Literary Translation is a seminar for third- and fourth-year students. This course consists of two major parts: 1) a concise, intense section on theories (two full weeks at the beginning of the semester, and one after midterm for the translation of poetry). In this section, students will read and discuss basic principles and problems of translation. They will also compare and evaluate works done by prominent Chinese translators, and thus understand the effort of the translators in their creative processes. 2) a longer section on practice: The selection of English texts for translation will be mostly those which students have covered in other courses in our Department, to avoid spending too much time on basic textual understanding, and to keep the class centered on translation itself. By the end of the semester, students will also cover some major trends and schools in the translation of Chinese works into English.

On completion of the course, students should be able to a) understand that Chinese and English structures and ways of expression are fundamentally very different； b) master the major translation theories and principles between these two languages, and know the freedom﹧ limitation the translators have in achieving the ＂equivalent effect＂ of the original text; c) maintain fidelity in terms of ideas, tone, and style; in other words, to reproduce them, insofar as possible, in the target language.

a) Major Text: Liu, Ching-chih, Essays on Translation (Bookman, Taipei) 1993
劉靖之，《翻譯論集》，書林，台北，1993

b) Handouts