Introduction to Translation
WRCT 266
Fall 2026
| Section:
01
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| Crosslisting:
COL 268, REES 266, RL&L 266, ENGL 270 |
What does it mean to ¿read like a translator¿? In the first part of the semester, we¿ll attempt to answer that question by taking a close look at a few book titles, a couple of famous sentences from world literature, and one or two short stories that have now appeared in multiple English translations (such as Kafka's ¿Die Verwandlung¿). Along the way, we¿ll also tackle some long-standing debates in the field, such as ¿is translation really a form of creative writing¿ and ¿is literal word-for-word translation possible,¿ as well as tackling some of the more recent debates surrounding large-language models and machine translation: why not just paste a novel or poem into Google Translate or ChatGPT and roll with it? In the second part of the semester, students will select a short story, set of poems, or other creative work that they wish to translate into English, and will use their newly filled "translator's toolbox" to plan, draft, and ultimately share their translations with the rest of the class. The emphasis in this workshop portion of the class is on process, not product. As such, students will keep a weekly "translator's diary" in which they explain, analyze, and reflect on the decisions they are making as they go about translating their chosen text. |
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| Credit: 1 |
Gen Ed Area Dept:
HA WRCT |
| Course Format: Seminar | Grading Mode: Student Option |
| Level: UGRD |
Prerequisites: None |
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Fulfills a Requirement for: None |
| SECTION 01 |
| Instructor(s): Bloom,Ryan Times: ..T.R.. 10:20AM-11:40AM; Location: 116MTV102; |
| Total Enrollment Limit: 12 | | SR major: 0 | JR major: 0 | | |
| | GRAD: X | SR non-major: 3 | JR non-major: 3 | SO: 3 | FR: 3 |
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