Faithful or Traitor? Introduction to Translation Studies

Undergraduate

This first-year seminar introduces key concepts in Translation Studies, an interdisciplinary area of study that thinks critically about the job of translating and interpreting; language and textual transformation; multilingualism and multiculturalism. While their essential work is rarely acknowledged, translators and interpreters make it possible for us to move, create, trade, consume, and communicate across languages and cultural borders. Throughout history, translators and interpreters have been represented as language nerds, reckless explorers, cultural diplomats, bridge-builders, war heroes, counterfeiters, traitors, spies and enemies within. But in a globalizing society, translation is not just a job for some; it can also name a diffused state of cultural hybridity, flux and permanent change. In this class, we look at translating as both a real-life job and a popular metaphor for negotiating for meaning; mediating between cultures; and co-existing through differences. You learn about debates in Translation Studies in a highly interdisciplinary way: by discussing some of the seminal texts in translation theory from the Middle Ages to today; by reading novels and watching films with translators and interpreters as characters; by engaging with the biographies of real-life cultural mediators throughout history; by learning to think about translation as an ubiquitous philosophical concept in our day and age; by leading creative translation workshops at Yale University Art Gallery; by asking topical questions about the critical role of translation and translators in spite of the rise of AI and in the war-torn world we live in. Enrollment is limited to first-year students. This class is ideal for students with an interest in global languages, world literature, and transnational cultural history. HU MW 4pm-5:15pm