Sathya Rao, PhD

Area of Study / Keywords

Translation studies Francophone studies Minorty media Technology and French as a second-language Franco-Albertan Literature and History

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About

I strongly value interdisciplinarity and community engagement in research and teaching.   

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Research

My expertise includes translation studies (e.g., translation & philosophy and translation policies) and Francophone literatures. My current research projects include 1) the development of Le Francopass, a mobile/web application designed to help users hone their French language and cultural skills by attending events in the local Francophone community; 2) the history of French-speaking female journalists and newspapers in Western Canada and Alberta, and 3) the implementation of municipal translation policies in Canada. I have published extensively on these topics and others. I was awarded the Vinay & Darbelnet Prize (2005) by the Canadian Association for Translation Studies and the Roger Motut Prize (2024) for the excellence of my contribution to the advancement of Franco-Albertan literature and history.

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Teaching

I teach courses on translation practice and theory, French literature, French cinema and French language. I have been doing Community Service Learning (CSL) for more than a decade and collaborated with my students on educational projects with real-life outcomes. I have supervised honours and graduate students in translation studies on topics such as self-translation, translation of multilingual texts, postcolonial translation, eco-translation, and audiovisual translation. I was the recipient of the GSA Graduate Supervision Award (2015), the "Great Supervisor" Award (2019), the SALUTE Award for Leadership in Undergraduate Teaching (2019), and the Faculty of Arts CSL Award (2020).

FREN 254 - Introduction to Translation Theory and Practice: French-English-French

Prerequisite: FREN 297. This course can also be applied to the MLCS Certificate in Translation Studies.

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FREN 315 - Cultural Representations of Food

Functions and manifestations of the food paradigm in Francophone cinematographic and narrative texts. Prerequisite: FREN 297, FREN 298 or FREN 300 or consent of Department.

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FREN 454 - Translation: English into French

Prerequisite: FREN 254 or consent of Department. Note: This course can also be applied to the MLCS Certificate in Translation Studies.

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MLCS 400 - The History of Translation

A broad historical perspective on the contributions made by translators to the intellectual and cultural history of the world through consideration of the Germanic, Romance and Slavic traditions. The role of the translator and basic principles governing the various traditions are examined to gain insight into different types of translation (religious, literary, technical) and significant moments in the history of translation. Prerequisite: 6 units in a Language Other than English at the 200-level or above or consent of Department.

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Browse more courses taught by Sathya Rao

Minority media are a vital component of our media ecosystem and contribute greatly to our cultural diversity and heritage. However they often go unnoticed as they target specific ethnic groups and are overshadowed by majority media, whether national or transnational. The purpose of the Canadian Minority Media Database is to shed light on minority media both in their operations and as subjects of scholarly research.

Canadian Minority Media Database

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Alternative Francophone is an online peer-review journal hosted at the University of Alberta. The journal focuses on issues related to francophonie from a humanities perspective (e.g., literature, linguistics, media studies, and translation studies). Alternative francophone is indexed in several academic databases and libraries.

Alternative francophone

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Francopass is a mobile/web application designed to encourage users to attend events in the local francophone community to enhance their knowledge of French language and francophone cultures. Francopass draws on gamification principles. Le Francopass is available on Google Play Store ("Francopass") and App Store ("Francopass mobile").

Francopass

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Online resource with information on French-speaking newspapers and journalists in Western Canada. The site features columns of female journalists such as Magali Michelet.

The History of the Francophone Newspapers in Western Canada

Translation and interpreting. 2025 October; 17 (1):94-112 10.12807/ti.117201.2025.a05

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Sathya Rao & Martine Cavanagh

2023 January; 36 (1):1-13 10.7202/1108567ar

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Sathya Rao

Sudbury. 2019 October;

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Sathya Rao, Louise Ladouceur & Larry Gagné

Ottawa. 2018 October; (44-45):198

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Sathya Rao

Bruxelles. 2018 January;

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Sathya Rao, Louise Ladouceur & Serge Bergeron

Québec. 2017 October;

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Elisabeth Le, Sathya Rao, C(h)ris Reyns-Chikuma

Journal of Applied Journalism & Media Studies. 2015 October; 4 (1)

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Sathya Rao

Paris. 2015 August;

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Sathya Rao, Francoise Naudillon

Montreal. 2006 October;

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Sathya Rao

Studies in Canadian Literature/ Études en littérature canadienne. 38 (2):69-93