BERGAMO
Overview
Date/time interval
Syllabus
Course Objectives
In line with the educational objectives of the Degree Programme, students will develop an understanding of the main methodological stages involved in the translation of specialized texts. More specifically, they will be introduced to theoretical models, critical perspectives, and linguistic resources aimed at fostering analytical, translation-studies, and translation-related competences. By the end of the course, students will be able to recognize the conventions, functions, and distinctive features of different types of specialized texts, identify translation problems (relating to terminology, equivalence, communicative function, and adaptation to the target context), and develop and apply effective translation strategies that are pragmatically appropriate to the context of use.
Course Prerequisites
C1 level of English (Common European Framework of Reference for Languages - CEFR).
Teaching Methods
Teaching will be delivered through lectures, with particular attention to dialogue and direct interaction with students, who will be encouraged to suggest topics for further exploration or discussion during class. Sessions will include empirical work and group discussions
Students wishing to consolidate or further develop their English language proficiency may also take advantage of the tutoring activities offered by the University Language Centre (CLA) (https://cla.unibg.it/it).
Assessment Methods
The exam consists of an oral exam preceded by a short written translation task, which may also take the form of the revision or correction of a text. For attending students, this task will be administered during the final class of the course. For non-attending students, it will consist of the translation, revision, or correction of a short text (2-3 lines), either from English into Italian or from Italian into English, to be completed at the beginning of the oral exam. This component of the assessment is designed to evaluate students' ability to identify and solve translation problems of a linguistic, textual, terminological, and pragmatic nature.
The oral exam will consist of a discussion in English of the course contents (see the reading list on Leganto). Questions will be designed to assess students' understanding and critical assimilation of the course material, including key concepts, principles, theoretical models, translation strategies, and their application to practical contexts. The final grade will take into account: (1) linguistic accuracy; (2) clarity of presentation and coherence of argumentation; and (3) critical understanding and assimilation of the course contents.
Assessment Grid (out of 30):
- Excellent (30 e lode): Thorough and autonomous command of the content; all aspects of the programme are fully understood and applied with precision. No errors.
- Very Good (30–27): Solid and well-articulated understanding of the material; content is correctly applied, with only minor and occasional inaccuracies that do not compromise overall performance.
- Good (26–24): Generally competent understanding and application of the course content, though with some inaccuracies or imprecise use of terminology. Errors are not serious or systematic.
- Sufficient (23–18): Basic grasp of the core course content, with evident weaknesses and limited depth of understanding. Errors are present and noticeable, even when they do not fully compromise communication or comprehension.
- Insufficient (<18): Inadequate understanding or preparation; serious gaps in comprehension and application of key concepts. Frequent or repeated errors prevent a successful outcome.
Contents
The course aims to provide students with the tools needed to understand the linguistic and textual conventions of different types of specialized texts (informative, descriptive, operative, normative, etc.) and to offer an introduction to the theory and practice of translation. The general features of specialized communication will be examined, with particular attention to the macro-, micro-linguistic, and pragmatic aspects of specialized languages, as well as to the concepts of translatability and equivalence and the main strategies of specialized translation and revision. The knowledge and skills acquired will be applied through practical translation activities, group discussion, and collaborative revision of texts.
The lectures will address the following topics:
- What Is Translation? What Are Translation Studies? (Grego 2010; recommended Munday & Vasserman 2022)
- Approaches and Theories of Translation (Grego 2010; recommended Munday & Vasserman 2022)
- From Translation to Specialised Translation (Rogers 2018; Grego 2010)
- Specialised Languages and Specialised Discourse (Grego 2010)
- Genres, Texts and Discourse Communities (Salvi 2012; Grego (2010)
- Terminology and Specialised Knowledge (Musacchio 1999; Faber & Cabezas-García 2019; recommended Mehrpooya et al. 2018)
- Equivalence, Function and Specialised Texts (Salvi 2012: Grego 2010)
- Translation Problems and Strategies (Muñoz Martín & Olalla-Soler 2022; recommended Mehrpooya et al. 2018)
- Research and Resources for Specialised Translation (Musacchio 1999; Faber & Cabezas-García 2019; recommended Mehrpooya et al. 2018)
- Machine Translation and Post-editing (Koponen 2016; recommended Jia, Carl & Wang 2019; Vardaro et al. 2019)
- From Machine Translation to Generative AI (He 2024; Giampieri 2025; recommended Aldosari & Altuwairesh 2025)
- AI-assisted Translation, Post-editing and Translator Competence (Mihalache & Varela Salinas 2026; Dam, Vesterager & Zethsen 2025; recommended Jia et al. 2019; Vardaro et al. 2019)
Online Resources
More information
The course materials consist of texts available in open access. The required and recommended readings are listed below.
REQUIRED READINGS
- Grego, Kim (2010), Specialized Translation: Theoretical Issues, Operational Perspectives.
- Rogers, Margaret (2018), “Specialised Translation Today: A View from the JoSTrans Bridge”.
- Salvi, Rita (2012), “Textual Equivalence in the Translation of Specialized Languages”.
- Musacchio, Maria Teresa (1999), “Terminology and Specialized Translation”.
- Faber, Pamela & Cabezas-García, Melania (2019), “Specialized Knowledge Representation: From Terms to Frames”.
- Muñoz Martín, Ricardo & Olalla-Soler, Christian (2022), “Translating is not (only) problem solving”.
- Koponen, Maarit (2016), “Is Machine Translation Post-editing Worth the Effort? A Survey of Research into Post-editing and Effort”.
- He, Sui (2024), “Prompting ChatGPT for Translation: A Comparative Analysis of Translation Brief and Persona Prompts”.
- Giampieri, Patrizia (2025), “Assessing the Quality of AI and MT in Legal Translation”.
- Mihalache, Iulia & Varela Salinas, María-José (2026), “Meaning-Making Process and Error Dynamics in ChatGPT-Mediated Translation”.
- Dam, Helle Vrønning, Vesterager, Anja Krogsgaard & Zethsen, Karen Korning (2025), “The Good Translator”.
OPTIONAL / RECOMMENDED READINGS
- Munday, Jeremy & Vasserman (2022), “The Name and Nature of Translation Studies: A Reappraisal”.
- Mehrpooya, Moinzadeh & Dabaghi (2018), “The Challenge of Terminographic Gaps in Translation”.
- Jia, Y., Carl, M. & Wang, X. (2019), “How Does the Post-editing of Neural Machine Translation Compare with From-scratch Translation? A Product and Process Study”.
- Vardaro, J., Schaeffer, M. & Hansen-Schirra, S. (2019), “Translation Quality and Error Recognition in Professional Neural Machine Translation Post-Editing”.
- Aldosari, L. A. & Altuwairesh, N. (2025), “Assessing the Effects of Translation Prompts on the Translation Quality of GPT-4 Turbo Using Automated and Human Evaluation Metrics: A Case Study”.
References and links providing access to the texts listed above are available within this syllabus under “Online Resources – Leganto”.