LITERARY TRANSLATION (JAPAN)

This course is one of the “integrative” courses that can be chosen by the students enrolled in the MA “LICAAM”. The course is meant as a complementary one for the students interested in Japanese contemporary literature and it contributes to the attainment of the teaching goals of the “Corso di Laurea” in the area of language skills, but also of the cultural and humanities areas.

This course’s aim is twofold: in one hand, to encourage and foster students’ interest in trans-cultural communication and to deepen their general knowledge and awareness about the socio-political implications of the circulation of literature in translation. On the other hand, on a more practical level, the aim is to deepen students’ translation skills, with a special focus on literary translation of Japanese contemporary literary texts.

The students should have excellent knowledge of the Italian language, and a good knowledge of modern Japanese language and literature.

The course will have both a theoretical and a practical approach to literary translation. There will be classes of literary translation history and theory, and classes of translation practice from Japanese to Italian.

Provisional reading list, further titles will be added right before the start of classes. A part of the reading materials - including the texts selected for the translation practice part of the course - will be available @ the Moodle page of the course.

Faini, Paola, Tradurre. Manuale teorico e pratico (Nuova edizione), Carocci, 2008.
Venuti, Lawrence, The Translation Studies Reader (Third edition), Routledge, 2012.
Wright, Chantal. Literary Translation, Routledge, 2016.
Wright, Chantal. Portrait of a tongue. An experimental translation, Univ of Ottawa Press, 2013.

Two alternative modes of testing learning are provided for the course:

MOD. A
Final exam:
- group translation/presentation during meeting with translators (40% of grade)
- Individual translation of an annotated passage of your choice from a proposed selection to be handed in on the day of the chosen exam call (60% of grade)
[final grade: weighted average of the two grades].

MOD. B
Final exam:
- Written test with open questions on mandatory bibliography on translation theory (50% of grade)
- Individual translation of an annotated passage from a proposed selection (50% of grade)
[final grade: average of the two grades].
Students intending to take the exam according to mode B should contact the lecturer with due notice in advance of the day of the exam call by email.

Frontal lectures and class discussions.

Italian

written and oral