Translation Studies is a rather young academic discipline that is by nature multidisciplinary, since it encompasses a range of linguistic, literary, sociological and cultural traditions. The main focus of this course will be linguistic and emphasis will be placed on the relationship between theory and practice. Topics concern, on the one hand, the relationship between language, thought and culture, and, on the other, semantic and pragmatic differences between languages. In the concrete, the issues of this course are typical challenges to translators, and particularly to translation machines: they include the translation of culturally specific terms, idiomatic expressions and humour.

This course is especially aimed at students of foreign languages with experience in translation. Students in one of the programmes of the master Linguistics who would like to improve their translation skills or carry on with translation analyses are encouraged to take an internship focusing on translation, as a follow up on this course. Teachers in the English, French, German and Spanish department will coordinate the internship project.