GEN1000 Perspectives on General Education / Subject to Instructor’s Discretion
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This course invites students to explore the amazing world of translation by investigating the complex relationship between language, thought and culture from a translational perspective. It aims to develop students’ sensitivity of the cultural and philosophical issues surrounding language and translation. The focus is to reveal how translation shapes one’s world view, and how it will transform one’s own perspectives in the process.
Upon completion of this module, students should be able to:
a. develop critical understanding of the cultural and philosophical issues surrounding translation;
b. improve their abstract thinking and analytical power;
c. read, analyse and use material from a wider range of media and genres;
d. apply these skills in speaking, writing and translation tasks.
1. Languages of the World: An Overview
2. Culture and Thought
2.1 Chinese Mode of Thought
2.2 Western Mode of Thought
3. Language and Thought
3.1 Sapir-Whorf Hypothesis
3.2 Humboldt’s “Weltanschauung” hypothesis
3.3 Wittgenstein’s Use Theory of Meaning
4. Human Beings as “Prisoners of Language”
4.1 Political Manipulation of Language
4.2 Framing Theory
4.3 The Punishment of Language
5. Language Ecology and Language Death
5.1 The Significance of Vernacular Language Movement
5.2 Chinese Character Simplification Scheme
5.3 Cantonese and Identity of Hongkongers
6. Translation and Translatability
6.1 The Notion of Codability
6.2 Translation and Reality
6.2.1 Color Spectrum
6.2.2 Directional Orientation
6.2.3 Time Conceptualization
6.2.4 Numbers
7. Translation: An Open Window to the World
8. How Translation Shapes Our Lives and Transforms the World
1. Class participation (10%)
2. Assignment(s) (40%)
3. Term-end test (20%)
4. Presentation and critical review of readings (30%)
1. Collins, Chik (1999). Language, Ideology and Social Consciousness: Developing a Sociohistorical Approach. Syndey: Ashgate.
2. Corcoran, Paul (1979). Political Language and Rhetoric. Austin: University of Texas Press.
3. Cronin, Michael (2003). Translation and Globalization. London: Routledge.
4. Crystal, David (2000). Language Death. New York: Cambridge University Press.
5. Davitt, Michael. (1999). Language and Reality: An Introduction to the Philosophy of Language. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
6. Deeney, John J. (1995). “Biculturalism and Ambiculturalism”, in An Encyclopedia of Translation: Chinese-English/English-Chinese, eds. Chan Sin-wai & David E. Pollard. Hong Kong: Chinese University Press.
7. Deutscher, Guy (2010). Through the Language Glass: Why the World Looks Different in Other Languages. New York: Metropolitan Books.
8. Downes, William (1984). Language and Society. London: Fontana Paperbooks.
9. Katan, David (2004). Translating Cultures: an Introduction for Translators, Interpreters and Mediators. Northampton, MA: St. Jerome.
10. Kaske, Elisabeth (2008). The Politics of Language in Chinese Education, 1985-1919. Leiden: Brill.
11. Newmark, Peter (1988). A Textbook of Translation. London: Prentice Hall.
12. Nida, E.A. and Reyburn, W.D. (1981). Meaning Across Cultures. New York: Orbis Books.
13. Nida, Eugene A. (1993). Language, Culture and Translating. Shanghai: Shanghai Foreign Language Education.
14. Rubel, Paula G. and Rosman, Abrahma (ed.) (2003). Translating Cultures: Perspectives on Translators and Anthropology. London: Bloomsbery.
15. Wilson, Philip (2016). Translation after Wittgenstein. New York: Routledge.
16. 黎錦熙（1933）。《國語運動史綱》。北京﹕商務印書館。
17. 程美寶（2006）。《地域文化與國家認同﹕晚清以來「廣東文化」觀的形成》。北京﹕三聯。
