There has been an increase in the number of Japanese visitors to the University of Hawaii at Manoa (UHM) campus. While the English version of the campus map is available, it would be helpful for Japanese-speaking visitors if a Japanese version were available. Hence, the current project involves creating a Japanese version of the UHM campus map. In order to make the map both user friendly and informative, pertinent information about the UHM such as a brief history of the campus will also be included. This project will be implemented as a group final project in a new English to Japanese translation course offered at UHM. Students in the course will be advanced learners of Japanese and native speakers of Japanese. They will work collaboratively capitalizing on each other’s strengths to create a user friendly, informative campus map/guide for Japanese visitors.
Translation Theory Review
Critical examination of L1 cultural artifact
A critical examination of L2 cultural artifact
What makes a good translated campus map/guide?
Learning from communities
Source text editing
Rough and protocol drafting
First revision
Presentation
Second revision
Submission of the final version
Final editing and distribution
Implementation information not specified.
Students will review translation theory and practice presented earlier in the course in order to apply them in the execution of the current project. For instance, students will be reminded of why formal or dynamic translation is necessary depending on the purpose of translation and targeted readers. Such understanding will be useful in their translation and revision process. Students will also review various online resources that can be used to facilitate their translation process.
Students will critically examine the UHM campus map and guide in order to become familiar with the information presented in the documents. Students will use online resources to better understand the contents of the documents. They will also confirm that the information presented in the source text is accurate and current.
Students will critically examine campus maps and guides of Japanese universities. Through this process, students will learn common features that are presented in Japanese campus maps and guides. Students will also raise their awareness of the language used in those materials (e.g., style, terminology, etc.), as well as socio-cultural issues that affect language use.
What makes a good translated campus map and guide? Based on #2 and #3 above, students will discuss factors that need to be taken into consideration when translating the UHM campus map and guide into Japanese. Specifically, they will discuss what information will be most useful for Japanese visitors.
Interview with communities – face-to-face and Skype meetings with the target audience. Japanese ESL students recently arrived in Hawaii will be contacted; they will be asked what kind of information would be useful if it appeared in the Japanese version of the campus map/guide. Japanese students or scholars who stayed at UHM for a short period time may also be contacted and interviewed via Skype (or via email) for their experience on campus, specifically with regard to the kind of information that they would have appreciated if appeared in the campus map/guide.
Students will discuss and evaluate which information to include and which to omit in the Japanese version of the campus map/guide. They will take into consideration what they have identified as common features in the campus maps/guides of Japanese universities, as well as what they have learned from the targeted readers. The project leader, who offers a campus tour on a regular basis, will also provide the group with information based on his experience.
Students will initially work individually on the section that they are in charge of translating. Once the draft is done, they will share their draft with another student who is in charge of the same section. Based on their initial draft, they will create a joint draft. They will also prepare a protocol, which explains why they have translated the way they did, problems they encountered, how they solved them, and outstanding issues.
Once a joint draft is created, group members will share their draft and provide feedback to each other. The instructor will also provide feedback. Students will revise their draft based on the feedback. Following this, the group will put together the entire draft, revise it further, and format it appropriately.
The class will be divided into three groups for the final project and each group will engage in a different project, translating different materials requested by the community. Hence, students will share what they have translated with the other group members through class presentations. (Note: Other group projects include a translation of an informational flyer on the Honouliuli Interment Camp requested by the Japanese Cultural Center of Hawaii and a translation of a safety brochure for Japanese patients requested by the Queens Medical Center.)
Based on the peer and instructor feedback that the students have received during their class presentation, students will revise their translations further. Feedback from native speakers of Japanese who review the draft will also be incorporated. The revised draft will be formatted as a tri-fold.
Students will submit the final version of the translation along with a protocol that explains the final revision process and any outstanding issues. The students as a group will also prepare a summary of what they took into consideration during their entire project (e.g., targeted readers, purpose of translation, socio-cultural issues, language use). This summary will be presented to the client at the same time the final published version will be presented to the client.
The instructor will assist in the final editing process. The edited version will be sent to the Campus Center, and hard copies will be distributed to Japanese visitors who participate in the campus tour provided by the Campus Center. Hard copies will also be sent to other offices such as the International Student Services Office.
Note: Although it was not initially planned, copies of the finished product were also sent to the UHM Chancellor’s Office. After further editing, the map/guide was published online as well. The story was featured in UH News (https://manoa.hawaii.edu/news/article.php?aId=7750)
The map is available at: http://manoa.hawaii.edu/campusmap/pdf/UHM-map-japanese.pdf
The project will be assessed based on translation evaluation criteria developed for the course. The criteria include the following: fidelity, appropriateness (terminology, appropriate language use), structure, and mechanics.
In order to assess the student process of translation, the protocols they submit will be examined, specifically with respect to their problem solving and critical thinking process.
When copies of the campus map/guide are given to Japanese visitors, they can be informally asked about the usefulness of the map/guide.
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