Prof. Dr. Josef Schmied (+ Prof. Dr. Belinda Maia): Translation Workshop

Blockseminar on 16/17 April 2004 and 25/26 June 2004

This course will give a broad survey of translation issues, from translation critique to culture- or addressee-specific issues, from terminological to technical problems. Practical tools like on-line dictionaries, memory systems and automatic checking options will also be discussed.
Student papers will analyse German - English translations in structural, cultural and readership-/media-specific perspectives.

Sample texts (csth.eng, csth.ger; doc16.eng, doc16.ger; ecs6.eng, ecs6.ger)

Recommended prep reading:
Austermühl, Frank (2001).  Electronic Tools for Translators.  Manchester UK, Northampton MA: St. Jerome Publishing.
Baker, Mona (1992).  In Other Words: a Coursebook on Translation. London, New York: Routledge.
Bell, Roger T. (1991). Translation and Translating: Theory and Practice. London and New York: Longman.
Munday, Jeremy (2001).  Introducing Translation Studies - Theories and Applications. London and New York: Routledge.
Newmark, Peter (1988). A Textbook of Translation. New York, London, Toronto, Sydney, Tokyo: Prentice Hall.
Purser, Emily / Linda Paul (1999). Translation: Übersetzung. Anglistik Amerikanistik. Berlin: Cornelsen.
Robinson, Douglas (1997).  Becoming a Translator. London, New York: Routledge.
Smith, Veronica / Christine Klein-Braley (1989). In Other Words ... Arbeitsbuch Übersetzung. Ismaning: Max Hueber.

Teaching programme:

Presentation by Josef Schmied

translation critique: tourism texts

covert translations

translation tools and parallel tests

MONARCH exercises

For tools and www support consult ELL tools

 Possible topics for student papers:

Institutional homepages:

• an English homepage for Chemnitz University of Technology
• TUC Library
• Chemnitz City
• Industriemuseum Chemnitz
• Deutsche Welle
• Deutsche Bundesbahn

Other genres:

• Problems of translating technical texts into English: a personal analysis (cf. sample texts above)
• Comparing the German and English versions of Harry Potter
• The Translation Service of the European Union and its www resources
• Automatic www translations: an empirical comparison
• Dictionaries for German - English translation: an empirical evaluation
• Comparing the German and English web pages of DaimlerChrysler
• Nokia localisation: a comparison of mobile marketing and instructions
• Styleguides for localisation on the www: a comparison

The spoken version of the paper can be prepared in ppt and should be handed in by 18 June for presentation on 25/26 June.

The written version of 20 pages should preferably be handed in by 1 August in HTML format in digital and printed versions.

Mind you, some of these papers go far beyond the traditional view of a translator and can be described as a Language Services Provider.

Model presentations:
Hagedorn, Anja. Translation of Texts in Press Engineering. Functional vs. Formal Terminology
Graf, Kristin. Comparing IKEA catalogues