Basics of Translation In The English-Spanish Language Pair

Lesson 1. Introduction

• Translation: definition, types, examples and discussion exercises.
• The five translation competences: linguistic competence, textual competence, subject competence, cultural competence and transfer competence.
• Basic translation issues: proper names, adresses, toponyms, abbreviations, etc.

Lesson 2. Documentation and terminology

• Resources for documentation: monolingual vs. bilingual dictionaries, forums, AI-translation engines and other useful resources.
• Terminology: theoretical principles and main types (ad hoc terminology and systemic terminology).
• Neologisms and loanwords: how to solve problems derived from these issues.
• Idiomatic expressions and issues during their translation.
• Examples and practical exercises.

Lesson 3. Translation transformations

• Definition.
• Lexical transformations: differentiation, generalization, cause-effect, antonyms and compensation.
• Grammatical transformations: possessive pronouns, conjugations and lack of pronouns, passive voice, use of articles and issues in their translation.
• Proofreading.

Lesson 4. Interference

• Definition.
• Lexical interference: false friends and redundancies.
• Grammatical interference: modal verbs, verb tenses, periphrases.
• Syntactic interference: word order.
• Translation editing and quality control.

Lesson 5. General translation into Spanish

• General recommendations.
• Lexical features.
• Grammatical features: word order, use of pronouns, passive voice, use of articles.
• Orthographic and punctuation features.
• Stylistic recommendations, naturalization and format of the TT.

Lesson 6. General translation into English

• General recommendations.
• Lexical features and common false friends.
• Grammatical features: word order, use of pronouns, passive voice, use of articles.
• Orthographic and punctuation features.
• Dates and time.
• Stylistic recommendations, naturalization and format of the TT.

Lesson 7. Introduction to legal texts EN<>ES

• Common law vs. continental law.
• The British legal system: institutions, ministries, regulations and how to translate them.
• The American legal system: institutions, ministries, regulations and how to translate them.
• The Spanish legal system: institutions, ministries, regulations and how to translate them.
• Lexical feature: false friends, correct terminology, latin words, doublets.
• Grammatical features: sentence structure, modal verbs. — Exercises and discussion.

Lesson 8. Introduction to economic texts EN<>ES

• Introduction to the economic language: English.
• Introduction to the economic language: Spanish.
• Lexical features: neologisms, formal/informal language, continuous evolution.
• Grammatical features: word structure, syntactic structure. — Orthographic and punctuation features: numbers and currencies.
• The importance of format in bank statements and payslips.
• Exercises and discussion.
• Tips for translators.