Translation is presented as a goal-oriented activity and, more specifically, as a form of intercultural and interpersonal interaction and text production. Culturally rich texts selected from Italian websites and media are analysed through the identification and comparison of linguistic and cultural differences between Italian and Greek contexts. The texts are then translated in accordance with the requirements set out in the translation briefs provided to students alongside the source texts, applying specific translation conventions and strategies.

During class, students are not encouraged to use Artificial Intelligence (AI) and/or Machine Translation (MT) tools, as a key learning objective is to develop independent translation skills, critical thinking, and the ability to make informed and well-reasoned translation decisions. These skills are essential for their future professional practice, particularly when critically evaluating translation solutions generated by AI and MT systems.

However, students are encouraged to use these tools judiciously and critically during their independent study at home, with a view to familiarising themselves with their capabilities and limitations, without allowing them to replace their own translation efforts.

• Be able to translate written texts of low to moderate difficulty from Italian into Greek.

• Be able to assess and revise existing translations of low to moderate difficulty from Italian into Greek.

• Be able to translate official documents and certificates from Italian into Greek.

Week 1: Presentation of a Reading List in Italian, which students will be required to read. The list will comprise a selection of texts in Italian representing different text types and genres, including literary texts, newspaper articles, company reports, book reviews and business correspondence. These readings will subsequently be used to familiarise students with the conventions and distinctive features of each text type. The selection aims to address young people's limited interest in reading and their relative lack of familiarity with the stylistic conventions and writing techniques associated with different text types.

The first session will also include an introduction to Translation Studies, focusing on what translation is and is not, as well as the challenges and difficulties inherent in the translation process. Following the approach proposed by Schäffner (2004), students will be invited to formulate their own definitions of translation and engage with short texts, or even individual phrases, containing culture-specific terms, idiomatic expressions, syntactic challenges and features characteristic of particular text types. These materials will be specifically selected to stimulate students' interest and encourage discussion. The aim is to challenge common assumptions and misconceptions about translation, which will be revisited during the final session.

Week 2: A session devoted to examining the different Italian text types included in the Reading List, with particular emphasis on identifying their semantic, pragmatic and stylistic features.

Week 3: A session aimed at improving students' dictionary consultation skills and introducing a range of electronic and online resources useful for translation from Italian.

Weeks 4–10: Practical translation exercises from Italian into Greek. Students will be required to translate short passages specifically selected for the translation challenges they present at both lexical and syntactic levels. Lexical challenges will include culture-specific terms relating to Italian culture, idiomatic expressions and particularly complex collocations. Syntactic challenges will include the rendering of emphatic structures, syntactic restructuring, and the addition or omission of information within sentences.

Weeks 11–12: Two sessions devoted to reading and analysing examples of effective and ineffective translations from Italian into Greek. Particular attention will be paid to text types that students are likely to encounter in their future professional practice, including business correspondence, instruction manuals, catalogues and tourism-related texts.

These sessions will also introduce the fundamental principles of Italian–Greek contrastive grammar, highlighting differences between the two languages at the morphological, lexical, syntactic and textual levels. The aim is to provide students with a contrastive perspective on Italian and Greek and equip them with the analytical tools needed to address problems arising during the translation process. Particular attention will be paid to word order, differences in the use of verb tenses between the two languages, and the restructuring of complex noun phrases.

Core Bibliography

1. Baker, M. (2018). In Other Words: A Coursebook on Translation. 3rd ed. London: Routledge.

2. Munday, J., Ramos Pinto, S. & Blakesley, J. (2026). Introducing Translation Studies: Theories and Applications. 6th ed. London: Routledge.

Online Dictionaries and Terminology Databases

3. Treccani – Vocabolario della lingua italiana. https://www.treccani.it/vocabolario/

4. WordReference – Dizionario Italiano–Greco. https://www.wordreference.com/itgr/

5. Garzanti Linguistica – Dizionario della lingua italiana. https://www.garzantilinguistica.it/

6. IATE – Interactive Terminology for Europe. https://iate.europa.eu/

Online Corpora and Educational Resources

7. EUR-Lex – Access to European Union Law. https://eur-lex.europa.eu/

8. Routledge – Introducing Translation Studies: Companion Website. https://routledgelearning.com/introducingtranslationstudies/

Interactive lectures, face-to-face teaching, guided discussions, question-and-answer sessions, brainstorming activities, text analysis and contrastive linguistic analysis, practical translation workshops (Italian into Greek), individual and collaborative translation assignments, dictionary and online resource consultation exercises, comparative analysis of source and target texts, translation revision and editing exercises, peer review and feedback, group work, problem-solving activities, and self-assessment.

These methods aim to develop students’ translation competence, critical thinking, linguistic and intercultural awareness, research skills, and ability to identify and resolve translation problems.

Use of the Open eClass asynchronous learning platform for the distribution of teaching materials, assignment submission and communication with students. Use of online dictionaries, terminology databases, monolingual and parallel corpora, and other online resources to support and substantiate translation choices. Introductory familiarisation with computer-assisted translation (CAT) tools, machine translation and Artificial Intelligence (AI) tools, with particular emphasis on the critical evaluation of machine-generated translations. Use of word-processing and collaborative editing tools for comparative text analysis, translation revision and editing.

At the end of the semester, students are assessed through a written examination. They are required to translate a text from Italian into Greek on a topic covered during the course. The use of dictionaries is not permitted.