The globalisation of markets has led to a marked growth in demand for translation services in recent years, and this trend is expected to continue. At the same time, the increasing professionalization of translation and the increasing availability of sophisticated computerised tools to meet the demand for high-quality, fast human translation, means that professional training is a must for translators who want to succeed in a market that is also becoming more competitive. In response to these demands, Translation Studies as an academic discipline has blossomed, producing a wealth of new theoretical insights into the complexities of intercultural communication.
The MA in Translation Studies is designed for:
Whether your interest is in the translation of specialized documentation (commercial and technical translation), creative writing (literary translation) or the translation of hybrid text genres such as websites or advertisement, the MA in Translation Studies at the University of Birmingham will provide you with a solid foundation to develop your career. The course combines both practical and theoretical elements and therefore also provides excellent preparation for further study at PhD level. Our students benefit from the expertise available within the Departments of English, French, German, Italian, Hispanic Studies and the Centre for Russian and Eastern European Studies and have access to the facilities provided by the Centre for Corpus Research, which holds a large collection of corpora in several languages.
The MA in Translation Studies offers two pathways:
Both pathways share three core modules, Introduction to Translation, Translation Technology and the Dissertation or Extended Translation Project.
Students opting for the MA in Translation and Language Technologies can then choose among a range optional modules to complete the required number of credits, including a practical translation project in several language combinations (English and one other language including Chinese, Arabic, Malay, Greek, Turkish, Polish and several European languages), modules focusing on English for specific purposes, and modules focusing on contemporary issues in cross-cultural communication.
Students opting for the MA in Translation: European Languages and Cultures will be required to take 20 credits of practical translation modules in each semester, working between English and a choice of ONE or TWO of the following languages: French, German, Italian, Spanish, Russian, Portuguese or Catalan. Students will also be able to choose among a range of optional modules offered by the School of European Languages and Cultures to complete the required number of credits.
| MA in Translation and Language Technologies | MA in Translation: European Languages and Cultures |
| Autumn term | Autumn term |
| Core modules | Core modules |
| Introduction to translation | Introduction to translation |
| Translation Technology | Translation Technology |
| Translation and Communication Skills | |
| Option module (one to be chosen among the following) | Option module (one to be chosen among the following) |
| Translation and Communication Skills (available for certain language combinations only) | Ideas of Europe |
| Introduction to Corpus Linguistics | Cultural Inquiry I |
| Discourse Culture and Communication | |
| Spring term | Spring term |
| Core modules | Core modules |
| Research methods | Research methods |
| Contemporary Translation Theory | Translation Project |
| Optional modules (two to be chosen among several offered). These are some of the modules offered in 2009/10. | Optional module (one to be chosen if no optional module was chose in the Autumn term). These are some of the modules offered in 2009/10. |
| Translation Project | Contemporary Translation Theory |
| Lexicography | Cultural Inquiry II |
| Business English | Nation-State and Nationalism in Modern Europe |
| Intercultural communication | Gender and Representation |
| Corpus Linguistics | Modernity, Identity and Culture II |
| Forensic linguistics: Language and the Law | Nations and their Neighbours |
| Language and the Media | |
| English as a Global Language | |
| Language and Literature | |
| Summer term | Summer term |
| Dissertation or Extended Translation Project | Dissertation or Extended Translation Project |
This module introduces the most significant theoretical and practical aspects of translation, focusing on translation as a profession and in relation to social and cultural contexts. It is designed to challenge student’s ideas of what a translation is or should be and to think creatively and responsibly about their professional practice as translators.
The module is designed to train students to become skilled and discerning users of a range of technologies that can be applied to the practice of translation, including but not restricted to translation memories and machine translation packages, terminology and corpus-analysis tools.
This module is designed to develop and maintain the translation and communication skills necessary to underpin work as a translator, researcher, professional linguist or equivalent, through practical work on a range of literary and non-literary text-types, using techniques of translation, transposition, adaptation, abstraction and textual editing in English and a choice of ONE or TWO modern European languages.
This module offers students the chance to work on a translation project in conditions that simulate a real life situation. Students work independently on a text of their choice but with the support of an experienced translators and benefiting from the opportunity to discuss their concerns in workshops and seminars. Students opting for the European Languages and Cultures pathway may elect to take this as a 20-credit module, working between one modern European Language and English or take two 10-credit options, thus allowing work in TWO modern European Languages. For students opting for the Language Technologies pathway this module is available as 20 credit module on certain language pairs, depending on the availability of suitable tutors.
