MA in Translation Studies
University of Birmingham - College of Arts and Law
Key Information
Campus location
Birmingham, United Kingdom
Languages
English
Study format
On-Campus
Duration
1 - 2 year
Pace
Full time, Part time
Tuition fees
GBP 10,530 / per year *
Application deadline
30 Aug 2024
Earliest start date
Sep 2024
* for UK full-time Students. £23,310 for International full-time students
Introduction
Develop your career as a professional translator through our flexible and industry-ready MA in Translation Studies. Join our global community of translators to discover the art of translation at one of the world's top 150 Modern Language departments.
The Global Language Services industry is growing at an impressive rate; two of the top five providers, SDL and RWS, are based in the United Kingdom, and there are many large- and medium-sized providers headquartered in the US, Europe, and Asia. Wherever you are based, there is no better time to enter the industry and our innovative MA is ideal for those looking to embark on or develop, careers as professional translators.
Our program is designed to cover most of the list of competencies required by professional translators published in 2022 by the European Master's in Translation network. We work closely with translation agencies, freelancers, and other stakeholders to ensure that our syllabus prepares you for professional employment in the growing translator industry. You will have the option to take Professional Development and Project Management modules which have been designed to enable you to develop the skills to stand out as you embark upon a career in translation. As part of our links with industry, we also offer talks from professionals and mentoring, as well as advertising internship opportunities.
Translation practice is at the heart of the program, and you will undertake extensive practical and specialized translation in your chosen language pair(s). We also offer training in state-of-the-art translation technology and the opportunity to study another foreign language at beginner, intermediate, or advanced level. The MA also provides excellent preparation for further study at PhD level.
The program is available to students who are proficient in English and one of the following languages: Catalan, Chinese, French, German, Greek, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese or Russian. The industry standard is for translators to work in their mother tongue: we can accommodate all language pairs in both directions except Mandarin, where we offer English to Mandarin but not Mandarin to English. We also have an ‘open’ route through the program for students who wish to work in a different language pairing. For the ‘open’ route, your assessments, while still often very practical in nature, will not involve translation.
We are a member of the Institute of Translation and Interpreting (ITI) and of the Association of Programmes in Translation and Interpreting Studies, UK and Ireland. We are also part of the SDL University Partner Program, which allows us to allocate SDL Studio Freelance licenses to our students for the duration of their studies and to award a free license to the top two students studying translation technology each academic year for use after they graduate. Finally, we are also a member of the Association of Translation Companies, which enables us to work closely together with a number of translation companies to support the new generation of language services industry professionals.
Study full-time or part-time on campus with us, or via our distance-learning program over 2.5 years – for more information, see Translation Studies MA by distance learning. You may also be interested in comparing this program to our new MA Translation Studies Arabic-English program.
Why Study This Course?
- Access to specialist software - a number of our modules incorporate training in a variety of tools and software such as translation memory tools, corpus and text analysis tools, and post-editing tools, for example, SDL Trados: Memsource (We would like to thank Memsource for granting us free access to their platform through the Memsource Academic Edition) Wordfast (courtesy of Wordfast LLC an Yves Champollion); and the Sketch Engine corpus manager and text analysis
- Practical preparation for careers in translation - we place great emphasis on getting you ready to hit the ground running in a career in translation, whether you want an in-house or freelance role. You will have the option to take Professional Development and Project Management modules which have been designed to enable you to develop the skills to stand out as you embark upon a career in translation. We will support you in developing your professional profile to help you secure employment straight after your MA
- Links with industry -we host a series of talks on 'The Translation Profession which bring in speakers with a range of expertise in the translation industry - employers, freelancers, publishers, and representatives of national and international organizations - and where students can gain further insight into the profession. These links with the industry allow us to provide mentoring and advertise internship opportunities
- Excellent reputation - the University of Birmingham has been ranked as one of the world's top 150 institutions to study Modern Languages in the 2023 QS World University Rankings
- Facilities - you will develop a sophisticated knowledge of how computer-aided translation tools work through access to the facilities available within the Department of Modern Languages. Having this understanding will allow you to specialise and engage with complex material allowing you to stand out when embarking on your professional career
- Employability - our graduates pursue careers as in-house translators or project managers, set up their own translation companies as freelancers, and specialize in a variety of domains, from legal to literary translation. Recent students have secured competitive internships at the United Nations Headquarters in New York, the European Union Directorate-General for Translation in Brussels, and SDL Trados in the UK.
Admissions
Scholarships and Funding
Scholarships and Studentships
Scholarships to cover fees and/or maintenance costs may be available. To discover whether you are eligible for any award across the University, and to start your funding application, please visit the University's Postgraduate Funding Database.
International students can often gain funding through overseas research scholarships, Commonwealth scholarships, or their home government.
Postgraduate Loans
Government-backed master loans are available to help UK and EU students to finance their studies. For those starting courses after 1 August 2020, loans are available of up to £11,836 for Masters students in all subject areas. Criteria, eligibility, repayment, and application information are available on the UK government website.
