PROGRAMS / *INTERNSHIPS / RS-400: TRANSLATION IN PRACTICE       Site map

RS-400 Translation in Practice Course Syllabus Instructor/Supervisor Instructor:  Josh Wilson                                        Back to Work Study: Translation Phone:  8-903-747-1064                                E-mail:  jwilson@sras.org Assistant: Erin Decker   Translation Resources Multitran.ru is the best online Russian-English dictionary available. Note that many words have multiple translations based on their context (general usage, legal, finance) and that multitran is set up to present this. GAAP.ru also offers a handy resource for specialized language. Feel free to use any other dictionaries as well. You should also familiarize yourself with all resources listed here. Preferred Translations List contains preferred translations for legal and accounting terms in those articles. "The Professionals" are the accountants, auditors, and lawyers that will surround you at Alinga. If you come across a term or concept in the news articles that you don't understand (and therefore cannot translate), ask a corresponding professional to explain it to you. Google is a fantastic resource for better understanding a concept so as to better translate it. Instructors: you are also encouraged to take your translations to your RS-313 instructor (TBA) for discussion. You may also discuss them with Josh or Erin. Note: You are highly discouraged from using online translators such as bablefish. These will only impair your development as a translator and lead you to produce more stilted translations.   Briefly on Translation There are a lot of different types of translation, and many different demands that you'll find from clients who order translations. Each client and translation is different based on the type of text being translated and its intended audience and purpose. For this reason, you will be asked to perform two very different types of translation (news and literary) within the translation program. All translations should follow the original text as closely as possible. The political text you will be asked to translate should be extremely faithful to the original as the rhetoric of a political tract is just as important as the information it conveys. The challenge of these texts is deciding how best to preserve the metaphors and connotative meanings of the words while producing a "readable" text for the English-speaking audience. This said, not always will all sentence structures be preserved. For example, the standard structure of Russian is indirect speech, while the standard structure of English is direct speech. Therefore, in the English translation,  direct speech should be the standard. The news articles you translate should also follow the original in meaning. However, with these, "readability" is a bit more complex as we are also in most cases "translating the audience." In other words, these are articles written by Russian professionals for Russian professionals but the translation is intended for Western managers and owners. Hence, some text may be cut or simplified and/or explanatory text added to make the article more accessible to this new audience. Early on in the class, you should not make these editorial decisions by yourself. After about the first month (ask Josh if you are unsure), you may begin, but always note changes with the "comments" or "track changes" functions in Word. For more on the difficulties of translations, read "Getting it Right" from the American Translators' Association. It's written by translators for clients, but is an excellent inside look at the industry as well.     The Translation Process While not always possible, all translations should be given at least forty-eight to seventy-two hours, no matter how short they may be. The basic translation process should run as follows: Read and understand the original text. Preferably, read the full article or document first - noting not only its meaning but also its rhetorical style. Make notes as you go as to anything you don't immediately understand. Research anything you didn't immediately understand so that you can begin translation with a full understanding of the text. Begin a first-draft, rough translation, working through the text sentence by sentence. Having stepped away from the translation for about a day, refine the draft to read more naturally in English. This rest period will allow the brain to think more clearly in the English of the translation rather than the Russian of the original text. Check the translation against the original text for accuracy, but also considering how accurately your word choice and/or rhetorical style matches the original. Having rested for about a day, proofread the final English once more for grammar and spelling.   The Research Project You will also complete a research project as part of the course. The subject will be worked out with the course instructor based on the student's interests and the needs of the SRAS site (the project will be published as part of the SRAS newsletter). The completed project should be approximately three pages long (double spaced, 12pt TNR font, 1" margins) and should be reflective of research performed in Russian. The project should be written for a general academic audience, striving to educate the audience wherever jargon is used or concepts unfamiliar to the general population occur.   Course Policies Class Objective.  Students will translate a minimum of 50,000 characters per month as part of a translation internship. All translations are Russian to English. Materials cover subject areas including politics, business, law, and economy - including one major political document. The translations will be challenging and the pace brisk so as to simulate the work a professional translator would perform. Students will be given extensive feedback on translations in the form of edited translations (with track changes), notes, and discussion with the instructor and/or assistant. Students will be expected to implement this feedback immediately in future translations.    Attendance. Students should spend at least twelve hours per week in the office. This will give access to the professionals (see above) and give additional experience seeing what life is like in a Russian office. Students should also expect to work an additional eight to twelve hours per week outside the office to complete all work. Missed office time should be cleared with Josh before it occurs. Grading. Each news translation will be given a grade based on the following rubric: Accuracy (information presented in the translation matches that in the original): 75%; Readability (English can be read quickly and without confusion): 25%. The political translation will be broken into sections of approx. 10,000 characters and each graded based the following scale: Accuracy: 60%; Readability: 20%; Rhetoric (accurately reflecting the rhetoric used in the original) 20%. Each translation will be given a weight based on its character count and together will account for 85% of the total course grade. The research project will account for 10%. Completing the mid-semester course evaluation and final evaluation will account for the remaining 5%, with each counting for 2.5% and graded on a pass-fail standard. Back to Work Study: Translation print this page email this page