Creation and Translation Techniques of Scientific Texts (Translation Module)

Course unit code

М2.В.ОД.2

Course unit title

Creation and Translation  Techniques of Scientific Texts

(Translation Module)

Name(s), surname(s) and title of lecturer(s)

Translation Module (taught in English): Tikhomirova Yulia Alexandrovna,  PhD in Philology, Associate Professor of Faculty of Philology

(Creation Module is taught in Russian)

Level of course

Master

Semester

2

ECTS credits

4

Working hours

Contact hours

32

Self-study

112

Total

144

Work of placement

N/A

Prerequisites

To enrol on a course students should have studied the following disciplines:

• Text Theory;
• Business Foreign Language (English);
• Translation Theory;
• Practical and Functional Stylistics of the Russian Language

Language of instruction

English/Russian

Objectives of the course

Learning outcomes

A student’s assessments methods

Course objectives include developing scientific and scientific-informative text creating skills and equipping Master students with effective instruments for mediated intercultural communication in research sphere: acquiring skills and methods of creating a plenipotentiary representative of a research texts a the target language in correlation with national specificity of scientific discourse and peculiarities  of representation of various types of research texts.

A students should know:

• basic programs used for professional communication and professional text translation;
• principles of scientific text creation and structuring;
• general rules of research text design in Russia and English-speaking countries 
• ways and types of argumentation;
• requirements to scientific publications; the basics of proofreading and peculiarities of scientific text proofreading;
• strategies and methods of written translation, abstracting and annotating of scientific texts in Humanities in Russian and English;
• strategies of linguocultural adaptation of texts
• linguistic features of Russian and English scientific discourse;
• types and main concepts of machine translation systems
• features of translation memory system SDL TRADOS.

A students should be able to:

• proofread research texts in correction mode;
• translate professional texts describing innovations rich n neologisms;
• to design the results of research as scientific articles in Russian and English;
• create logically correct scientific texts with relevant and sufficient argumentation;
• proofread scientific texts;
• create research texts of a given genre;
• process professional texts for non-specialists
• meet the requirements to contents and design  of scientific publications;
• translate articles, abstracts, annotations, reviews, summaries in Humanities at a high professional level;
• produce and translate grant applications for various research supporting funds;
• put together and maintain glossaries, dictionaries and information resources in various fields of Humanities;
• work with different sources, dictionaries and translation memory programs (SDL TRADOS)

Students should acquire skills in:

• choosing theoretical and methodological bases for current research in the field of creation and translation of scientific texts;
• using SDL Trados;
• preparing scientific papers for research conferences;
• writing research articles;
• self-correction and proofreading of research texts translations;
• stylistic adaptation of texts;
• translating research texts on Humanities subjects.

Test translations

Teaching methods

Educational techniques used:

• seminars allow discussions of theoretical bases of scientific text translation;
• simulation allows working with actual samples of scientific articles etc.;
• role plays are aimed at simulating real professional situations;
• discussing professional situations forms the skills of analysis and self-awareness;
• computer technologies are aimed at developing skills for on-line searching and using a computer as a translation tool;
• discussions serve as the foundation for a task-oriented and regulated exchange of opinions concerning the translated text followed by a coordinated decision.

Course unit content

Course objectives are:

• to expose students to various types and technologies of creating scientific texts and kinds of scientific and scientific-popular discourse;

• to teach using techniques  and principles of creating and translating of various types of scientific texts;
• to teach using techniques  of scientific text proofreading and correction;
• to equip students with methodological and practical knowledge of creating and translating scientific texts in correlation with national specificity of scientific discourse;

• to instruct students in using various types of dictionaries, Internet resources and IT technologies in translating scientific texts to reach maximum authenticity.

Gained knowledge and skills –

List of Topics

Topic title

Contact hours

Assignments and independent study hours

1. Peculiarities of scientific text translation

1.1 lexical difficulties of scientific text translation

1.2 difficulties in translating grammatical constructions;

1.3 syntactical peculiarities of scientific texts and ways of their translation;

1.4 stylistic peculiarities of scientific text translation

1.5 epistemological difficulties of scientific text translation  

4

10

2. Types of scientific and technical text translation

2.1 full written scientific text translation;

2.2 summary text translation and its functions,

2.3 annotative translation, its peculiarities and functions;

2.4 consulting translation and its use

4

10

3. The stages of work over scientific text translation

3.1 semantic and pretranaslation text analysis;

3.2 creating a draft translation;

3.3 translation of titled other structural components ;

3.4 methods and techniques of proofreading

4

10

4. Special and general word stock. Types of contractions on research texts and their translation. International, pseudo-international, polysemantic words. False friends of the interpreter.

4

10

Assessment requirements

The credit test includes translation of research texts from Russian into English and English into Russian.

1. Written translation of a research article English into Russian (10000 – 15000 characters) followed by editing (2 hours, PC/laptop, dictionaries).

2. Written translation of a research article Russian into Russian (10,000 – 15000 characters) followed by editing (at home to be presented in class, PC/laptop, dictionaries).

Assessment criteria

Max. score - 100

The composition of final accumulative mark

Student’s portfolio, attendance and participation in classroom activities, final exam assessment mark

Author of the course

Translation Module (taught in English): Tikhomirova Yulia Alexandrovna,  PhD in Philology, Associate Professor of  Faculty of Philology

Creation Module (taught in Russian): Ayzikova Irina Alexandrovna, Doctor of Philology, Professor of the Faculty of Philology