Curriculum
Core Modules
You will study four core modules:
Translating for Business
This module aims to provide you with solid training in written translation. It will focus on translating texts for businesses and organizations, across a range of sectors (e.g. consumer goods, retail, charities, and cultural institutions), with particular emphasis on general or technical texts for a general readership (consumers, the public, non-specialist readers). Typical genres covered will be brochures, product descriptions, press releases, instructions, and web pages. You will learn key concepts and skills (client interaction, information mining, translating using appropriate strategies, use of corpora and parallel texts, and revising/editing/quality assurance) and be introduced to the following tools: general IT resources, online dictionaries, search engines, termbases, aligned texts, and corpus tools. Assessment: translation from or into English and a reflective commentary
Translation Technology
This module is designed to provide students with hands-on experience of a range of technologies applied to the study and practice of translation. Students will learn how to use the tools most commonly required by employers, such as translation memory and terminology management tools, and critically assess the technological requirements for different translation projects. They will also gain a sophisticated understanding of how translation tools work and how they have impacted translation, both as a discipline and as a practice.
Theoretical and Analytical Skills
The module introduces the most significant translation theories and their application to translation practice. It focuses on the conceptual tools required for the analysis of the source text prior to translation and the key theoretical approaches and strategies to carrying out a translation. It also examines the importance of pragmatic, socio-cultural, and ethical considerations in informing translation decisions.
Specialized Translation
This module builds on ‘ Translating for Business; by providing you with further training in your chosen language pair. The module focuses on the translation of texts for a specialized audience from areas such as business, law, and science, as well as on the translation of creative texts from areas such as literature, advertising, and tourism. You will examine key concepts and challenges associated with each text type and be introduced to the following tools: desktop publishing, corpora, editing and quality assurance tools, and HTML handling.
Optional Modules
You will also choose two optional modules from a range that may include:
- Multimodal Translation
- Project Management
- Professional Development
- Contemporary Translation Theory
- Languages for All
Final project
In addition to your taught modules, you will complete a 15,000-word project, which can take one of three forms:
- Traditional written dissertation: a substantial piece of independent research totaling 15,000 words.
- Extended translation project: you will translate a 7,500-word text of your choice, drawing on appropriate theories, methodologies, and approaches to the translation of different text types and genres, reflecting on issues such as target audience and function, and using a range of translation resources. You will also write a 7,500-word commentary on the text. You will have the opportunity to seek support from our partners in the Association of Translation Companies so you can design your translation project to be relevant to current professional challenges in the translation industry.
Program Tuition Fee
Career Opportunities
Graduates of the MA in Translation Studies go on to a variety of interesting careers, from working as translators and project managers for major language service providers to running their own translation companies or staying in Birmingham to do doctoral research. Over the past three years, 95% of Translation Studies graduates were in work and/or further study six months after graduation (DLHE 2014-2017).
The program will enable you to develop a wide range of skills and attributes which will be vital in your future career. In particular, it will give you the ability to:
- Analyse and translate samples of English and other languages, using appropriate methods
- Retrieve information, terminology and specialised knowledge from a range of sources, and use them in their translation practice
- Communicate effectively in written academic English and use appropriate IT skills, including a range of computer-aided translation tools
- Interact effectively in a group
- Plan work effectively, with appropriate time-management skills
- Carry out research in a selected area, both individually and in terms, and report that research appropriately.
Alongside our industry-informed syllabus which has been designed with the input of a range of consultants within the translation profession, we host a series of talks, bringing speakers with a range of expertise in the translation industry - employers, freelancers, publishers, representatives of national and international organizations – to help you prepare for your future career.
Program delivery
We have three teaching terms per year, the autumn, spring, and summer terms. Term dates can be found on our website.
Full-time students will take three compulsory modules in the autumn term and one compulsory module in the spring term. You can find full details of the modules at the bottom of the Course Details tab. During the summer period, you will be working on your dissertation or extended translation project, and you will be assigned an appropriate supervisor according to your chosen topic and language pair.
Part-time students will take three modules in year one and three modules in year two. To cater to the needs of part-time students, we make an effort to group classes on specific days of the week. During the second semester of year two, you will be working on your dissertation or extended translation project, and you will be assigned an appropriate supervisor according to your chosen topic and language pair.
Each module typically represents a total of 200 hours of study time, including preparatory reading, homework, and assignment preparation.
Learning and Teaching Methods
The course will:
- Encourage reflective practice in translation
- Familiarise you with state-of-the-art technological tools currently used in the translation industry and with the professional environment in which translators operate
- Provide you with the opportunity to carry out extensive practical translation work with the guidance of experienced tutors so as to develop skills in line with current professional practice
- Enable you to develop a sophisticated understanding of the most up-to-date concepts and theories of the discipline of translation studies
- Develop a critical understanding of the social constraints on and consequences of translation and the differing contexts of translation throughout the world
- Encourage an understanding of how English and other languages work and how they may usefully be analyzed, in particular with reference to its grammar, Alexis, and discourse, and how such an analysis may benefit you as a translator
- Provide a practical understanding of established techniques of research and inquiry used to create and interpret knowledge in the discipline, so as to enable you to undertake further research, either as part of your future professional career or by enrolling for a research degree.