This course aims to familiarize students with specialized economic texts. Students will initially be introduced to the concepts of economics and business and will gain proficiency in identifying and using economic terminology. It also offers students the opportunity to study key issues and challenges posed by specialised economic terminology and the divergent economic and legal frameworks within which economic texts are produced and used. This module also aims at developing students’ translation skills in a variety of registers and genres. In addition, an introduction to the translation of marketing texts and transcreation is included. Emphasis is placed on the types of companies, the financial statements, the incorporation of companies, as well as mergers and acquisitions. Finally, it teaches students how to carry out terminological research and how to make appropriate use of research tools in solving translation problems. For the translation of texts assigned as homework, the use of machine translation tools is permitted, provided that students use them consciously and carefully review their work. The use of MT tools is discouraged when translating texts, but is permitted when searching for the translation and definition of certain terms with specific prompts, provided that students review the results carefully.

Upon completion of the course, students will be able to:

• gain a basic understanding of key economic concepts
• gain an extensive understanding of economic terminology
• comprehend written material of specialised economic content
• recognise and deal with nuances in style and register that are characteristic of the economic discourse
• have a sufficient grounding and command of economic principles to be able to perform as professional translators in this field
• identify, reflect on and describe the various strategies and problems raised in the translation of economic texts
• gain an exhaustive knowledge on how to carry out appropriate documentation when translating specialised texts
• be familiar with the professional practice and with the resources and links for specialised translators available on Internet.

Week 1: Introduction to translation of economic texts. Definition of specialized language and terminology; methods for researching terminology; research tools; creation of a glossary; explanation of course objectives and the final exam. Assignment: Identification and indexing of terminology.

Week 2: What is economics? What is economic translation? Basic Principles. Assignment: Translate a general text on economics.

Week 3: Discussion of the previous week’s assignment. Assignment: Translate an economic article.

Week 4: Discussion of the previous week’s assignment. Assignment: Translate an economic report.

Week 5: Discussion of the previous week’s assignment. Business Economics—Macroeconomics/Microeconomics. Assignment: Translate a text on entrepreneurship

Week 6: Discussion of the previous week’s assignment. Introduction to business law. Types of businesses in Greece and types of businesses in England and the U.S. Assignment: Translation of a text dealing with different types of businesses

Week 7: Discussion of the previous week’s assignment. Assignment: Translation of a business text

Week 8: Discussion of the previous week’s assignment. Introduction to the translation of business financial documents (Balance Sheet, Income Statement, Statement of Changes in Equity, Tax Return, E9, etc.). Assignment: Translate a text

Week 9: Discussion of the previous week’s assignment. Assignment: Translate a financial document (Balance Sheet)

Main textbook:

Suggested Reading:

Κελάνδριας, Παναγιώτης (2007). Η Μετάφραση των Οικονομικών Κειμένων. Μια Λειτουργική προσέγγιση. Αθήνα: Δίαυλος.

Βαλεοντής. Κ.& Κριμπάς, Π. (2014). Νομική Ορολογία/2014 Νομική Βιβλιοθήκη ΑΕΒΕ

Biel, Ł. and Sosoni, V. (eds) (2017) The Translation of Economics and the Economics of Translation. Special Issue of Perspectives: Studies in Translatology.

Baker, M. (2002). In Other Words: A Coursebook on Translation. Taylor & Francis. https://books.google.gr/books?id=0MIW_NI2vpEC

Bassnett, S. & Bielsa, E. (2008) Translation in Global News. London: Routledge.

Beaugrande, R. de & W. Dressler (1998) Introduction to Text Linguistics. London: Longman.

Desblache, L. (ed) (2001) Aspects of Specialised Translation. Paris: La Maison du Dictionnaire.

Fabre, C. (1991) A Companion to Economic Translation. Paris: Masson.

Mankiw, N. G. (2007) Principles of Economics – 5th edition. London: Thomson.

Mc Closkey, D. (1998) The Rhetoric of Economics. 2nd edition. Madison: University of Wisconsin Press.

Mayoral Asensio, R. (2003) Translating Official Documents. Manchester: St Jerome.

Schäffner, C. (2003). Translation and intercultural communication: Similarities and differences. Studies in Communication Sciences, 3(2), 79–107.

Schäffner, C. (2007). Chapter 9. Politics and Translation. In A Companion to  Translation Studies (pp. 134–147). https://doi.org/10.21832/9781853599583-011

The lesson has a hybrid lecture-workshop format. It is largely based on the interaction with students and classroom discussion. Hands-on-sessions focus on practical aspects of the issues covered and described during the lectures. Students have hands-on sessions translating various descriptive economic texts with reference to the TS theory they learn. 

Several ICT tools are used, mainly ppt presentations, online videos. The class material is made available on the Open e-class platform.

A final written exam is used to assess the students. Students are asked to translate from Greek into English a 300-word economic text and provide annotations on specific translation problems. The use of monolingual, bilingual and multilingual dictionaries, specialised and general, is allowed. Notes are not allowed during the exam.