UNIVERSIDAD DE ESPECIALIDADES ESPÍRITU SANTO
FACULTAD DE ESTUDIOS INTERNACIONALES
INTERNATIONAL CAREERS PROGRAM
SYLLABUS
COURSE: TRA 111 History of Translation and Interpretation
FACULTY: Benoit Verplancke
SCHEDULE:
BIMESTER: Summer 2007
ACADEMIC UNITS/CRÉDITS: 3 UEES
(S.N.C.C. 4.8 )
PRE REQUISITES:
CONTACT HOURS: 48h
30 DAYS
ROOM:
NON-CONTACT
HOURS: 96h
1. COURSE DESCRIPTION
This course deals with Translation and Interpretation in the History of Mankind.
Course offers an overview of translation through history and analyzes some of
the most important roles played by translators and interpreters both in East and
West. Students will explore specific periods or aspects of particular interest and
will discuss their readings and research in class. The course highlights the role
of translators and interpreters as intercultural communicators and as
instruments of power.
2. OBJECTIVES
a. GENERAL
Foster awareness among the future translators and interpreters about their role
in history and society.
b. SPECIFIC
a. Make the students cognizant about the chief translational contributions
produced in the West and East from the 1st century BC until after the Second
World War.
b. Familiarize the students with the most meaningful translational texts that
sprung from various Western languages and cultures during the above
mentioned period.
c. Provide the students with the necessary and sufficient critical capacity in
order to comment on whichever translational text belonging to the above
mentioned period.
d. Foster awareness among students about the connexion between History of
Translation and general History.
Agosto 2006
3. COURSE CONTENT OUTLINE
DATES &
SESSIONS
Session 1
27/6/2007
Session 2
28/6/2007
SPECIFIC
COMPETENCIES
CONTENTS
Introduction
Develop insight into the
role of translators in the
process of establishing a
norm for language and
its (alphabetical)
annotation
Translators and the
Invention of Alphabets
-Ulfila, evangelist to the
Goths
-Mesrop Mashots and the
flowering of Armenian
culture
-Cyril and Methodius
among the Slavs
NON CONTACT
HOURS
p. XIII-XVI
p. 1-6
p.7-17
Session 3
2/7/2007
-James Evans and the Cree
Indians
of
Canada
Translators
and
the
Development of National
Languages:
-A language for England
p. 17-35
Session 4
3/7/2007
-The emancipation
French
-The
development
Swedish
p. 35-45
Session 5
4/7/2007
of
of
-Martin Luther: artisan of
the German language
-The evolution of Gbaya in
Cameroon
-Hebrew,
a
modern
language for Israel
Understand the role Translators
and
the
translators
play
in Emergence of National
literary development
Literatures
-Joost van den Vondel and
the Dutch Golden Age
-Translating Shakespeare
to/on
the
European
Continent
p. 45- 66
Session 7
9/7/2007
-Changing sides: the case
of Ireland
-Speaking intimately to the
Scottish
soul
–
in
translation
p. 79-88
Session 8
10/7/2007
-Jorge Luis Borges and the
birth
of
Argentine
literature
-Translation
and
transmission in African
literatures
p. 88-100
Session 6
5/7/2007
Session 9
11/7/2007
Measure the importante Translators
and
of translation as a tool Dessemination
Agosto 2006
the
of
p. 67-79
p. 101-112
ASSESSMENT
Class discussion
with questions
to check the
readings,
individual oral
presentations
every day.
for
diffusion
of Knowledge
knowledge throughout -China:
importing
the world
knowledge from India and
the West
-India: hub of translation
through the ages
Session 10
12/7/2007
-Baghdad: centre of Arabic
translation
-Toledo: cultural exchange
and rebirth
-The Nordic countries:
breaking the barrier of
isolation.
p. 112-130
Translators
and
the
Reins of Power
-The Balfour Declaration:
“homeland” of “national
home”?
-Medieval
translation
enterprises from Baghdad
to Western Europe
p. 131-138
Session 12
17/7/2007
-Toward multiple centres
of power: the case of
France
-Translation as subversion:
Italy and the former Soviet
Union
p. 138-147
Session 13
18/7/2007
-Conquest and colonization
in the New World
-Women
translators:
England, the Continent and
North America
-Translators who wielded
power
p. 148-158
Session 14
19/7/2007
Session 15
23/7/2007
Midterm Exam
Session 11
16/7/2007
Foster awareness of the
influence translators can
exert on the geopolitical
scene
Estimate the role of
translation
in
the
transmission of religious
texts
and
cultural
phenomena
Session 16
25/7/2007
Session 17
26/7/2007
Agosto 2006
Translators
and
the
Spread of Religions
-Judaism: the oral and
written word from ancient
to modern times
-Christianity:
religious
texts in the languages of
the world
-Islam :
the
Koran,
untranslatable
yet
abundantly translated
-Hinduism: the case of the
Bhagavad Gita
-Buddhism: the spread of
the religion across East
Asia
Translators
and
the
Transmission of Cultural
Values
p. 159-176
p. 177-190
P. 191-200
-The translator’s letter
home
-The Koranic Orient and
religious pluralism
Session 18
30/7/2007
-Elizabethan
England:
translating with a purpose
-A Huguenot in England :
the
Emergence
of
European consciousness
p. 201-207
Session 19
31/7/2007
-Revolutionary
France:
serving the cause
-France’s infatuation with
the Gothic Novel
France
p. 208-215
Session 20
1/8/2007
-The impact of translated
thought:
a
Chinese
example
-American science fiction
and the birth of a genre in
Developping glossaries Translators
and
the
and dictionaries
Writing of Dictionaries
-Unilingual dictionaries:
from clay tablets to
supermarket editions
-Multilingual dictionaries:
internationalization and the
birth of lexicography
p.215-228
-Specialized dictionaries:
medical
glossaries
to
computerized term banks
Interpreters and the
Making of History
-The
evolutions
of
methods and training
-Transmitting the Word of
God
-Exploration and Conquest
-War and peace
How
Conference
Interpretation Grew
Translation as Innate
Skills
Interpreter Roles and
Interpretation Situations
Review
p. 236-244
Session 21
2/8/2007
Session 22
6/8/2007
Session 23
7/8/2007
Realize the role of
interpreters in History,
the development of the
profession, the skills it
takes
Session 24
8/8/2007
Session 25
13/8/2007
Session 26
14/8/2007
Session 27
15/8/2007
Session 28
16/8/2007
Session 29
20/8/2007
Session 30
21/8/2007
p. 228-236
p. 245- 258
p. 258-273
p. 5-9
P. 155-169
p. 217-229
Final Exam
Correction Exam
Final Grade
and
4. METHODOLOGY
Every class will start with an oral presentation of one of the students,
highlighting one of the historical figures mentioned in the section of the textbook
Agosto 2006
who is assigned to that particular student. During the first week all students will
receive a topic. The rest of the class will then follow with a thorough analysis
providing a historical background for the foregoing presentation. Students will
also be required to make a paper, about which they will be sent a set of
instructions through METIS.
