Translation Studies (Taught)

If you have a flair and ear for languages, you may want to study and put your skills to good use in new situations and settings. With demand growing for qualified graduates, a Translation Studies MSc can open doors to a range of exciting international and national careers as well as self-employment options globally. Demand for professional translation and interpreting skills is at an all-time high. Equip yourself with the expert practical knowledge and advanced linguistic and cross-cultural communication skills to enter professional life as a translator or an interpreter and benefit from a rewarding and varied career choice.

We offer a broad programme that gives greater flexibility and greater choice to tailor things around your own individual linguistic skills and, just as importantly, around your career aspirations too. Languages on offer include Arabic, French, Gaelic, German, Irish, Mandarin, Spanish and Welsh. Other languages may be offered based on demand. One of the distinguishing features is that you will have the opportunity to specialise in more than one language pairing, should you want to. This is something that could make you a more attractive candidate to a wider range of future employers. In honing your language knowledge, you will enhance your analytical skills which underpin all language work.

The year is structured around two core courses and seven option courses, together with a dissertation/translation project completed in the summer term. Core courses are designed to help you to familiarise yourself with the techniques and strategies involved in translating different types of texts (expository, narrative, argumentative, vocative) and with different degrees of specialisation, in a range of subject matters (business, legal, medical) at a professional level, as well as an awareness of the key theories and approaches that have been developed in Translation Studies. You will also develop the ability to critique and engage with foundational theoretical texts.

Our option courses bring you the opportunity to perfect your skills in more specialised areas such as translation technologies, liaison interpreting, inter-cultural skills and professional skills for translators; proof-reading, editing, reviewing and issues in literary translation are covered too.

Develop the intellectual and practical skills needed to translate not just the language but to convey inter-cultural understanding. Be able to negotiate and bridge cultural difference in different contexts for a variety of clients or stakeholders. Acquire practical ability to translate with the help of technology, to proofread, edit and review. You are taught by professionals in translation and interpreting with a strong career history and global research capability in translation and interpreting.

We use a variety of assessment methods matched to individual courses and different learning styles. The academic rigour of continuous assessments and oral examinations is accompanied by a focus on professional and practical relevance. Many of the courses are assessed by means of exercises that are designed to mirror the professional environment. Some courses are assessed by means of a portfolio of translations that students accumulate throughout the year.