SPAN 315: Introduction to Spanish-English Translation
Objectives
Students perform introductory translation assignments from Spanish to English and vice versa. They develop an understanding of translation theory through reading and class discussion and come to understand communicative translation and compare it to a direct, word-for-word approach. Problematic grammatical, discursive, and pragmatic issues are analyzed and the grammar of Spanish is reviewed in detail.
Learning Outcomes
1. Demonstrate an understanding of major concepts and theories as well as important information using effective reading strategies.
2. Demonstrate ability to apply learned concepts and theories in the completion of different kinds of translation tasks.
By the end of the semester student will have:
2. Demonstrate ability to apply learned concepts and theories in the completion of different kinds of translation tasks.
By the end of the semester student will have:
- Expanded their knowledge of most important concepts and theories in the field of translation
- Applied learned concepts and theories in the completion of different kinds of translation tasks.
Reflections
Throughout this course, I have learned about how to translate text from English to Spanish or vice versa. There are a lot of techniques that need to learn, in order to have a good translation, such as formation and structure of words, phrases, and sentences. Before going directly to the translation, the students will first learn about the basic knowledge, such as the word classes, or part of speech, word tenses, where we decided to use preterit or perfect tense based on the context that is given, etc.
As the students gained knowledge about the basic techniques, we then learn how to translate texts, such as translating a proverb, a short story, an advertising poster, etc. With different pieces of writing, we use different way or technique to translate it. Sample 1, for example, we translate a letter that written in Spanish into English, and we never translate a text from word to word, we only translate the meaning of the original text.
I also learned how to translate a Spanish proverb in English (sample 2). Some Spanish proverbs can easily comprehend as reading through the phrases, because it looks just about the same as in English. For example, “más vale pájaro en mano que cien volando” has an equivalent meaning as “a bird in the hand is worth two in the bush.” In other words, these two proverbs are using almost the same way or words as writing in Spanish and English. However, some Spanish proverbs have no equivalent to English at all, such as “a falta de pan, buenas son tortas”, it's translated as “lack of bread, cakes are good,” and the actual way of saying this proverb is “beggars can't be choosers.” So, we pay attention to the original text and understand its meaning before doing the translation.
As the students gained knowledge about the basic techniques, we then learn how to translate texts, such as translating a proverb, a short story, an advertising poster, etc. With different pieces of writing, we use different way or technique to translate it. Sample 1, for example, we translate a letter that written in Spanish into English, and we never translate a text from word to word, we only translate the meaning of the original text.
I also learned how to translate a Spanish proverb in English (sample 2). Some Spanish proverbs can easily comprehend as reading through the phrases, because it looks just about the same as in English. For example, “más vale pájaro en mano que cien volando” has an equivalent meaning as “a bird in the hand is worth two in the bush.” In other words, these two proverbs are using almost the same way or words as writing in Spanish and English. However, some Spanish proverbs have no equivalent to English at all, such as “a falta de pan, buenas son tortas”, it's translated as “lack of bread, cakes are good,” and the actual way of saying this proverb is “beggars can't be choosers.” So, we pay attention to the original text and understand its meaning before doing the translation.