5. ASSESSMENT
Oral presentations: 20 pts.
Research paper: 20 pts.
Class participation: 10 pts.
Exam: 50 pts.
Total: 100 pts.
6. BIBLIOGRAPHY
6.1 REQUIRED
Deslisle Jean and Judith Woolsworth (eds) Translators throughout history
(in Benjamins Translation Library, vol. 13), John Benjamins : Philadelphia,
1995.
6.2 COMPLEMENTARY
 AA. VV. (1999), Menéndez Pelayo Digital [edición de las obras
completas de D. Marcelino Menéndez Pelayo en CD-ROM), Madrid,
Digibis.
 Ballard, Michel (1992), De Cicéron a Benjamin. Traducteurs, traductions,
réflexions, Lille, Presses Universitaires de Lille.
 Catelli, Nora y Marietta Gargatagli (1998), El tabaco que fumaba Plinio.
Escenas de la traducción en España y América: relatos, leyes y
reflexiones sobre los otros, Barcelona, Serbal.
 Delisle, Jean y J. Woodsworth (1995), Les traducteurs dans l’histoire,
Les Presses de l’Université d’Ottawa / Éditions Unesco [Translators
through History, Amsterdam, John Benjamins, 1995].
 D'Hulst, Lieven (1995), «Pour une historiographie des théories de la
traduction: questions de méthode», TTR, 8 (1), págs. 83-111.
 García Yebra, Valentín (1983), En torno a la traducción, Madrid, Gredos.
 — (1994), Traducción: historia y teoría, Madrid, Gredos.
 — (2004), Traducción y enriquecimiento de la lengua del traductor,
Madrid, Gredos.
 Hoof, Henri van (1991), Histoire de la traduction en Occident, París,
Duculot.
 Hurtado Albir, Amparo (2001), «Evolución de la reflexión sobre la
traducción», en Traducción y Traductología. Introducción a la
Traductología, Madrid, Cátedra, págs. 99-132.
 Lafarga, Francisco (1996), El discurso sobre la traducción en la historia.
Antología bilingüe, Barcelona, EUB.
 López García, Dámaso (1996), Teorías de la traducción: antología de
textos, Cuenca, Universidad Castilla-La Mancha.
 Menéndez Pelayo, Marcelino (1952-1953), Biblioteca de Traductores
Españoles, Madrid, CSIC.
Agosto 2006








Rener, Frederick M. (1989), Interpretatio: Language and Translation from
Cicero to Tytler, Amsterdam y Atlanta, Rodopi.
Ruiz Casanova, José Francisco (2000), Aproximación a una Historia de
la Traducción en España, Madrid, Cátedra.
Santoyo, Julio-César (1999), Historia de la traducción: quince apuntes,
León, Universidad de León.
— [coordinador] (1987), Teoría y crítica de la traducción. Antología,
Barcelona, Universidad Autónoma de Barcelona.
Steiner, George (19952), Después de Babel. Aspectos de lenguaje y
traducción, México D. F., Fondo de Cultura Económica.
— (1996), «¿Qué es literatura comparada?», en Pasión intacta, Madrid,
Siruela, págs. 121-145.
Vega Cernuda, Miguel Ángel [coordinador] (1996), Textos clásicos de
teoría de la traducción, Madrid, Cátedra.
Venuti, Lawrence (1995), The Translator’s Invisibility. A History of
Translation, Londres, Routledge.
6.3 HANDOUTS:
In addition to the textbook, students will also be provided with a number
of articles, all handed out for them to take copies during the first week of
classes.
6.4 WEBLIOGRAPHY:
7. FACULTY INFORMATION
NAME: Benoit Verplancke
DEGREES:
Undergraduate:
B.A. Translation French-Dutch-Spanish
B.A. Translation in English
Graduate Studies:
M.A. Interpretation
EMAIL: bverplan@uees.edu.ec
Agosto 2006
UNIVERSITY:
Erasmus
Rue de Trêves 84
Bruxelles
VLEKHO
Rue Royale 336
Bruxelles
VLEKHO
Rue Royale 336
Bruxelles