Translation and Socio-Cultural Differences (CTI113)

CTI113e Translation and Socio-Cultural Differences aims to equip students with the knowledge and understanding of cross-cultural relationship between China and the English-speaking countries, with a special emphasis on its relations to translation. Through analyzing the socio-cultural differences between Chinese-speaking and the English-speaking countries and regions, students will develop awareness of key issues in cross-cultural communication between the East and the West and understand how translation plays a role in constructing socio-cultural identities and bridging cross-cultural communication. The course places a special emphasis on the unique socio-cultural contexts in Singapore and trains students to address such uniqueness in Chinese to English and English to Chinese translation.

• Culture, Language and Translation
• Cultural Differences and Similarities
• Semantic Asymmetry and Culturally-Specific Words
• Translation of Colours and Idioms
• Translation of Religious Text
• Food and Beverage Translation

• Describe the basic issues in cultural relations between China and the Western countries
• Identify analogies, false analogies and differences between the Chinese and Western cultures
• Apply such knowledge in communication, translation and negotiation
• Discuss how extra-linguistic forces can influence the way a text is translated and how a translator negotiates with these forces
• Determine the presence and absence of the key cultural features in the translated texts and evaluate the effectiveness of the translation, given the original texts
• Recognize the key cultural features in the translated texts and review the effectiveness of the translation, given the original texts