translation studies. retrospective and prospective views

Translation Studies: Retrospective and Prospective Views ISSN 2065 – 3514
(2008) Year I, Issues 1 Galati University Press
Proceedings of the 3rd Conference
Translation Studies: Retrospective and Prospective Views,
9 - 11 October 2008 – “Dunărea de Jos” University of Galaţi, ROMANIA
Abstracts
Online Collaboration in Translation Instruction among Students and
Instructors
Reima AL- JARF - King Saudi University, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia
An asynchronous professional online translation discussion forum was used
to post short and long texts to be translated by participating English-Arabic
student translators from different countries around the world, who took turns in
translating the texts and posting and re-posting them on the discussion board for
feedback. The students could post texts of their choice. Volunteer English-Arabic
translation instructors (from around the world) would read the translations and
give communicative feedback on the location and types of errors. Errors were
colour-coded.
No correct translations were provided. Students revised their translations
and re-posted them on the discussion board for further feedback. Each translation
was subjected to several revisions and re-submissions before it reached an
acceptable level. Translation tips were given by the different instructors. The
students had access to a variety of general and specialized online Arabic-English
and English-Arabic specialized dictionaries, translation literature and forum posts
on the art and science of translating. At the end of the semester, participating
students and instructors responded to a questionnaire regarding their online
collaborative experience. I also kept a daily log on the difficulties I had with online
translation instruction and the differences between online and in-class face-to-face
instruction using an overhead projector or a tablet laptop.
While the students benefited from the variety of online resources available
and variety of feedback given by participating instructors, the process was tedious
and time consuming. It was difficult to keep up with the speed and amount of resubmissions
on the part of the students, especially when long or literary texts were
posted for translation. I found online instruction to be effective in the case of short
stretches of discourse. The fact that students could go online anytime and the sense
of competition prevalent online made it difficult for an instructor to give feedback
on a daily basis. Further reflections and recommendations on online translation
instruction will be given.
Dimitrie Bolintineanu’s Conrad and Its Romantic Model
Simona ANTOFI - “Dunărea de Jos” University of Galaţi
The first half of the 19 th century Romanian literature proposes the presentday
reader a series of poems where the authors’ lyrical masks associate with the
European and particularly with the English romantic heritage. Conrad, the most
important Romanian poem of the period through which Bolintineanu wants to
create the romantic poem of ideas, develops at all its levels like the Byronic poem.
That is why one can find in this poem the problems, the type of hero, historical
reconstructions marked by the lyrical tone peculiar to the text, the poetry of the sea
and the exotic picturesque.
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