Duration
Droit : 30h Th
Politique et diplomatie : 30h Th
Number of credits
Lecturer
Droit : Laura Charlier
Politique et diplomatie : Yves Counasse
Language(s) of instruction
Spanish language
Organisation and examination
Teaching in the first semester, review in January
Units courses prerequisite and corequisite
Prerequisite or corequisite units are presented within each program
Learning unit contents
Droit
In this course, you'll be facing the universe of specialized translation. You'll discover a large range of fields, topics and text shapes. Those texts will match different levels of difficulty. This learning process will allow you to understand better what a professional translator is.
This course is divided in 3 parts:
A theoretical approach of the subjects will be proposed to the students. This theory will be completed sometimes by the lectures of one or more speakers, who are professionals in order to offer a different point of view on the subjects, different from the translation alone.
Written translation: Translation of texts dealing with legal matters. Specialized texts dealing with different topics and written in different printing format (editorials, press releases, reports, records, etc.) The level of difficulty will be flexible (grammar, loan translation, vocabulary adapted to style and text level, etc.). Please note that this course is not about sworn translations.
Sight Translation: Oral translation exercise without any external resource: translation in French of a text dealing with the domains mentioned above, beginner level. Flow, language level and quality are critical (vocabulary, tense sequence, grammar, natural speech in French, etc.)
Politique et diplomatie
Written Translation The course content is based on a wide variety of politics and diplomacy-related texts with difficulty levels ranging from 7 to 9 on a 9-point scale. All documents in this medium tier are genuine (i.e. originally written in) Spanish texts selected as per the following four major criteria : (i) the topic i.e law, politics or economics (one per week not be be repeated throughout the semester), (ii) the country (texts from major as well as minor Spanish-speaking countries), (iii) the type (opinion, editorial, press review, special report, feature article), and (iv) the relevance of each content with regard to translating (grammar issues, "sister language"-related traps, etc.).
Learning outcomes of the learning unit
Droit
At the end of the course, you'll be able to translate legal orientated texts, in written or oral way.
In written translation, you'll be able to analyze, understand, relay and reformulate in French the meaning of the specialized text. You'll also be able to comment the translation difficulties and justify your translation choices.
You will be able to translate a specialized text in the legal fields at sight too. You'll translate without any external resource, you'll translate the meaning, the nuances, extract the logical links and reformulate the text in French in a natural, flowing and high-quality way.
You'll be able to use basic translation tools (unilingual and bilingual dictionaries) and the Internet.
Politique et diplomatie
Through a perfect understanding of the source language (a prerequisite unrelated to this course), the sudent is expected to learn and master a range of techniques designed to overcome difficulties when conveying a message from a source to a target language ; re/activate his/her passive vocabulary, and spontaneously use idiomatic expressions ; acquire strong writing skills, and, be capable, at the end of Bac 3, to translate a difficult text from Spanish into French.
Prerequisite knowledge and skills
Droit
High knowledge of Spanish language.
Excellent knowledge of French
Curiosity for the different topics seen in class
Superficial understanding of the big fields seen in class
Politique et diplomatie
Very good knowledge of the Spanish language, and perfect command of the mother tongue.
Planned learning activities and teaching methods
Droit
To improve your level in written translation, you'll read the texts, make your research and prepare a written translation at home. In class, you'll compare your translation to your fellow students' own translation and you'll analyze the solutions found to solve translation problems (phrase construction and structures, vocabulary and language level have to be adapted to the text). You'll also learn how to justify your translation choices.
To improve your level in sight translation, you'll prepare the text during a set time, without dictionaries or other resources, you'll learn to detect the logical connectors, you'll translate in French, then we'll be listening to an audio recording and will correct it as a group and then you'll be able to listen to your own recording as many times as necessary. This way, you'll be able to detect your own translating defaults and you'll be using the group correction to improve your own performance. By comparing your translation to your fellow students' you'll improve your skills in sight translation and you'll develop some automatic reflexes which will be very useful in your future career.
Politique et diplomatie
Weekly translation ; interactive teaching
Mode of delivery (face-to-face ; distance-learning)
Droit
2 hours class per week during Q1. Require presence at school.
Politique et diplomatie
Face-to-face
Recommended or required readings
Droit
Spanish unilingual dictionary
French unilingual dictionary
Following and reading of current affairs (online newspaper for example) in Spanish and French.
The acquisition of a legal bilingual dictionary can be useful but is not compulsory.
Politique et diplomatie
Students are expected to keep track of all text analyzes and translations (black list, stock-phrases, miscellaneous "recipes", etc.).
Assessment methods and criteria
Droit
Final exam at the end of Q1
100 % on a written exam. Duration: 4 hours. 1 text to translate, between 1000 and 1200 words. All available resources can be used. Assessment standards: Orthography, grammar, phrase constructions, style, general vocabulary, specialized vocabulary, typography, punctuation, meaning and omissions
Politique et diplomatie
Written Translation Final exam is based on a 550-word text to be translated in two hours and a half. The student is allowed to use one French monolingual dictionary. This end of the year assessment focuses on four main criteria: a) meaning, b) grammar, c) style, and d) terminology.
Work placement(s)
Politique et diplomatie
n/a
Organizational remarks
Droit
Premises for this course is not decided yet. If computer premises is not available, please come with your laptop and please download and install "Audacity" (free software, to download it, please clink here http://audacity.portalux.com/) Coming to class during the year is highly recommended to be able to improve your level. Please don't send any translation by email, no marking
Politique et diplomatie
n/a
Contacts
Droit
Politique et diplomatie
For any further information, please click this link(yves.counasse@ulg.ac.be.)