Course title: Translation and Intercultural Communication
Instructor: Dr. Snježana Veselica Majhut
ECTS credits: 5
Language: English and Croatian
Semester: 3rd term of graduate studies
Status: elective
Form of instruction: two lectures and one seminar per week + e-learning
Assessment: continuous assessment components
This course explores translation as a complex act of cross-cultural mediation rather than a simple linguistic substitution. Students will analyze how cultural values, societal power dynamics, and pragmatic contexts shape the transmission of texts across borders. Combining translation theory, intercultural pragmatics, and hands-on practice, the course prepares students for the evolving global language industry. Special attention is paid to emerging industry demands, including localizing digital media, transcreation, managing machine translation (MT), and navigating the ethics of AI in multicultural workflows.
By the end of this course, students will be able to:Critically evaluate major translation and intercultural communication theories.Identify and resolve complex sociolinguistic, pragmatic, and cultural barriers in source texts.Demonstrate proficiency in advanced translation strategies, including transcreation and localization.Utilize and critically assess computer-assisted translation (CAT) tools and machine translation post-editing (MTPE).Apply ethical decision-making frameworks regarding cultural representation and language accessibility.
Part I: Theoretical Foundations
Week 1: Introduction to Intercultural MediationTopics: Defining culture, identity, and the “cultural turn” in translation studies. Readings: Excerpts from Susan Bassnett and André Lefevere.
Week 2: Equivalence vs. Functionalism (Skopos Theory) Topics: Shifting focus from word-for-word accuracy to the purpose (Skopos) of the text in the target culture. Readings: Hans Vermeer and Christiane Nord.
Week 3: Intercultural Pragmatics & Discourse Analysis Topics: Implicit meaning, speech acts, politeness strategies, and high/low-context communication across cultures. Readings: Istvan Kecskes.
Part II: Cultural Mechanics in Translation
Week 4: Ideology, Power, and Censorship Topics: Postcolonial translation theory, linguistic hegemony, and the translator’s visibility or invisibility. Readings: Lawrence Venuti (The Translator’s Invisibility).
Week 5: Translating Idioms, Metaphors, and Humor Topics: Handling culture-specific items (CSIs), wordplay, and non-equivalence.Seminar: Interactive workshop mapping cultural metaphors. Part III: Specialized Fields & Applied Practice
Week 6: Institutional and Legal Translation Topics: Asymmetry in legal systems, terminology management, and public service interpreting.
Week 7: Audiovisual Translation (AVT) & AccessibilityTopics: Subtitling, dubbing, audio description, and cultural constraints in multimedia format constraint.
Week 8: Marketing Translation & Transcreation Topics: Adapting global brand campaigns, slogans, and emotional resonances for localized consumer mindsets.
Week 9: Software, Game, and App Localization Topics: Technical and cultural adaptation of user interfaces, text strings, variables, and regional imagery.
Assessment Components
20% Class Participation & Weekly Discussion Briefs: Active engagement in textual analyses, case studies, and peer-review workshops. 30% Translation & Commentary Portfolio (Mid-term): Practical translation of two contrasting text types (e.g., one legal document and one marketing ad) accompanied by an analytical commentary justifying choices based on Skopos theory. 15% Technology Lab Project: A localization exercise utilizing a CAT tool, including an error-typology report on a post-edited machine-translated text. 35% Capstone Research Project / Major Transcreation Project: An extensive, independent translation project (2,500+ words) with an accompanying 3,000-word theoretical framework paper, or a deep academic research paper exploring a specific intercultural communication bottleneck.
OBLIGATORY READING:
Gambier, Y. 2013. “Genres, text-types and translation” in Handbook of Translation Studies. vol. 4: pp. 63–69
Hatim, B. 2009. “ Translating text in context“ in Munday, J. (ed.) The Routledge Companion to Translation Studies. New York: Routledge.
Hatim, B. and Munday, J. 2004. Translation: An Advanced Resource Book. New York: Routledge. (selected chapters)
Kelly, D. 1998. “The translation of texts from the tourist sector: textual conventions, cultural distance and other constraints”. Trans: Revista de Traductologia. no. 2 (1998) (DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.24310/TRANS.1998.v0i2.2354
Trosborg, A. (ed.) 1997. Text Typology and Translation. John Benjamins Publishing (selected chapters)
ADDITIONAL READING:
Hatim, B. and Mason, I. 2005. The Translator as Communicator. London/New York: Routledge
Katan, D. 2009. “Translation as Intercultural Communication” in in Munday, J. (ed.) The Routledge Companion to Translation Studies. New York: Routledge.
Katan, D. Translating Cultures: An Introduction for Translators, Interpreters and Mediators https://www.academia.edu/7397391/14818510
Nord, C. 2000. “Training Functional Translators”. Cadernos de Tradução. ISSN 2175-7968, Florianópolis, Brasil. DOI: https://doi.org/10.5007/%25x
Tomozeiu, D., Koskinen, K. and D’Arcangelo, A. 2017. (eds.) Intercultural Competence for Translators. New York: Routledge (selected chapters)