MA Translation Studies (Distance Learning)
Online
DURATION
30 Months
LANGUAGES
English
PACE
Part time
APPLICATION DEADLINE
Request application deadline
EARLIEST START DATE
Request earliest startdate
TUITION FEES
GBP 1,220 *
STUDY FORMAT
Distance Learning
* for per module October 2023 to July 2024
Introduction
Translation, as a trade and an art, plays an important part in bringing nations together and facilitating dialogue, understanding, and cooperation.
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. 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: Arabic, Chinese, French, German, Greek, Italian, Polish, Portuguese, Russian, and Spanish. The industry standard is for translators to work in their mother tongue. 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, and we cannot guarantee that you will be allocated a tutor who is a specialist in your language pairing.
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.
The University of Birmingham offers flexible routes of study for this program:
Accelerated Route* (program code 011D): Complete your studies in 18 months (Complete a module every 2 months and your final project over 6 months). October start only.
Standard Route (program code 8914): Complete your studies in 30 months (Complete a module every 4 months and your final project over 6 months). October, February, or April start available.
*Only students following the accelerated route are eligible for Government loans
All MA students will need to complete 6 modules, followed by a final project. Unsure if you want to commit to a full MA? Complete 3 modules successfully for a Postgraduate Certificate, or 6 modules for a Postgraduate Diploma.
This MA is also available as a campus-based program, full-time over one year or part-time over two years – for more information, see Translation Studies MA.
Why Study this Course?
- Flexibility - this program offers multiple start dates throughout the year so it gives you the option of choosing when to commence your studies with us – in this case February, April, or October (only October if you want the accelerated route). You can study at home, in your own time and at your own pace, so you can combine achieving a qualification with work or family commitments.
- 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 and Yves Champollion); and the Sketch Engine corpus manager and text analysis.
- Career changing - a qualification from the University of Birmingham can be the springboard to promotion with your current employer, the platform from which to launch a new career, or simply a way to become more effective in your current role. Studying by distance learning has the benefit of allowing you to develop your career without having to leave employment. It also means that you can apply new knowledge and insights to your working life while you are still studying.
- Excellent reputation - the University of Birmingham is ranked as one of the world's top 150 institutions to study Modern Languages in the 2023 QS World University Rankings.
- 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.
- Support - although self-study is central to doing a program distance learning support is always available from experienced tutors. The virtual learning environment also provides a focal point and helps provide a structure for your learning.
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.
Curriculum
Compulsory Modules
You will study four compulsory 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.
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
This innovative module will highlight the roles translators play in promoting access to audio-visual content via services and activities such as audio description, captioning, and fan subtitling. You will study monomodal and multimodal text types and authentic contexts in which they are routinely translated/meditated, such as in the arts and heritage sector and publishing. Via case studies, you will be encouraged to evaluate the current provision of descriptive and subtitling services and the policies underpinning them and to understand the constraints involved in responding to the needs of diverse audiences. You will discover the creative and educational potential of multimodal translation via a discussion of innovation within its fields.
Project Management
The module will introduce you to the world of language services project managers, whose main job is to ensure that projects are effectively and efficiently managed. You will gain a deep insight into all aspects of project management, from communication to customer service, and technology to finance, develop the skills needed to become project managers in the language services industry, and critically reflect on the key characteristics that an efficient project manager needs. This module has been designed and delivered in collaboration with the Association of Translation Companies (ATC). This means that materials have been designed by industry experts from leading language services, providing you with the ideal preparation for a career in translation.
Professional Development (Translation/Interpreting)
Our Translation Studies program is designed around the revised list of competencies in which professional translators should be trained, issued in 2017 by the European Masters in Translation network. The aim of this module is to place emphasis on your professional development, in the spirit of EMT competence #26: Continuously self-evaluate, update, and develop competencies. Taught sessions will deepen your understanding of the translation industry, support you in understanding how to market yourself, set your rates interact with clients, and so on. It will also afford you space to ‘self-evaluate’ and ‘ update and develop your competencies in ways that you deem appropriate, depending on your future career plans. The portfolio-based assessment will allow you to showcase any activities undertaken in preparation for your working lives (e.g. undertaking freelance commissions, work experience placements or study visits, learning how to use a piece of software/technology, setting up your online presence, learning business skills such as profit-and-loss accounting, attending talks or ad hoc training on- or off-campus).
Contemporary Translation Theory
This module considers the problems faced by translators from a theoretical point of view. It examines current theoretical thinking in the field of Translation Studies, including cultural theories, sociological theories, and political approaches, among others. The module emphasizes the role and position of translation (and translators) in processes of identity construction, language/cultural planning, and in the spread of political and religious ideologies.
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.
The program will enable you to develop a wide range of skills and attributes that 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 specialized knowledge from a range of sources, and use them in their translation practice
- Communicate effectively in written academic English
- 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.
Your degree will provide excellent preparation for employment and this will be further enhanced by a range of employability support services offered by the University.
The University's Careers Network provides advice and information specifically for postgraduates that will help you to develop an effective career and skills development strategy and to make the most of your time with us at the University. The College of Arts and Law also has a dedicated careers and employability team to deliver local support.
In addition to a range of campus-based events and workshops, Careers Network provides extensive online resources and comprehensive listings of hundreds of graduate jobs and work experience opportunities.
You will also be able to access our full range of career support for up to two years after graduation.
Program delivery
The University of Birmingham offers flexible routes of study for this program:
- Accelerated Route* (program code 011D): Complete your studies in 18 months (Complete a module every 2 months and your final project over 6 months). October start only.
- Standard Route (program code 8914): Complete your studies in 30 months (Complete a module every 4 months and your final project over 6 months). October, February, or April start available.
*Only students following the accelerated route are eligible for Government loans
All MA students will need to complete 6 modules, followed by a final project. Unsure if you want to commit to a full MA? Complete 3 modules successfully for a Postgraduate Certificate, or 6 modules for a Postgraduate Diploma.
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.