Topics in German Culture and Society: Lost in Translation: From the Tower of Babel to Machine Translation

Is translation possible without losing something of the original? Can cultures be translated or appropriated? Is a universal language possible, or even desirable? Can a computer be trained to translate more effectively than a human? This course will explore the limits, uses, and abuses of translation and multilingual difference through readings and discussions of myths, case studies, and theories of translation, with a focus on the German context. We will acquaint ourselves with many different perspectives on translation and untranslatability, as well as developing our own understandings of these problems.