Műfordítás magyar-angol 2 (BBNAN05400) - Owen Good
Course Description
This course aims to introduce the main problems which can arise during literary translation from Hungarian to English. Besides aiming to improve the students' overall command of written English, this course also aims to raise awareness of translation issues which arise when rendering a passage specifically from L1 to L2 (Hungarian to English in our case). Over the semester we will translate three set texts, each text will be of a different genre and a different writer. With each text the student will be confronted with unique problems (cultural, lexical, grammatical, stylistic, problems of punctuation, form etc.) and through discussion of the common techniques available to the translator, as well as the class' own ideas, each student will be encouraged to reach their own solution. By the end of the course each student should be able to boast one ready English translation of a set of poems, one section of a play or a complete short story.
Set texts will be downloaded or handed out.
Students must bring a hard copy (a printed copy) or of their translation to class in order to compare with others and edit their work.
Recommended reading: any contemporary Hungarian or English literature.
Course Requirements and Assessment
Students are required to hand in one complete translation of one of the three set texts, be it prose, drama, or poetry (60%).
Students are required to do the weekly translations for discussion. I will collect these either as a hard copy or in email. Any missing pieces will affect the student's final grade.
Each week two partners will lead a discussion with a commentary on their partner's and their own translation and the difficulties they found while preparing their translation. All students are expected to offer their thoughts and suggestions in class, as well as debate with their peers and the teacher.
The lead discussion and the students' continuous assessment will be graded together. (40%)