TRI207 Translation and Culture Assessment 1, Semester 2, 2024/25
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Assessment 1
A recorded presentation on reflective translation commentary
BACHELOR DEGREE – Semester 2 of Year 3
TRI207 Translation and Culture
SUBMISSION DEADLINE: 13 April 2025, 23:59pm (end of week 8)
1. Task
You will record a video of 6-8 minutes with PPT. This video shall cover your commentary on your own translation of a given source text. The commentary shall show your reflection on the comparison and contrast between your translation and other translations of the given source text (see section 5). The nature of your presentation must be reflective.
The video presentation should demonstrate:
• Learning Outcome A: gaining knowledge of cultural differences, text types and forms in translation.
• Learning Outcome D: showing familiarity in translating cultural texts, reflect on translation strategies, and improve translation skills.
• Learning Outcome E: critically evaluating the cultural differences between Chinese-speaking and English-speaking worlds, and ways to deal with these differences in translation from local and global perspectives.
NB:
• You will be assessed on the quality and depth of your reflection based on the learning outcomes above, not on video-making. So it’s unnecessary to produce a professional video.
• There is no need to show your face in the video. Your voice would suffice.
Requirement of the commentary:
1.1 You must complete your own translation before writing the commentary.
Even if you are provided with three existing translations (one human and two AI-generated), your unique interpretation can still emerge due to the inherent subjectivity of translation practices.
1.2 Your commentary should demonstrate how you have met the learning outcomes outlined above.
1.3 Your commentary should focus on and describe the strategies you use in your translation, and the positives and negatives that you have identified as a result of these strategies.
1.4 Your commentary should show the comparison and contrast of your translation and other translations ofthe source text.
1.5 Your commentary must comment on the experience of translation itself and on how the comparison and contrast have impacted your thinking on translation.
1.6 Your commentary needs to describe any subsequent changes you will make to your translation strategies, methods, principles, or skills for future practice.
1.7 To achieve a distinction grade, your commentary should demonstrate a well integration of illustrative translation examples, relevant theories of Translation Studies (such as faithfulness/fluency, domestication/foreignization; translation as rewriting, equivalence theory, skopos theory, ideology…), and/or reference to academic literature that has influenced your translation and thinking process.
1.8 For the theories of Translation Studies used, they should not dictate the narrative of your commentary. In other words, your commentary should focus on your translation practice and the comparison and contrast, not on translation in general or remain at the level of theory.
1.9 Your commentary should NOT be a long, unconnected, and incoherent list of examples. That’s a database for yourself. Instead, it should have a narrative with a clear focus and truly representative (and fewer) examples to be discussed at length. This will give you enough space to justify your strategies and alternatives.
2. Advice for presentation and submission requirements
2.1 Advice for presentation:
a. Your presentation should have an introduction, a conclusion, and a reference slide (if references are used, and any reference style is acceptable as long as it’s consistent).
b. Your presentation should show a clear and coherent structure and organization.
c. Your presentation should have evidence of critical reflection on your translation practice.
d. Your presentation should include justification for any change that will be made in future translation practice and indication of improvement for future action.
2.2 Submission requirements:
a. Use the “record” function of PPT to record your presentation. You can submit it as “ppt.” (route: file → save as → PPT) or export it as “mp4” (route: file → export → mp4). Either way, please ensure that the volume of your voice is fine.
b. Name your file in the format: your name_ your student ID_TRI207_CW1.
c. Submit it to the relevant Dropbox on the module page of LMO.
3. Assessment Criteria
3.1 Learning Outcomes: A, D, E
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Learning Outcomes (for accreditation and other reasons, sub-headings could be added to this section) Students completing the module successfully should be able to: |
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A. Gain knowledge of cultural differences, text types and forms in translation B. Analyse and evaluate selected translated cultural texts in the historical, literary, and cultural context of the source text and the target text C. Use translating tools to make effective responses to various translated cultural texts D. Demonstrate familiarity in translating cultural texts, reflect on translation strategies, and improve translation skills E. Critically evaluate the cultural differences between Chinese-speaking and English-speaking worlds, and ways to deal with these differences in translation from local and global perspectives |
3.2 Marking Criteria (available on module page of LMO)
a. XJTLU Marking Criteria for Undergraduate Programmes
b. Translation Marking Criteria for Critical Analysis
4. Guiding Questions for Translation Commentary (these questions were
frequently asked and addressed in the tutorials and students have many
opportunities to hone the skills needed for writing a translation commentary)
NB: Critical thinking comes from asking questions of the “why”, “why not”, “so what”, “what if”, “what if not”, etc., instead of just focussing on the “what” and “how”.
a. Why is this translation (in)effective?
b. What’s the reason for my translation decisions? Were they successful? Were there better decisions that could have been made?
c. How does my translation strategies inform my translation actions? What if
I adopted another strategy? What differences would that make on my translation?
d. Does this part of my translation conform to or go against the expectations of the readers of target culture?
e. What were my other translation solutions that appeared to be equally valid in the initial stage of my thought process, but rejected in the end? Why did I reject them?
f. Do I consistently use a particular strategy/technique (for example, domestication) in translating the whole source text? If not, why?
g. Is my translation accurate in terms of conveying the meaning of the source text?
h. Is it fluent in the target text? Does it really make sense for the target readers?
i. Does any of the translations have translationese? If not, how did the translator avoid it?
j. Is the translation creative? Why or why not?
k. Compared with other translations, how is my translation different? Does it need improvement? What can I learn from the other translations? What should I avoid next time?
2025-04-17
A recorded presentation on reflective translation commentary