TRAN3007 Culture and Translation

Monday 9:30-12:30
Date Topic
Sept 6 Translation of cultural items
Sept 13 Culture, Value, Ideology, and Discourse
Sept 20 Culture, Language, Nation, and Time: The Kurdish case
Sept 27 Translation as cultural production: The case of May Fourth
The “cultural turn” of Translation Studies
Oct 4
What is a research question?
“Cultural Translation”
Oct 11 What is a literature review and a theoretical framework? How to avoid
plagiarism?
Translation and cultural politics
Oct 18
What is a textual analysis and a contextual analysis?
The “Translated Man”: diaspora, exile, migrants, refugees, and human
Oct 25 trafficking
Conclusion (summarising vs a reflective) and proof reading
Discussion: The translator’s own cultural awareness and the translator
Nov 1 as cultural mediator
Submission of essay
Nov 8 Feedback on essay
Nov 15 Presentations - Culture, Language, Nation, and Time
Nov 22 Presentations - Translation as cultural production
Presentations - “Cultural Translation”
Nov 29
Submission of reflective journal

Assessment tasks:

1. Finish all readings assigned by the lecture dates. Assessment on your class
participation will be based mainly on your response in class to the readings.

2. Weekly submission of log entries:

You are required to write a weekly journal to record your own daily-life reflections
relating to the topics we cover in this course, or other topics relevant to the ideas
we discuss in this course. Your entries should be submitted weekly on Moodle, and
the finalised version submitted on the last day of the course. You are welcome to
adopt any formats (such as writing, drawing, photo-essay, creative video, etc).
Provide links to the video or music that you want to include in your submissions.
The weekly submissions will not be graded, only the final submission will be. Late
submissions within two days after the submission date will receive a penalty of a
sub-grade, late submission between three days and a week after deadline will
receive a penalty of a full grade. No submission will be accepted after a week. The
aim of this exercise is to encourage you to connect what you learn in class to your
daily life and the social reality in which you live.

3. Essay
You are required to submit through Moodle an essay under 10 pages on Nov 1 on
the following topic:
“How does my understanding of culture as something that should not be reified
affect my translation and my daily life?”
This should be discussed with example(s). Your essay should state clearly your
research question(s) that is/are relevant to the above essay topic, and your
theoretical framework, and include a literature review, textual and contextual
analysis, and a reflective conclusion. It is of utmost importance that you follow
proper academic requirements (in terms of citation, the style of language and
argument, bibliographical details, etc). Assessment will be made in two areas:
content, and the quality of your language (grammar, register, style, accuracy of
word choice, etc). Your are strongly required to use grammar and spell checks, and
proof-read your work very carefully before submission. You must include a Turnitin
report to show the percentage of citation in your essay.

4. Presentation
You are required to work in groups for your presentation. The topics are listed in the
class schedule above. Each group can request a consultation session during their
preparation for the presentation. You are not required to write up your presentation
for submission, but you should submit a copy of your ppt (if you use one). The
language quality of your ppt and your presentation (including grammar and
pronunciation accuracy, etc) will be taken into account of your assessment.