Optional Module- Semester 8:
Issues of Language Skills and Communication in a European Context
Course Description
This course focuses on principles of translation in the EU context. Participants will have the opportunity to study sample texts in order to become familiar with normative features of the genre in this context. As texts translated for EU institutions need to be accessible to a broader European or even global area they reflect some of the requirements or features which are shared by different member-states and/or individuals. As such they represent a variety of English as an international medium. It is a fact that most of the students in the Department of International and European Studies have attended classes in language institutions which tend to focus mostly on accuracy and preparation for qualifying exams. Consequently, students cannot be expected to have come to terms with the nuances and requirements of translation as a means of professional communication. They, therefore, stand to benefit considerably should they decide that translation is a relevant area within their career orientation.
This optional component will look at some of the language features of the written discourse in the EU Law and International Relations texts.
• Translation as a cross-lingual information transfer is an eminently communicative activity of conveying messages across linguistic and cultural barriers and it is needed at all the many stages in the preparation of the EU Community legislation.
• Elements of translation, which need highlighting in the course of the translation of EU texts.
• The problems of writing/drafting style, clarity- absolute accuracy, obscurity and collocations in the rendition of meaning. Limited freedom of the translator.
• Terms often confused and misused- e.g. conclusion, resolution, provision
• http://europa.eu.int : Students will have to visit quite extensively this site which is considered the most heavily consulted, publicly-run website in Europe scoring high numbers of hits.
Thematic sections:
a. The Issue of Language Policy within an Enlarging European Union
Framework
b. Linguistic Analysis of the European Union Law e.g. Treaties, White &
Green Papers - Legal English vs. EU Law English
c. Translating for the EU Institutions
Number of participants: no more than 15 students can register for this module, the choice will be made on a'first come first served' basis. We reserve the right not to open a class with fewer than 10 students
Entry requirements: the cumulative grade average of the participants in previous English modules should be at least 7