Crossing Swords while Crossing Boundaries: Teaching Translation through Intermedial Translation Slams

Abstract

This paper discusses a cross-curricular translation project conducted within the framework of the literary translation and interlingual audiovisual translation (undergraduate) courses taught at the School of English, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki. The project was part of an optional module on literary translation and subtitling where students had to translate and subtitle into Greek some extracts of Margaret Atwood’s The Handmaid’s Tale and the relevant screenplay. The present paper thus explores the outcome of an online intermedial translation slam, a ‘duel,’ between student-translators and studentsubtitlers, who were asked to look at translation through another lens. Slamming is, thereby, viewed as a tool that can enhance the skills of literary translation and subtitling students, inviting them to participate in a thought-provoking process sharing and apposing insights, comparing and juxtaposing ideas, while being involved in an exchange of meaning and understanding. How does the interrelationship between different modes and media affect the choices literary translators and subtitlers make? What happens when a novel migrates into another language twice within the discursive spaces of intermedial dialogue? What are the benefits of engaging students in collaborative work and exposing them to simulated/real-life tasks? These are some of the questions that the paper will address and attempt to answer. The overarching goal is to examine the potential and advantages of integrating translation slams in a project-based approach to teaching and training literary translators and subtitlers within an academic framework.

Keywords

• translation slam
• literary translation
• audiovisual translation
• translator/subtitler training
• project-based approach