The course is part of the French-to-Greek translation sequence and shifts the focus from familiarisation with translation practice to the systematic handling of pragmatic texts presenting a fairly high degree of translation difficulty. It follows the communicative teaching method, adapted to the conditions of a translation course delivered to a Greek-speaking audience, while students’ translation choices are discussed in light of key concepts from Cognitive Psychology.

Upon successful completion of the course, students are expected to:

• identify the textual factors and communicative conditions that govern translation practice;
• grasp the meaning of pragmatic texts of a high degree of difficulty through systematic analysis;
• pinpoint the elements that hinder comprehension and recognise the cognitive processes activated during the translation process;
• use complex documentation sources and compile thematic dossiers;
• produce reliable translations in idiomatic, standard Greek, taking into account the communicative conditions that govern translation practice;
• evaluate and revise their own translations, categorising errors and providing well-grounded justification for their choices.

The course is workshop-based and is organised into thirteen weekly units that alternate: odd-numbered weeks are devoted to the analysis and translation of a new text, and even-numbered weeks to the correction of the translation completed at home and to error analysis. The working texts are pragmatic texts of a fairly high degree of translation difficulty, drawn from distinct subject areas: popularisation of scientific and medical discourse, institutional and geopolitical discourse, economics and energy, and professional communication. Students translate part of the text in writing in class and complete the full translation at home, submitting it electronically by a set deadline. The instructor studies and assesses the material collected and uses it to shape the following correction session. In parallel, a thematic documentation dossier is compiled for each subject area.

Week 1: Text analysis and translation: textual factors
Practice: In-class work on a pragmatic text popularising scientific discourse. Identification of the textual factors (sender, recipient, purpose, medium, genre) and of the communicative conditions that govern translation practice. Written translation of a paragraph in pairs at the end of the session, handed in in class, and assignment of the full translation as homework with a deadline for electronic submission.
Theory (drawn from practice): The cognitive approach to translation. Comprehension, deverbalisation, reformulation (Seleskovitch & Lederer, Lederer). Discourse analysis as a method of translation (Delisle).

Week 2: Translation correction and error analysis
Practice: Discussion of the translations produced in class or submitted electronically. Side-by-side presentation of the source text and selected anonymised renderings, identification of discrepancies and collective drafting of an acceptable version.
Theory (drawn from practice): Assessing translation errors: categories, causes, severity (Politis). Distinguishing comprehension errors from rendering errors. Methodology for evaluating translations (Larose).

Week 3: Text analysis and translation: documentation and the thematic dossier
Practice: Work on a text with dense specialised terminology. Listing the knowledge required for comprehension, guided research in complex documentation sources, assessment of their reliability and compilation of a thematic dossier. Written translation of an excerpt in class and assignment of the full translation as homework.
Theory (drawn from practice): Documentation as an integral stage of the translation process (Durieux). Linguistic and extralinguistic knowledge and the cognitive dimension of comprehension (Gile, Dancette).

Week 4: Translation correction and error analysis: terminology and documentation
Practice: Correction of the translations produced in class or submitted electronically, with emphasis on terminological consistency and on justifying choices through documentation. Comparison of renderings derived from different sources and assessment of their appropriateness.
Theory (drawn from practice): Errors resulting from insufficient or faulty documentation, and how the translator builds subject and terminological knowledge (Durieux).

Week 5: Text analysis and translation: institutional and geopolitical discourse
Practice: Work on an institutional or geopolitical text with dense references to organisations, treaties and historical context. Mapping of presupposed knowledge, identification of the points that hinder comprehension, written translation of an excerpt in class and assignment of the full translation as homework.
Theory (drawn from practice): The role of prior knowledge and mental schemata in comprehension (Gile). Translation pathways: from comprehension to solution (Dancette).

Week 6: Translation correction and error analysis: syntax and cognitive load
Practice: Correction of the translations produced in class or submitted electronically, with emphasis on restructuring long, multi-clause French sentences, on nominalisation and on rendering institutional terminology in Greek.
Theory (drawn from practice): Working memory, cognitive load and the allocation of attention: the Effort Models (Gile 2009). Why errors cluster at points of high cognitive load.

