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%)
