1. Choose a passage from ancient literature that has some inherent interest to you. Maybe there's something about it you find perplexing or striking.
2. Look at the passage in the original (but if you can't, the exercise can be modified; see below). Write out a translation that's as literal as possible--don't worry about its being nice to read in English. You'll want a careful and detailed record of what the Latin or Greek is doing. Also take notes on other aspects of the passage's presentation such as word order, rhetorical effects (e.g., a build-up of phrases, repetitions or words or sounds), rhythm, and sentence length.
3. Find English translations of the passage. Possible online resources include Poetry in Translation, Perseus Digital Library, Internet Archive, Project Gutenberg, and Theoi Texts Library--but don't ignore the possibility of a variety of print translations in the library (or order-able through interlibrary loan). This exercise can work with as few as 2 translations, but I think having at least 4 is better.
[Side note: if you're interested in doing a translation study of a particular poem by Catullus, I have a lot of different translations you could borrow.]4. Go through each English translation of your passage, comparing it with the translation you made of the original. Keep a list of choices the translator made that you find interesting. Consider why you found them interesting and what effect they have on an understanding or interpretation of the passage.
5. After you've gone through each translation individually, comparing them with the original, compare and contrast the translations with one another. What's different about them? What does each seem to do especially well in comparison with the others? Can you generalize about what each translation seems to be aiming for or prioritizing?
Modification, skipping step 2: You could do all the translation comparisons first, without looking at the original passage and use the comparison to come up with a list of questions about the original passage. What do the different translations make you want to know about the original? How has seeing different translations prompted your curiosity? You could come talk through those questions with me, and I can help you see what the original in doing and how it responds to your questions.