This module continues the work started in Introduction to Translation, focusing on the most current and challenging theoretical thinking within Translation Studies. Students explore the role of translation and cross-cultural mediation in the process of construction and interpretation of identities, how this process is affected by new technologies and globalization and how it affects the spread of political and religious ideologies. This is a key module for students interested in an academic career.
This module is particularly relevant for students planning to establish themselves as professional translators in technical and commercial (as opposed to literary) fields. It explores applications of lexicography and terminology in a bilingual context, covering topics such as bilingual dictionaries, electronic dictionaries and thesauruses, terminology extraction and management.
This module covers aspects of how spoken and written discourse is organised, how it varies, and how it may be described and analysed. There is a strong focus on issues of culture and ideology underlying communication.
The aim of this module is to provide an overview of the major issues in the area of Intercultural Communication, with particular reference to developments in the last 20 years. In today's global world, it is necessary to communicate successfully across cultural boundaries of languages, styles and values. This course will address these questions, using the students' cultural background as the basis for contrastive analysis in terms of language difference, pragmatics, social semiotics and visual communication.
Translators nowadays rely heavily on the linguistic information that can be extracted from the vast collections of texts available in electronic format (corpora). In this module students learn to use corpus-access techniques, to interpret corpus data and to apply corpus-based theories of language
The module begins by examining the complex genesis of ideas of Europe in the centuries leading up to the modern period, making specific reference to their (inter)cultural dimension in national and trans-national contexts. It then focuses on the evolution and impact of these ideas in the modern era, looking at the forces and mechanisms which have formed and sustained them, exploring the importance of cultural factors in defining conceptions of Europe, and examining how often conflicting narratives of European-ness have both determined, and been determined by, cultural identities and national self-images.
This course provides an introduction to some of the key thinkers behind developments in theories of discourse/ideology and identity. You will explore how cultural discourse is produced (Adorno, Foucault, post-colonialism etc.), and how identities are formed (psychoanalysis, feminism, queer, cyber, etc.).
This course covers a range of key concepts, theories and approaches in the study of culture, including globalisation, media, hermeneutics, post-modernism etc.
This module focuses on issues of representation, with theoretical, visual, and literary texts, as well as case studies, drawn from a range of disciplines. It will normally include such topics as gender and nationalism, international relations, postcolonialism, ethnicity, work, masculinity, visual cinema and 20th century fiction.
The module focuses on key elements in the study of modern European cultures. The student is encouraged to investigate literary, historical or philosophical texts within one European national culture, which exemplify or problematise broader, cross-cultural issues of cultural identity or nationhood or ideas of Europe.
(Historical Studies)
The module focuses in particular on how and why the nation-state has come to be viewed as the normal form of political organization in Europe. Consideration will be given to such themes as the formation of the nation-state; changing ideas of citizenship; the development of national economies, institutions and cultures; the impact of total war, the welfare state and European integration on the nation-state.
The module begins with a survey of critical material concerned with the interaction between political constructions of nationhood and cultural products and systems. It then explores some of the cultural arenas and artefacts -- contemporary and historical -- that, allied to individual nations within the European frame, constitute privileged sites of the emergence and reflection of national identities.
This module is taken by all MA students in the Centre for English Language Studies and trains students in the methods and approaches to research in Applied Linguistics in general, with sessions focusing specifically on Translation Research.
Students produce a 12,000 piece of work which can consist of a dissertation on an area of translation of their own choosing or a translation of a text of their own choice and of the appropriate level of difficulty, accompanied by critical commentary. For both options, students work under the guidance of a supervisor.
In addition, there are two non-assessed components in the programme. All students take a short course - Introduction to the Bank of English - which introduces them to the 400 million word Cobuild Bank of English corpus, an invaluable collection of authentic language data against which theory, intuition and pedagogic materials can be measured. Students who have not previously been educated through the medium of English also have the opportunity to take a course in Academic English.
CELS also offers a MA Translation Studies in distance mode.
Centre for English Language Studies (CELS), Westmere House, University of Birmingham, Edgbaston, Birmingham, B15 2TT, United Kingdom.
Tel: +44 (0)121 414 5695/6. Fax: +44 (0)121 414 3298. Email: CELS@bham.ac.uk
