Arabic for the Professions: Translation Practice in Medical, Media, Literary, and Legal Contexts. (304-0-1)

Instructors

Rana Raddawi
847/467-6350
Crowe 4-121

Meeting Info

University Hall 318: Mon, Wed 12:30PM - 1:50PM

Overview of class

This advanced course is designed for students who wish to use Arabic in professional, high-impact contexts, with a special focus on legal and literary Translation. Designed for students at the advanced level of Arabic proficiency, the course develops practical translation skills in both directions: Arabic to English and English to Arabic.

Through guided work with authentic and adapted texts, students explore how linguistic structures, genre conventions, cultural references, and communicative purposes influence translation choices. The legal translation component focuses on selected official documents, institutional correspondence, public information texts, and introductory legal materials, emphasizing accuracy, terminology, clarity, and formal register. The literary translation component engages students with short stories, narrative excerpts, dialogue, and selected literary passages, highlighting voice, tone, figurative language, and culturally embedded meanings.

Students develop strategies for analyzing source texts, identifying translation challenges, consulting dictionaries and parallel texts, comparing alternative translations, and revising their work. They also examine the ethical responsibilities of translators and the opportunities and limitations of AI-assisted translation. Through collaborative activities, peer review, and a final translation portfolio, students strengthen their Arabic and English language skills, deepen their intercultural awareness, and learn to make informed translation decisions for different audiences and contexts.

Registration Requirements

Two 200-level courses in Arabic or consent of the instructor

Learning Objectives

By the end of the course, students will be able to:
1) Translate short, connected Arabic and English texts in both directions, preserving the source text's main ideas, relevant details, communicative purpose, and intended audience.
2) Translate selected official, institutional, and introductory legal texts using consistent terminology, appropriate formal register, and accurate representations of obligations, rights, and factual information.
3) Translate selected short stories, narrative passages, and dialogues while preserving, to the extent possible, the author's voice, tone, imagery, figurative language, and culturally significant meanings.
4) Use bilingual and monolingual dictionaries, glossaries, parallel texts, and appropriate digital tools to verify terminology, resolve translation problems, and revise drafts for accuracy, grammatical correctness, coherence, and readability.
5) Compare at least two possible translations of a selected expression or passage and explain which version better serves the intended audience, genre, and communicative purpose.
6) Evaluate AI-generated translations by identifying errors or limitations involving meaning, terminology, register, cultural nuance, or style, and apply principles of confidentiality, accuracy, and responsible tool use.

Evaluation Method

Practical assignments will involve translation into and out of English and Arabic based on authentic texts from the legal and literary fields such as official documents, institutional texts, contracts, certificates, short stories, dialogues and poems. To aid their work, students will be introduced to and work with conventional and digital resources used for translation. In addition, students will conduct peer editing, revision, AI output evaluation and reflection through comparative practice and final portfolio.

Class Materials (Required)

The course material is available through online PDFs. Interactive exercises and assignments are hosted on the course site on Canvas. Additional background readings in English and Arabic (excerpts) will be available to students.

Class Attributes

Advanced Expression
SoC Humanities and Fine Arts Distro

Enrollment Requirements

Enrollment Requirements: Prerequisite: Two 200-level Arabic courses, or instructor permission.