MA Translation and Interpreting Studies

Year of entry: 2024

Course unit details:
Translating for Business and Institutions 1

Course unit fact file
Unit code ELAN65441
Credit rating 15
Unit level FHEQ level 7 – master's degree or fourth year of an integrated master's degree
Teaching period(s) Semester 1
Available as a free choice unit? No

Overview

Translating for Business and Institutions 1 introduces students to the practices, tools and techniques of translation as carried out in commercial and international organisations. This includes a focus on conceptual and terminological research and on producing documents to professional specifications. The unit also provides training in the use of translation technologies; using leading commercial software, students learn how to integrate translation memory and machine translation into their own translation practices.

This course unit concentrates on the translation and localisation of promotional material used in marketing and selling goods and services in commercial contexts. It also introduces the role of translation in the international production and communication of news.

Translation tutorials provide specific guidance to students for their translation work from any language into English or from English into any other language. Students are normally expected to translate into their first or strongest languages.

This unit provides conceptual foundations and practical skills for Translating for Business and Institutions 2, which examines translation in these and other institutional settings in greater depth.

Aims

  • To give students an understanding of the role of the professional linguist in international commercial and corporate activities
  • To familiarize students with aspects of professional translation practices in commercial domains
  • To provide guided practice in researching, analysing and translating commercial text genres that are frequently translated

Knowledge and understanding

  • Understand key aspects of cross-cultural communication in business and institutions
  • Apply relevant conceptual frameworks to the study of promotional texts and corporate discourse

Intellectual skills

  • Execute roles as translators and intercultural experts in commercial domains
  • Conduct analyses of promotional discourse

Practical skills

  • Use specialist resources and software to prepare for and complete translations
  • Reflect on and analyse translation practices

Transferable skills and personal qualities

  • Communicate effectively with clients and others involved in the delivery of language services in commercial domains
  • Work collaboratively with other students and autonomously on specific tasks
  • Work under time pressure and manage tasks effectively
  • Work competently with a range of software products

Employability skills

Analytical skills
Analyse and understand promotional texts
Written communication
adhere to guidelines and use appropriate resources to produce written products of a professional quality.
Other
Reflect critically on their own practice

Assessment methods

Assessment task

Formative or Summative

Weighting within unit (if summative)

1. Translation

Summative

50%

2. Critical analysis of translation

Summative

50%

 

Resit assessment:

  • If only one assessment task has been failed, that task will be resat.  
  • If both tasks have been failed, Assessment 2 will be resat.  

Feedback methods

Feedback method

Formative or Summative

Oral individual and group feedback on in-class discussion (incl. peer feedback)

Formative

Oral individual and group feedback on in-class tasks (incl. peer feedback)

Formative

Oral individual and group feedback on translation and other tasks prepared for class sessions (incl. peer feedback)

Formative

Written individual feedback on submitted assignments

Both

Recommended reading

The following list is indicative only. A specific course reading list will be provided to students.

Benetello, Claudia (2018) ‘When Translation Is Not Enough: Transcreation as a convention-defying practice’, The Journal of Specialised Translation, 29: 28-44.

Bielsa, Esperança and Susan Bassnett (2009) Translation in Global News, London: Routledge

Sulaiman, M. Zain and Rita Wilson (eds) (2019) Translation and Tourism: Strategies for effective cross-cultural promotion, Singapore: Springer.

Torresi, Ira (2021) Translating Promotional and Advertising Texts, 2nd edition, London: Routledge.

Valdeón, Robert A. (ed.) (2022) Special issue of Journalism on journalistic translation. 

Study hours

Scheduled activity hours
Lectures 11
Seminars 8
Tutorials 3
Independent study hours
Independent study 128

Teaching staff

Staff member Role
Maeve Olohan Unit coordinator
Yu Kit Cheung Unit coordinator

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