TRANSLATION OF CHINESE POLITICAL-ECONOMIC DISCOURSE

The Translation of Chinese political and economic discourse is held in the first year of the Master’s Degree Programme in Translation and Interpreting. It aims to provide students with theoretical and methodological tools for designing and implementing discourse analysis as applied to translation studies. The goal is to stimulate theoretical reflection for interlingual comparison. After a theoretical introduction, the course will have a practical orientation.

The course in Specialised Translation of Chinese Political and Economic Discourse aims to progressively introduce students to the theory, methodology and practice of specialised translation between Chinese and Italian, placing particular emphasis on the discursive-ideological dimension of textual analysis and how this influences the translation process. In this regard, the theoretical notions necessary for the conscious development and definition of translation strategies will be provided. The expected learning outcomes are as follows:

Knowledge and understanding:
- Knowledge of the main features of Chinese political and economic discourse;
- Understanding of the discursive-ideological value inherent in the structural elements of political and economic discourse

Analytical and translational skills:
- Develop the methodological tools for linguistic analysis and inter-linguistic comparison;
- Ability to analyse, interpret and comment on the translation strategies adopted as well as develop one's own

Before starting the course, students must:
- Have a very good theoretical and practical knowledge of the Italian language: they must be able to express themselves correctly both in writing and in oral forms, as well as master the tools of grammatical analysis and logical analysis.
- Have a Chinese language proficiency equivalent to level B2+ of the CEFR (Common European framework of reference for language proficiency).

The course will be organised into four thematic units:
Unit 1: Theoretical introduction on the theorisation of 'discourse', discourse analysis and the relationship between discourse analysis and translation
Unit 2: Analysis and translation of Chinese political discourse
Unit 3: Analysis and translation of Chinese economic discourse

Compulsory texts
• Nicoletta Pesaro (ed.), La traduzione dal cinese: Riflessioni, strategie e tipologie testuali (Hoepli 2023).
• The Chinese texts read and translated during the lessons will be available on Moodle.

In addition, the following texts are suggested:
Blommaert, J. 2005. Discourse. A Critical Introduction. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Howarth, D., & Stavrakakis, Y. (2000). Introducing Discourse Theory and Political Analysis. In D. Howarth, A.J. Norval and Y. Stavrakakis (Eds.), Discourse Theory and Political Analysis: Identities, Hegemonies and Social Change. Manchester: Manchester University Press.
Schaffner C., 2004, «Political Discourse Analysis from the point of view of Translation Studies», Journal of Language and Politics, Volume 3, Issue 1, p. 117 – 150

The reading list will be updated during the course.

The verification of acquired abilities and skills is carried out through an essay written by each student during the course, which is to be handed in one week before the exam. The essay will focus on the analysis—in light of the theoretical perspectives covered in the course—of the strategies adopted for the translation of a Chinese text on a topic relevant to the texts seen during the course.

We will have an oral discussion on the basis of the essay on the day of the exam.

The essay must be at least 3,000 words long, excluding extracts from the Chinese text and their translations.

Concerning the Chinese language text(s) to be analysed, it is necessary to distinguish at least the following two options:

- If an analysis is conducted on various levels (lexical, grammatical and syntactic), the Chinese text must have a minimum length of 1,500 characters.

- If the analysis focuses on only one aspect (e.g. only on the use of models, on the use of a lexicon pertaining to a specific conceptual domain, or on the use of a particular syntactic structure), the Chinese language text must have a minimum length of 2,500 characters.

It is possible to either conduct a comparative analysis between the Chinese text and the translation available in English, or only focus on a Chinese text for which a translation into other languages is not available. In both cases, you will have to propose the Italian translation of some passages of the Chinese text and justify the choices made.

written and oral

The grading scale, regardless of whether the student is attending or non-attending, is as follows:

A. 18 to 23 points for essays that demonstrate a limited knowledge and ability to present theoretical concepts and basic methodologies covered in the course, as well as to apply them to text analysis.

B. 23 to 27 points for essays that demonstrate a fair knowledge and ability to present theoretical concepts and basic methodologies covered in the course, as well as to apply them to text analysis.

C. 27 to 30 points for essays that demonstrate a good or excellent knowledge and ability to present theoretical concepts and basic methodologies covered in the course, as well as to apply them to text analysis.

The awarding of honors is determined not only by the accuracy of the information and the precision of the analysis but also by the presentation of relevant connections that add value to the argumentation.

Teaching is organized in frontal instruction, writing and conversation practice aimed at building and consolidating the knowledge, skills and competences necessary to meet the goal of the course.

This subject deals with topics related to the macro-area "Human capital, health, education" and contributes to the achievement of one or more goals of U. N. Agenda for Sustainable Development