Recognising that knowledge of the target language is vital to success in professional translation, this course introduces students to the terminology and techniques of inter-lingual translation. It will provide an introduction to the roles and challenges of the professional translator across different translation scenarios and develop skills to respond to challenges identified in a number of text types (such as journalism, reports, manuals, marketing materials, business correspondence and web content). Topics covered will include the specificity of target language syntax and style; translation scenarios and strategies; communicative and semantic translation;  research tools; text type; target audience; register; lexical fields and challenges; cultural reference and specificity; compensation; transfer; gloss and exoticism. The course will be taught in weekly seminars where lecturer-driven content will be combined with practical, student-led work. 

What characterises genres such as Landscape Art, Portraiture, History Painting, Satire and Caricature? And what happens to these genres in the hands of experimental artists? Is it possible to create serious art by rejecting the centuries-old norms of painting and even by undermining or eliminating the picture subject? By studying a selection of particular movements students explore key phases in the development of European visual culture and analyse the artists’ principal stylistic and theoretical concerns, their interaction and development, and their significance within a variety of cultural contexts.

This course will outline and question key trends in translation studies. The aim throughout is to consider how meanings are carried between and affect different cultural contexts, and the political, ethical and ideological consequences of translation between languages, cultures and political contexts. It will also consider broader questions of language and representation in a globalized world.

In the first six weeks, the course will discuss the role of the translator and will cover topics such as authorship and copyright, patronage and ideology, the sttatus of translation in the publication industry, and the politics of domestication and foreignisation. In the second half, the course will focus on the cultural and ideological turn in Translation Studies and will look at issues around feminist, queer and post-colonial approaches to translation.

'Gender and Clothing' will involve an examination of gender as it is expressed, maintained, or challenged by clothing. You will investigate a variety of Anglophone, Francophone, and German-language twentieth-century texts, including novels, fine art, and film, in which clothing and gender are closely linked. You will develop your analytical skills, and be encouraged to think critically and comparatively about different texts.

The  expansion and refinement of existing linguistic competencies in the relevant target language(s) alongside the development of intercultural competency and employability skills over a nine-month period spent in up to three different language areas. Students are able to choose between academic or employment environments, or opt for a combination of both, to develop the learning outcomes of the module based on their own learning preferences as well as their professional goals and interests. Through their study and/or work placements, students acquire new perspectives on their subject area within the framework of their target language(s) institution and/or employment organisation as well as within the broader socio-cultural context of the country(s) in which they spend their Year Abroad. The challenges and opportunities presented by the immersion in a different cultural context lead to the development of a range of self-management as well as intercultural competency skills in addition to the acquisition of transferable and placement-specific aptitudes. The skillset developed throughout the period of residence abroad is distilled in two complementary reflective exercises produced in the target language(s). These reports require students to consider and evaluate the aptitudes acquired and to articulate the value and applicability of their degree programme in the context of their developing competencies both in their final-year modules at Royal Holloway as well as in their future professional career.

For this 15 credit dissertation you will research and write a sustained piece of work in English on a suitable, approved  topic of their choice for which appropriate supervision is available within the LLC. You will have the opportunity to produce an extended piece of independent, research-led work of greater depth and scope than is permitted by the shorter word-limits of other courses. The dissertation is an exciting chance to produce a substantial piece of sustained, independent work.

This course explores cinematic representations of the transnational encounter between people, cultures and institutions interconnected by the forces of globalization. The topics covered range from (anti-)colonialism and revolution to postcoloniality and migration. Attention is also paid to the ways in which the films deal with the themes of emancipation, hybridity, displacement, globalism and cosmopolitanism. The course is divided into four blocks. The first block is devoted to the study of the counter-hegemonic films of Third Worldism and Third Cinema, and includes films of Cinema Novo of Brazil, such as Rocha's Maranhao 66 (1966) and Land In Anguish (1967), as well as West African films such as Sembene's Borom Sarret  (1963) and Xala (1974). The second block deals with contemporary West African cinema and addresses the impact of rapid modernization and globalization on countries such as Senegal and Mali that became independent in the early 1960s, as depicted in Sembene’s  Guelwaar (1993), Sissako’s Bamako (2006). The thrid block looks at Third Worldist films influenced by Second Cinema, such as Gutierrez Alea's Memories of Development (1968) on the Cuban Revolution. The final block also treats films on migration and explores the life of the Chinese community in Italy depicted in Segre’s Shun Li & the Poet (2011), as well as the migrants’ journeys over the Mediterranean and into Italy, as shown in Giordana’s Once You Are Born You Can No Longer Hide (2005). 

For this 15 credit dissertation you will research and write a sustained piece of work in English on a topic relevant to Comparative Literature and Culture and for which appropriate supervision is available within the LLC. You will have the opportunity to produce an extended piece of independent, research-led work of greater depth and scope than is permitted by the shorter word-limits of other courses. The dissertation is an exciting chance to produce a substantial piece of sustained, independent work.

This module aims to give the student an insight into the constraints and challenges of translation work by requiring them to complete a number of translation tasks, partly in supervised workshops, partly through independent study. The main outcome will be one or several translations which will total between 2,000 and 5,000 words. The source text(s) will be chosen before the beginning of the final year, in consultation with the student's supervisor and may come from any appropriate text type(s) and translation scenario(s). Each translation should be accompanied by a translation strategy which will include a reflective commentary. Students may also choose to include theoretical reflections on approaches to translation or comparative analysis of published translations where appropriate.