COURSE OUTLINE FOR TRIL 2

(ISTIC, YAOUNDE)

Course code: TRIL 318

Course title: CONTRASTIVE PRAGMATICS AND TRANSLATION 2 (French – English)
Academic Year: 2019-2020 (second semester)
Number of sessions: 10
Duration of each session: 02 hours
Total number of hours: 20
Lecturer’s name: ZIH James KUM
E-mail: blessedkumzih@gmail.com

Course This course is a continuation of TRIL 317. It focuses on two major components:
description ➢ Contrastive studies: similarities and differences between French and
English
➢ Various issues in pragmatics
Focus will be laid on practical activities with the aim of making students
actively involved. Given the practical nature of this course, learning-by-doing
will be given priority over theory.
Course This course focuses on the main similarities and differences between French
objectives and English. It also helps students to identify and use basic translation
techniques. By the end of the course, students should be able to clearly compare
and contrast French and English with ample examples. They should also be able
to translate short texts from French into English without any major difficulty.
Teaching The teaching of this course will generally be done through class lectures and
methods presentations in class. Students will be given individual and group assignments.
These assignments will be corrected and discussed in class in a bid to develop
students’ critical thinking and analytical skills.
Assessment Class attendance and participation, assignments, presentations, continuous
methods assessment (CA) and end-of-course examination. There will be two tests
(representing 30% of the evaluation) and one end-of-semester examination
(representing 70% of the evaluation), all amounting to an overall score of
100%. As indicated in the course content section, the 5 th and 9th weeks are
earmarked for the first and second tests respectively. The end-of-semester
examination will be programmed by the school administration.

MARKING SCALE

Outstanding* A+ (100%-95%) A (94%-90%) A- (89%-85%)

Very good* B+ (84%-80%) B (79%-75%) B- (74%-71%)
Satisfactory* C+ (70%-67%) C (66%-64%) C- (63%-60%)
Marginal pass* D+ (59%-57%) D (56%-53%) D- (52%-50%)
Poor/Below average* F (49%-20%)
Page 1 of 3
Interpretation of the Marking Scale

A = excellent: High level work above expectations. Level of language is higher than normally
required in the course. Work is meticulous, exhaustive, of high quality and original. It responds
to the problems posed clearly, concisely, carefully and profoundly.

B = very good: Work is above average in terms of both content and form. It is clear, well-
structured and meets expectations. Its content is appropriate, the language is of good quality
and it provides a clear and well-researched response to the questions and problems raised. No
major error or infelicity can be identified therein.

C = good: Acceptable work showing proof of normal understanding of the subject. Its
presentation and content are satisfactory, though some weaknesses can be identified therein.
The work correctly addresses the issues and questions raised but it leaves out some elements.
The level of language is acceptable.

D = average: Work showing approximate understanding of the subject and does not tackle all
the aspects of the issues and problems raised. The language level is below average.

F = below average: Work showing inadequate understanding of the subject. The work has
many and major errors in both content and form. There are too many major linguistic
infelicities as well as thought-process loopholes. The language leaves much to be desired.
Overall, the work falls below university standards.

Page 2 of 3
 COURSE SCHEDULE

The course schedule presented in the following table is only for guidance. Students will be duly
informed well ahead of time in case of any amendments.

Week 1 Correction of first semester examination, presentation of the programme,

explanation of the course outline, questions and answers for clarification, etc.
Week 2 Translation difficulties involving tenses:
➢ Present perfect tense and simple past tense
➢ Simple present tense and present continuous tense, etc.
Week 3 ➢ Translation of prepositions and prepositional phrases
➢ Translation of noun phrases
➢ Translation of transitive and intransitive verbs
Week 4 Miscellaneous complications in French – English translations:
➢ Differences in the use of capital letters
➢ Special fixed expressions
➢ Translation of proverbs and idiomatic expressions
Week 5 1st continuous assessment
Week 6 ➢ Correction of 1st continuous assessment and remedial lessons
➢ Effective application of translation techniques in translation
Week 7 Importance of pragmatics in translation
Week 8 Commented practical translation of sample texts
Week 9 2nd continuous assessment
Week 10 Correction of 2nd continuous assessment and final revision for end-of-course
examination

FURTHER READING
Harrap’s Shorter English and French Dictionary. Chambers Harrap Publishers Ltd: Edinburgh.

Kasper and Blum-Kulka. (1993). Interlanguage Pragmatics. Oxford University Press: New York.

Page 3 of 3