What's In A Wrd?

a WebQuest for advanced Foreign Language Classes and part of a cross-curricular unit

by Linda Pecka

Introduction | Task | Resources | Process | Evaluation | Conclusion

Introduction

You are working for an ad agency as a translator.  Your task is to provide the translation for a product being introduced in your country.  In addition you are responsible for press releases, news articles and TV/Radio commercials promoting the product.

As a result of this project you should have an understanding of the translation process by:

• investigating the origins of the German language.
• recognizing how the language evolved.
• analyzing electronic translations and comparing them to human translation.
• interpret information given to you by the business company and transfering that infomation into the target language for the ad agency.
• provide a press release, news article and/or TV commercial for the product.

         Traditional print sources:

    Encyclopedias, Dictionaries, and Grammars

Internet

    German Language Resources

    Linguistics and Human Language

    The Internet Handbook of German Grammar

    The Human Languages Page

    Germanic Languages

1.   Choose a role and research the German language:
 

Semanticist - one who studies meaning by examining changes in meaning and form.  Your team will research the origins of the German language .

Etymologist - one who studies the history of a particular word.  Your team will study the origins of particular German words.

Socio-linguist - one who studies the new changes ocurring in modern languages.  Your team will study the new changes occuring in the German language.

Report your finding to the class using a poster, flow chart, time line,etc.

2.  Look at on-line translators and compare them with human intervention and editing.  How accurate are the electronic translators?  What role does human intervention and editing play?  When would you use the electronic translator?
 

Report your findings and give an example.

3.  Interpret information given to you by the Business class, translate the information into German, and forward the ad copy to the Art class. Be sure to notify the Art and Business classes of any linguistic and cultural sensitivities.

4.  Provide a press release, news article and/or TV commercial for the product.
 
 
 
 
 

Group evaluation:

 1.  Linguistic report.
 2.  Electronic translator vs human intervention and editing.
 3.  The ad copy.

What is in a word?  Is it more than just its meaning?  What are the roles of account managers, social anthropologist, artists, historians and linguists in marketing a product in another country?

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