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SPB2: Translation from Spanish

This paper is available for the academic year 2023-24.

 

The aim of the translation element of this course is to expand your reading experience and to develop translation skills while introducing you to the wide range of styles and registers in Spanish from the Golden Age to the present day and from Europe through to Latin America

Aims and objectives: 

For each class you will be given a text or texts to translate and hand in prior to the meeting. Your teacher will correct your version and then discuss questions of style, register, vocabulary and syntax with you in class in a way that is aimed at developing your comprehension of written Spanish, the range of your vocabulary and your ability to produce a good, stylistically adequate English translation. You may occasionally be asked to discuss and compare, perhaps in small groups, one or two professional translations in Spanish with the aim of raising your critical awareness of the problems, both technical and stylistic, involved in translation. Since the class focuses on expression your active participation is essential for its success.

Course materials: 

The passages used in class will be made available to students by the class teacher. Some translations for use in the classroom and private study are available on Moodle. Passages used in previous years' examinations are also available on Moodle.

Teaching and learning: 

The teaching for this paper is in the form of fortnightly translation classes. Students will be expected to produce written work and hand it in before each class. 

In addition, in the Michaelmas Term, we offer two sessions on Translation from Early Modern Spanish which students will find useful both for their coursework and the examination as well as to help them when reading set texts for relevant Early Modern Spanish scheduled papers.  A Powerpoint presentation for the Michaelmas Term 2015 Translation from Early Modern Spanish sessions by Mrs Imogen Choi can be found here.

The Moodle site for SPB2 can be found here. Please contact the paper coordinator for the enrollment password.

Assessment: 

The two-hour examination will consist of four passages: one from the Golden Age and three from modern and contemporary Latin America and the Peninsula. You will only have to complete TWO of the four exercises. The limit of each text is around 300 words.

Course Contacts: 
Rebecca Fell (Coordinator)