Name of the course：Translation Theory Beyond the West

Learning Objectives:

-To widen our understanding of how “language” is conceptualized within different cultures and traditions.

-To learn about processes of translation in various parts of the world.

-To grapple with perspectives, and paradigms that have been underappreciated in the Western academy.

-To appreciate the implications of struggles over language and translation for autonomy and self-determination.

– To acquire an appreciation of how different philosophies of language and forms of transmission of knowledge can enhance our understanding of translation.

-To develop skill in formulating a research question.

-To develop skill in communicating effectively in writing, and proficiency in making arguments that are coherent, well-developed, and evidence-based.

Professor’s requirement：Final thesis paper: roughly 12-15 pages (undergraduate) 20 pages (graduate). Topic selection: You may take some aspect of our class – some text, a debate we cover, an issue, that will serve as springboard. On the other hand, you may be drawn to something that we did not cover yet still speaks to the concerns of the class (it must speak to the constellation of issues that make up the domain of the class). I will require a theoretical section where you explain what you are doing and provide justification.

The topic for our class is to study all the translation theories except from western translation theories (eg. Brazilian Cannibalism translation theories, Indian translation theories, Chinese translation theories like Yan Fu’s Xin, Da, Ya and Lu Xun’s hard translation, and Japanese translation theories). So this final paper you are going to write has to be related to this topic and the course’s goal. In this paper, you will be writing a thesis statement/argument for this paper. And then you will be writing about the comparison between Lu Xun’s hard/stiff translation (which is a form of theory called domestication) and Venuti’s domestication theory (this you will have to find some resources on your own). After the comparison, you will need to demonstrate what you see as a general similarity(ies)/difference(s) between Chinese and Western translationtheory (as a whole). And lastly in the conclusion part, you should be arguing how and why does this comparison between Lu Xun and Venuti’s theories and between Chinese and Western translation theories are related to this class’s discussion, and also how do Chinese translation theories contribute to the whole translation world.

You need to have an introduction paragraph, introducing what is going to be written in this paper (better write a thesis statement or argument for this whole paper);

A part that do the comparison between Lu Xun’s hard/stiff translation (which is a form of theory called domestication) and Venuti’s domestication theory (this you will have to find some resources on your own).

A part that demonstrate what you see as a general similarity(ies)/difference(s) between Chinese and Western translationtheory (as a whole).

And a conclusion paragraph: you should be arguing how and why does this comparison between Lu Xun and Venuti’s theories and between Chinese and Western translation theories are related to this class’s discussion, and also how do Chinese translation theories contribute to the whole translation world.

At last, you can think of the question in these aspects:

Discussion of what we’ve learned, how it contributes to our understanding of language, how language works, the relationship between oral and written language, what counts as “language,” the role of language, its relationship to knowledge, knowledge exchanges, religion and spirituality, power and cultural imperialism.