Thesis woes

[speaktothevoid]

So... I have to write my master's thesis for my MA in ICT and Translation (which is basically just a broad translation master's program, which also teaches you to use translation software). Problem is, I've been trying to think of a subject for the past few months, but all my ideas either get shot down by my prof, or they turn out to be unworkable

Comments

[moriestiel]

Lol, my aspirations lie in translation, so maybe I can help?

No idea what would be good enough for an MA thesis though. For my BA thesis I'm toying with the idea to write about the troubles of consistency and meaning in translating. As in, in translation you can lose suspense, humour, flow, etc. How come, and how can it be avoided/rectified?

No idea if it's workable though.

[speaktothevoid]

It's actually something I thought of (humor in subtitling, and how it's translated), but it appears to be something that highly depends on the individual translator, so it's hard to find an angle to make it a proper scientific study... It'd be interesting to look at the same thing in other forms of translation, as well, but then the ICT aspect goes out the window, and that has to be in it. Thanks for the input though! And if you do write your BA thesis on that, I wants to read it plz? ;)

Oh, and if you're interested in translation (as in, the process, not translation studies which is the philosophy behind it), you should come to the VU and do this master's program when you've graduated, it's a pretty good course.

[mr_squeaky]

I take it that describing a system for translating inflexions of speech to e.g. colours or symbols in subtitles would not be an option then ? Though I guess that really is far below master level anyway.

[speaktothevoid]

Colors or symbols? You mean, sort of like smileys in written conversation? Hm, it's an interesting idea, but I think that would be more of a 'subtitling for the deaf and hard-of-hearing' thing, since with interlingual subtitling the tone of voice isn't actually lost, it's the 'higher levels' of humor, like puns and such, that don't get through. (Run-on sentence ahoy :P)

'Master level' isn't so much an issue, I guess, since most any type of research can be made more or less difficult depending on the angle of approach... only thing is, it has to be fairly original, and relevant to the field.