German 441

Course Description and Syllabus

and "Assignments Box" (bottom of page)

German 441
Translation from German into English

Fall Semester, 2004
Instructor: Raleigh Whitinger, 308-A Arts, 492-4110, rwhiting@gpu.srv.ualberta.ca
Access to the course's web-site: http://www.ualberta.ca/~rwhiting/

Course description
German 441 is a senior language course that focuses on advanced problems of German grammar, style, and vocabulary with an eye to features and strategies that will be of benefit to anyone who might become involved in translation as part of their vocational or professional activities.

One major focal point of the course is the study of problems of German grammar, style, and idiomatic usage that often require special strategies and techniques of translation.

The other major focal point is the honing of those strategies and skills by working, both individually and as a group, on exemplary technical, academic, journalistic, and literary texts.

These tasks will often involve the discussion of approaches to translation theory, methodology, and professional strategies. It will introduce the theoretical principles of translation that various text-types require (technical versus literary texts, for example).

Texts
The updated course-pack for German 441 will be in the SUB bookstore by late August. Students should purchase the course-pack and look at the introductory syllabus, as well as the introductory comments entitled "About this book and its use in the context of the course German 441."

Students should also purchase a good, comprehensive, hard-cover German-English + English-German dictionary. The Collins is recommended; Langenscheidt's, Schöffler-Weiß, and others are also suitable.

Grades, Assignments
30% for four in-class tests throughout the semester; each involves an unseen passage plus a passage taken from previously announced texts (dictionaries allowed).
30% for the 5-7 (depending on relative length) homework assignments involving translation of exemplary texts.
10% for participation and preparation of oral translations done in class.
30% for a 3-hour final exam involving one unseen passage plus two passages selected from a small group of previously announced texts. We shall work our way, in the course of the semester, through the "Problemkreise" in the first 49 pages of the course-pack, while looking at some of the exercises in those sections as well as in some of the pertinent "Ergänzungsgrammatik" sections.

As we do so, we shall work, as oral and written assignments, on translating various texts, starting with informative texts in technical areas (language pedagogy, literature, culture, e.g. the first ten items starting on page 133 of the course-pack).

For the first days/weeks of class:
Start looking at "Problemkreis #1," following directions to consult other parts of the course-pack. Ponder especially how you might make a "table" of the main indicative verb tenses in German and what possibilities of English translation you would list for each. We shall begin with that topic and then look at the "tricks" with "subjunctive" forms.

Think of making up your own vocabulary list of German verbs (e.g. "bestehen"), their principle parts (e.g. bestehen, bestand, bestanden), their meanings (with various prepositions; e.g. bestehen aus, bestehen in, bestehen auf).

We shall also work with cohesive texts of an informative and technical nature. There are four texts listed here.

We shall work our way orally through #1. Practice finding the complete verb of each clause, translating its meaning, and working from there towards a first, rough translation. Ponder what you do next. Ponder what you should do with immensely long sentences; ponder what the German modal "sollen" means and how you translate it.

We should also look at texts #2, 3, 4. One of them will be our first written home-work assignment (details and date to be announced). A passage from one of the other two will be on our first "practice run" test (details and date to be announced).

Oral class work:

–Ponder all of "Problemkreis #1" - ponder translation strategies for indicative tense-forms
–try random e.g.'s on page 10
–selectikon of practice sentences on page 14