Research Methods in T&I Studies I Dr Morven Beaton-Thome 29 September 2009 Introductory Session

Overall aims of the module To acquaint you with research resources for T&I Studies To encourage and develop critical reading and informed analysis To equip you with the necessary ‘metalanguage’ to critically analyse translations and interpretations To familiarise you with the conventions and structures of academic writing

Format Core module Weekly one-hour seminar in semester 1 Handouts/Presentations will be posted on the CTIS PG Intranet after the seminar Reading  Core references (purchase)  Core topic-specific reading (in advance)  Additional topic-specific reading (for further study) Question and answer session at beginning of seminar Two assessed assignments (detailed descriptions on Intranet)

Content Text Analysis Lexical Level Grammatical level Dialect, Register and Generic conventions Cohesion Information Structure Semiotic Features (non-verbal elements) Speech Acts and Force of Utterances Politeness phenomena

Resources in T&I Studies Core Journals  The Translator (Periodicals Lang and Lit, Blue 2 and electronic)  Target (Periodicals Lang and Lit, Blue 2 and electronic from 2004 onwards)  The Translator and Interpreter Trainer (electronic)  The Sign Language Interpreter and Translator (electronic)  TTR: Traduction, Terminologie, Rédaction (Periodicals Lang and Lit, Blue 2)  Meta: (free access at  Translating Today Magazine (Periodicals Lang and Lit, Blue 2)  Interpreting (electronic)  Terminology (electronic)  Perspectives (electronic)  Babel (electronic)  Other nationally known journals

Resources in T&I Studies Certain full-text articles are also available from the following journals:  Across Languages and Cultures (  CIT (Conference Interpretation and Translation): Journal of the Korean Society of Conference Interpretation (  The Interpreters’ Newsletter (via 119) 119

Resources in T&I Studies Online journals  New Voices in Translation Studies (  Intralinea (  Intercultural Communication (  La linterna del traductor (  Glottopol (  Translation Today (

Resources for T&I Studies Book Series  John Benjamins: Benjamins Translation Library  St Jerome Publishing: Translation Theories Explored Translation Practices Explained Encounters  Rodopi: Approaches to Translation  Multilingual Matters: Topics in Translation  Routledge: Critical Readings in Translation Studies The Routledge Encyclopedia of Translation Studies (2009) Translation Studies Reader (2000/2004) Interpreting Studies Reader (2002) Other books

Resources for T&I Studies Electronic journals  On campus automatic Through Electronic Resources, then Electronic Journals link on library homepage: For St. Jerome journals (The Translator, The Interpreter and Translator Trainer, The Sign Language Interpreter), go to on campus or via VPN  Off campus via VPN Follow instructions at Electronic books  Through library catalogue

Resources for T&I Studies Library databases  through Electronic Resources, then Databases link on library homepage

Resources for T&I Studies Translation Studies Abstracts (TSA)  From 1998  Abstracts of journal articles and papers in collected volumes  Paper version: categorised, indexed and cross-referenced  Available on-line at on campus or via VPNwww.stjerome.co.uk Translation Studies Bibliography  Evaluations of book-length publications, esp. for teaching  Combined with TSA in electronic version (see above) Index Translationum  Bibliographic details of one million translated books, recorded by UNESCO:

Resources for T&I Studies CIRIN (Conference Interpreting Research Information Network)  non-profit initiative  aims to review and abstract publications in the field of conference interpreting research, including PhD and Masters Theses.  published in its bi-annual publication Bulletin, available online at

Resources for T&I Studies Times Literary Supplement: includes reviews of translated literature. Bible in English: an archive of various versions of the Bible in English, including the King James Bible. Film Indexes Online: which includes, among other things, searchable plot summaries. Margaret Thatcher’s Complete Public Statements (could serve as source texts if you are interested in translations of political speeches from English into X language)

Resources for T&I Studies ABELL - Annual Bibliography of English Language and Literature: Index to language, literature and bibliography books and periodicals. Equivalent to annual printed volumes from Citation Indexes (all 3 versions): Science Citation Index, Social Sciences Citation Index, Arts and Humanities Citation Index. Over 20 million articles. Humanities Index: Index to about 350 periodicals within the humanities area. Linguistics and Language Behavior Abstracts: Abstracts on aspects of the study of language including phonetics, phonology, morphology, syntax and semantics. MLA International Bibliography: Index of literature, language, linguistics and folklore. Nearly 4,000 periodicals are covered as well as books etc. Oxford English Dictionary: The full text of all twenty volumes of the 1989 edition, updated as revision continues. Oxford Reference Shelf: 16 complete texts including writers' reference works, business and law dictionaries, and mini language dictionaries.

Annotated Research Bibliography Think of a hypothetical essay topic related to the issues covered in this module in weeks 1-5 and collect a bibliography of useful articles and books. The title of the hypothetical essay should be clearly indicated. A short summary of the essay content or scope should be provided at the beginning of the assignment (approx. 150 words). List these works according to established bibliographic conventions set out in the CTIS Guidelines to Bibliographic Conventions, available in the MA Documentation and Guidelines section of the CTIS PG Intranet

Annotated Research Bibliography For each work, provide an evaluative comment of words. This comment should describe and evaluate clearly and concisely the usefulness and relevance of a particular work for the essay being researched. The bibliographic conventions should be implemented consistently and fully for each of the works you list. The comments on each work should be informative, accurate and evaluative. It is not sufficient to reproduce a published abstract of an article or book; you need to relate the contents of the article or book to the essay title you have chosen and take a critical approach to the content, i.e. evaluate its importance, usefulness and reliability.

Annotated Research Bibliography Title of Assignment: The Literal vs. Free Translation Debate Entry 1 Lee, Chang-Soo (2003) ‘Toward a Theory of Readers’ Expectations in Translation: A Case Study of Translating Terms of Address’, FORUM - International Journal of Interpretation and Translation 1(1): This study presents the results of research conducted into Korean translations of addressee forms in English novels together with a survey of Korean readers’ expectations. It argues that Korean literary translators tend to translate addressee forms very literally, even when the translation would result in non-standard Korean. Subjects in the survey group were asked to read a passage from a Korean translation of an English novel in which addressee forms had been translated literally, resulting in non-standard Korean. They then filled in a questionnaire. 50 out of 60 participants considered the addressee forms acceptable while only 10 found they were inappropriate. The result shows that most people in the survey group did not dislike a literal translation of addressee forms into Korean. This study will allow me to discuss the topic of literal translations from an empirical angle, rather than being restricted to prescriptive pronouncements on the subject.

Text Analysis Exercise Select source text of your choice (no word limit)  for dissertation (translation plus critical analysis)  for translation for another assignment in another module 2000-word essay analysing one or more features of the text that are particularly challenging for translation/interpretation into your target language  Use metalanguage discussed in the module  demonstrate a firm grasp of relevant notions. Structure essay using headings Select one or two features and address them in detail, rather than attempting to discuss many features superficially

Reading for next week Saldanha, Gabriela (2009) ‘Linguistic Approaches’ in Mona Baker and Gabriela Saldanha (eds) Routledge Encyclopedia of Translation Studies, pp.148 – 151. Nord, Christiane (1997) Translating as a Purposeful Activity, Manchester: St. Jerome. Read Chapter 1: Historical Overview in advance of the seminar.