Week 7: Text analysis and translation: economic and informative discourse
Practice: Work on an informative text containing numerical data, units of measurement and comparative figures. Checking data accuracy, identifying translation problems and distinguishing them from subjective difficulties. Written translation of an excerpt in class and assignment of the full translation as homework.
Theory (drawn from practice): The distinction between translation problem and translation difficulty (Nord, PACTE). Problem-solving strategies in translation practice (Dancette).

Week 8: Translation correction and error analysis: decision-making
Practice: Correction of the translations produced in class or submitted electronically, with emphasis on data accuracy and on comparing alternative renderings. Students are asked to justify their choices.
Theory (drawn from practice): Reasoned translation: from intuition to conscious decision (Delisle). Cognitive processes and creativity in translation decision-making (Kussmaul).

Week 9: Text analysis and translation: professional communication
Practice: Work on a professional communication text (e.g. guidelines for writing a cover letter, an application template). Identification of genre conventions in French and Greek contexts and of the points where the function of the text dictates the rendering. Written translation of an excerpt in class and assignment of the full translation as homework.
Theory (drawn from practice): Text function and the recipient as criteria for translation choices (Durieux, Kussmaul). The sociolinguistic foundations of translation (Pergnier).

Week 10: Translation correction and error analysis: style and genre conventions
Practice: Correction of the translations produced in class or submitted electronically, with emphasis on observing the stylistic conventions of the genre in Greek and on avoiding interference from French phrasing.
Theory (drawn from practice): Automatic and controlled cognitive processes in translation. Revision as a distinct stage of the translation process (Durieux, Gile).

Week 11: Analysis and translation of a long text with multimodal material
Practice: Work on a longer pragmatic text, using supplementary audiovisual and visual material (videos, maps, graphs) as a source of comprehension. Mapping of the text’s overall structure, written translation of an excerpt in class and assignment of the full translation as homework.
Theory (drawn from practice): The text as a unified unit of meaning (Bell). Ad hoc knowledge acquisition during the translation process (Gile).

Week 12: Translation correction and error analysis: overall revision
Practice: Correction of the translations produced in class or submitted electronically, with emphasis on the cohesion and consistency of the translation as a whole. Peer assessment in pairs based on set criteria and production of a final version.
Theory (drawn from practice): Revision, metacognition and translator self-assessment. Quality criteria and evaluation methodology (Larose, Politis).

Week 13: Text analysis and translation: review
Practice: Translation of an unseen pragmatic text of 200 to 250 words under exam conditions, with answers to clarification questions. Discussion of the renderings and review of the semester’s thematic dossiers.
Theory (drawn from practice): Synthesis of the semester’s concepts. Issues in the cognitive approach to Translation Didactics (Politis) and next steps in translator training.

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Delisle, J. (2000). La traduction raisonnée. Ottawa: Les Presses de l’Université d’Ottawa.
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The course consists of two-hour weekly sessions and is workshop-based. It follows the communicative teaching method, adapted to the conditions of a translation course delivered to a Greek-speaking audience. Sessions alternate between analysing and translating a new text and correcting the translations produced in class or submitted electronically by the deadline. The content of the correction sessions is shaped by the material collected.

Monolingual and bilingual online dictionaries, terminology databases and parallel text corpora are used for documentation and for compiling thematic dossiers. Translations are submitted, feedback is given and course material is posted through the Open eClass platform. Machine translation and artificial intelligence tools are used critically, to compare renderings and discuss them.

Language of assessment: Greek / French.
During the semester, students produce translations in class and submit translations electronically by set deadlines. These translations are assessed and discussed in class; they are formative and are not graded. Final assessment and grading are based on a written examination at the end of the semester:

• Translation of a pragmatic text of 200 to 250 words, of a relatively high degree of translation difficulty (80% of the final grade).
• Short clarification questions on the text to be translated (20% of the final grade).

Bilingual and monolingual dictionaries may be used during the examination.