Texts and Contexts: Spanish/English Literary Translation Workshop

The Argentinian writer and translator, Jorge Luis Borges, once said, 'Cada idioma es un modo de sentir el universo.' How are modes of feeling and perception translated across languages? How does the historical context of a work condition its translation into and out of a language? In this course, you will translate from a variety of genres that will teach you the practical skills necessary to translate literary texts from Spanish to English and English to Spanish. By the end of the term, you will have translated and received feedback on a project of your own choosing. Discussion topics may include: the importance of register, tone, and audience; the gains, in addition to the losses, that translations may introduce; the role of ideological, social-political, and aesthetic factors on the production of translations; and comparative syntaxes, morphologies, and semantic systems. Preference will be given to sophomores but freshman through seniors have enjoyed this course in the past. Course taught in Spanish.