1.
COURSE TITLE
Translation Knowledge 2: Linguistics for Translators
2.
COURSE CODE
TRA1170
3.
NO. OF UNITS
3
4.
OFFERING DEPARTMENT
Translation Programme
5.
AIMS & OBJECTIVES
This Course aims to provide students with basic knowledge of linguistics. Emphasis is put
on those aspects of linguistics that are closely related to translating. Examples from both
English and Chinese are used for illustration. Upon completing the Course, students will be
able to demonstrate enhanced competence and skills in language analysis, especially in the
examination and analysis of translation problems from a linguistic point of view.
6.
COURSE CONTENT
This Course is built around a number of topics (each lasting one to two weeks), which
provide coherence to the central theme of the course. The topics are negotiated with the
class, and may include some or all of the following in any given semester:
 General introduction to modern language studies
 Morphology and translation
 Phonology and translation
 Syntax and translation
 Semantics and translation
 Pragmatics and translation
 Sociolinguistics and translation
 Textlinguistics and translation
7.
COURSE INTENDED LEARNING OUTCOMES (CILOS)
CILO
Upon successful completion of this Course, students should be able to:
CILO 1
Demonstrate an understanding of the philosophy, methodology and terminology
of the discipline of linguistics; [aligned with HKBU Graduate Attribute #1]
CILO 2
Analyse language problems, especially those encountered in translation, from a
linguistics perspective; [GA #2]
8
CILO 3
Relate language studies to the study of translation; [GA #2]
CILO 4
Apply their linguistics knowledge and skills in perceiving, understanding and
solving translation problems.[GA #1, 3, 4, 5]
TEACHING & LEARNING ACTIVITIES (TLAS)
Students will be engaged in extensive reading assignments on various aspects of
linguistics, as well as in discussing and writing about their relevance to translation.
9
CILO No.
TLAs
CILO 2, 3
Students study the sound and morphological system of English,
including its inventories of phonemes and morphemes; and
analyse and discuss problems and solutions from a
phonetic/phonological and morphological point of view in relation
to translation, especially in terms of phonetic/phonological
translation or transliteration and morphological translation or
morpheme-for-morpheme translation.
CILO 2, 3
Students study the syntactical properties and functions of such
grammatical categories as tense, number, voice and word order
in English; and analyse and discuss various samples of
translations between English and Chinese with special reference
to those syntactical features.
CILO 2, 3
Students study the semantic properties of language by learning to
use the various tools for semantic analysis, including
componential analysis, hierarchical analysis, reference theory,
etc. and analyse various types of meaning, i.e. word meaning,
sentence meaning, text meaning, literal meaning, extended
meaning, etc. and discuss how they are handled in translation.
CILO 2, 3
Students study other dimensions of linguistics, including those
of pragmatics, sociolinguistics and textlinguistics; and discuss
how meaning in context differs from meaning in text, how
register, levels of speech, social dialects, etc. function to
produce meaning in communication, and how problems they
pose can be handled in translation.
CILO 1, 4
In-class discussion:
groups;
ASSESSMENT METHODS (AMS)
Students discuss given topics in small
Type of
Assessment
Weighting CILOs to be Description of Assessment Tasks
(The
addressed
Essay
20%
1, 2, 3, 4
Students will be given topics on linguistics
and its relevance to translation, and write an
essay on one of their choice. They are
required to exercise critical skills in their
writing, and demonstrate an understanding
of the topical area and an enhanced ability
to solve translation problems from the
perspective of linguistics.
Test
20%
1, 2, 3, 4
The test will be given about mid-term. It
will require the students to translate a given
text and apply linguistics knowledge (e.g.
phrase structure rules, semantic analysis,
etc.) they have acquired in the first half of
the semester to analysing the translation.
Group
discussions
10%
2, 3
Students will participate in discussions in
small groups on various given topics on
linguistics. A written report on the points
discussed in each session will be submitted
for marking by the teacher.
Mini-project
and in-class
presentation
20 %
2, 3, 4
Students will conduct a mini-project on a
group basis. They will be asked to search for
a text (e.g. an advertisement) of a certain
length from an English/Chinese newspaper
or magazine (preferably a publication during
the current year) which they think is
interesting in terms of its linguistic features
(phonological/phonetic, morphological,
syntactical, or semantic), translate the text
into Chinese/English, and then do an
analysis and discussion of those linguistic
features as reflected in the translation in
relation to its source text. The work will
take the form of (i) a written report
(containing a translation of the text they
have selected and a critical analysis of the
linguistic features of the text and the
translation); and (ii) an oral group
presentation of the findings in class.
Final exam
30 %
1, 2, 3, 4
The exam will require the students to (i)
discuss linguistic categories and concepts;
(ii) analyse sets of phonological, lexical and
syntactic data and coming up with
percentage
may vary.)
generalizations to account for them; and (iii)
translate a text and discuss from a linguistic
point of view the potential problems
students may encounter and their solutions
to the problems.
10 Textbooks / Recommended Readings*
Fawcett, Peter. 1997. Translation and Language: Linguistic Theories Explained.
Manchester: St. Jerome Publishing.
Kramsch, Claire. 2000. Language and Culture (《語言與文化》). Shanghai: The Shanghai
Foreign Language Press.
Poole, Stuart C. 1999. An Introduction to Linguistics. London: Macmillan.
Scovel, Thomas. 2000. Psycholinguistics (《心理語言學》). Shanghai: The Shanghai
Foreign Language Press.
Spolsky, Bernard. 2000. Sociolinguistics (《社會語言學》). Shanghai: The Shanghai
Foreign Language Press.
Widdowson, H.G.. 2000. Linguistics (《語言學》). Shanghai: The Shanghai Foreign
Language Press.
Yule, George. 2000. Pragmatics (《語用學》). Shanghai: The Shanghai Foreign Language
Press.
何自然，2000，《語用學探索》，廣州：世界圖書出版公司。
姜望琪，2003，《當代語用學》，北京：北京大學出版社。
Journals
Linguistics (The Netherlands)
《外國語》(上海)
《外語教學與研究》(北京)
《外語與外語教學》(大連)
*The references will be updated as necessary with the working syllabus.