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Cross-Cultural Communication and Translation Skills (GE-106): Course outlines (GE-106)

Course description

The course introduces learners to cross-cultural communication and translation in the 21st century. It aims to make students aware of the challenges in communicating across cultures 25 by developing cross-cultural awareness and translation skills. Students will develop awareness of issues related to cultural identity and the significance of the role language plays in translating verbal and nonverbal aspects of various cultures. Using hands-on training for translating from and to English, the students will practice with various genres—including academic, business, and literary texts— and evaluate the quality of these through application of theory, best practices, and technology. The skills acquired in this course will help students interact across cultures in English and national or indigenous Pakistani languages at a professional level and develop career skills through an inspiration toward lifelong learning.

Course objectives

The objectives of this course are to:

  • To raise students’ awareness of the issues and challenges of cross-cultural communication and collaboration.
  • To sensitize students to the key roles that translation skills play in a multilingual society like Pakistan.
  • To improve the general English skills of students and to improve the specific language skills needed for translation work.
  • To provide students with a background in translation theory appropriate to support both academic and everyday translation needs.

Course contents

Unit-I: Cross- Cultural Communication and Translation Skills

  • Cultural diversity in symbolic meaning
  • Utilization of online resources
  • Cultural wisdom
  • Exploration of cultural differences through taglines of advertisements
  • Cultural adaptation
  • Translation techniques and strategies

Unit-II: Parts of The Biographical Profile as a Genre

  • Selecting and writing about a famous person or celebrity
  • Learning about the translation process
  • Researching and reading bios
  • Reading social media bios
  • Translating Celebrity Writing Online
  • Tools for Vocabulary Building and Translation
  • Writing and Translating Media Bio

Unit-III: Translating Cultural Heritage through Folktales

  •  
  • Cross- cultural awareness through folklore and translation
  • Analysis of Pakistani folktales
  • Translation applied to folktales and local stories transcription of a folktale [project work]
  • Thick translation of a folktale

 
  •  
  • Glossing the folktale
  • Peer review of the glossed folktales writing and revising the draft
  • Storytelling techniques; rehearsal of storytelling in class: class presentation

Unit-IV: Translation in the Business World: Product Descriptions

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  • Discussion on product descriptions
  • Planning and drafting the project description
  • Peer review
  • Adding Visuals and Preparing the Final Format
  • Class Presentation
  • Final Revision and Proofreading

Unit-V: Email for Business Communication

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  • Email versus
  • SMS Netspeak and Internet
  • Slang
  • Components of a formal email
  • Correcting emails drafting an email

Unit-VI: Translating Academic Work

  • Academic versus literary translation
  • Translation discussion and practice
  • Selection of text(s) for translation and review of translation tasks
  • Translation work and peer review of translation work
  • Finalization of group translation of academic material
  • Groups present, post, or share their translation work

Teaching-learning strategies

Teaching will be done through lecture method with a combination of tasks/projects and presentations.

Assessment and Examinations

Assessment will be done as per university/department policy.

Textbooks

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