpretation: Chinese-English, English-Chinese. Hong
Kong: The Chinese University Press, 87-94.
Week 10
 Pragmatics and translation
1. Pragmatics and context
2. Pragmatic failures in translation
Readings
Baker, M. (2000) In Other Words: A Coursebook on Translation, Beijing : Foreign Language
and Research Press, 217-260.
Hatim, Basil and Jeremy Munday (2004) Translation: An Advanced Resource Book, London
and New York: Routledge, 76-85.
Week 11
 Functionalist approaches to translation
1. Text types
2. Skopos theory
3. Translation of advertisement
Nord, Christiane (2001) Translating as a Purposeful Activity: Functionalist Approaches
Explained, Shanghai: Shanghai Foreign Language Education Press, 27-38.
Snell-Hornby, Mary (2006) The Turns of Translation Studies: New Paradigms or Shifting
Viewpoints?, Amsterdam; Philadelphia: J. Benjamins Pub. Co., 51-55.
Week 12
 Cultural theorists’ approach to translation (I): Translation as rewriting
1. “The cultural turn” in translation studies
2. Translation and adaptation
Readings
Munday, Jeremy (2008) Introducing Translation Studies: Theories and Applications 2nd edition,
London and New York: Routledge, 126-131.
董明。《翻譯的創造性叛逆》。北京：中央編譯出版社，頁 111-132。
Week 13
 Cultural theorists’ approach to translation (II): Translation and gender
1. Gender perspectives in translation
5
2. Canadian feminists’ translation “project”: Making the feminine visible
Readings
Munday, Jeremy (2008) Introducing Translation Studies: Theories and Applications 2nd edition,
London and New York: Routledge, 131-133.
Von-Flotow, Luise (2004) Translation and Gender: Translating in the ‘Era of Feminism’ ,
Shanghai: Shanghai Foreign Language Education Press, 8-13.
Week 14
 Translation studies as an inter-discipline
1. Translation studies: beyond language
2. The impact of globalization on the practice of translation and translation studies
3. A global view of translation studies
Readings
Snell-Hornby, Mary (2006) The Turns of Translation Studies: New Paradigms or Shifting
Viewpoints?, Amsterdam; Philadelphia: J. Benjamins Pub. Co., 70-72.
Xu, yanhong (2008) ‘Towards Pluralistic and Interdisciplinary Approaches’, in Wang Ning and
Sun Yifeng (eds) Translation, Globalization and Localization: A Chinese Perspective,
Clevedon, UK ; Buffalo, NY : Multilingual Matters, 88-110.
Gentzler, Edwin (2008) ‘A Global View of Translation Studies: Towards an Interdisciplinary
Field’, in Wang Ning and Sun Yifeng (eds) Translation, Globalization and Localization: A
Chinese Perspective, Clevedon, UK ; Buffalo, NY : Multilingual Matters, 111-126.
Week15
 Recapitulation
1. Summary of the course
2. Briefing of translation project
Academic Honesty
You are expected to do your own work. Dishonesty in fulfilling any assignment undermines the
learning process and the integrity of your college degree. Engaging in dishonest or unethical
behavior is forbidden and will result in disciplinary action, specifically a failing grade on the
assignment with no opportunity for resubmission. A second infraction will result in an F for the
course and a report to College officials. Examples of prohibited behavior are:
Cheating – an act of deception by which a student misleadingly demonstrates that s/he has
mastered information on an academic exercise. Examples include:
Copying or allowing another to copy a test, quiz, paper, or project
Submitting a paper or major portions of a paper that has been previously submitted for another
class without permission of the current instructor
Turning in written assignments that are not your own work (including homework)
Plagiarism – the act of representing the work of another as one’s own without giving credit.
Failing to give credit for ideas and material taken from others
Representing another’s artistic or scholarly work as one’s own
Fabrication – the intentional use of invented information or the falsification of research or other
findings with the intent to deceive
To comply with the University’s policy, the translation project has to be submitted to VeriGuide.
6
Resources
Primary Texts:
1.
Baker, Mona. (2000) In Other Words: A Coursebook on Translation, Beijing: Foreign
Language and Research Press.
2.
Baker, Mona (2010) Critical Readings in Translation Studies, London; New York :
Routledge.
3.
Malmkjaer, Kirsten and Kevin Windle. (2011) The Oxford Handbook of Translation
Studies, Oxford ; New York : Oxford University Press.
4.
Munday, Jeremy (2008) Introducing Translation Studies: Theories and Applications 2nd
edition, London and New York: Routledge.
5.
思果。2003。《翻譯研究》（中文語法部分）。臺北: 大地出版社。
Supplementary Texts:
1. Gambier, Yves and Luc van Doorslaer (2010) Handbook of Translation Studies,
Amsterdam ; Philadelphia : John Benjamins Pub. Co.
2. Gentzler, Edwin (2001) Contemporary Translation Theories, 2nd revised edition,
Clevedon, England and Buffalo, N.Y.: Multilingual Matters.
3. Hatim, Basil and Jeremy Munday (2004) Translation: An Advanced Resource Book,
London and New York: Routledge.
4. Munday, Jeremy (2009) The Routledge companion to translation studies, London and
New York: Routledge.
5. Muñoz-Calvo, Micaela and Carmen Buesa Gómez (2010) Translation and Cultural
Identity: Selected Essays on Translation and Cross-cultural Communication, Newcastle
upon Tyne : Cambridge Scholars.
6. Newmark, Peter (1988) A Textbook of Translation, New York/London: Prentice.
7. Snell-Hornby, Mary (2006) The Turns of Translation Studies: New Paradigms or
Shifting Viewpoints?, Amsterdam; Philadelphia: J. Benjamins Pub. Co.
8. Von-Flotow, Luise (2004) Translation and Gender: Translating in the ‘Era of Feminism’ ,
Shanghai: Shanghai Foreign Language Education Press.
9. 黃國彬。2001。《語言與翻譯》。臺北：九歌出版社。
10. 包惠南, 包昂編。2004。《中國文化與漢英翻譯》。北京：外文出版社。
11. 童元方。2009。《選擇與創造——文學翻譯論叢》。香港：牛津大學出版社。
出版中心。