Translation and Interpreting Studies MRes - 2023/4

Other information

Surrey's Curriculum Framework is committed to developing graduates with strengths in Employability, Digital Capabilities, Global and Cultural Capabilities, Sustainability and Resourcefulness and Resilience. This programme is designed to allow students to develop knowledge, skills and capabilities in the following areas:

Global and Cultural Capabilities: Translation Studies constitutes a highly porous, interdisciplinary field and, arguably, a highly representative area of adopting global cultural perspectives in both academic pursuits and professional practice. As a relatively young discipline, it is currently reaping the benefits of recent advancements in several paradigmatic turns ¿ cultural, sociological, economic, technological ¿ that seek to explore the wide diversity of translation phenomena in the world. The programme taps into a fulsome tradition of extant research and practice whilst being forward-looking and anticipating future developments. This is achieved by exploring research developed in different parts of the world, by focusing on several language directions, by keeping a healthy balance between north-south/east-west perspectives and by interrogating the boundaries between traditional typologies of translation and/or interpreting, through the prism of technological and social change. The programme is taught in an interactive and collaborative way and students are offered ample opportunities to engage with and learn from diverse perspectives through interaction and teamwork. Given the typical multi-cultural cohorts of the programme, as well as the multi-cultural backgrounds of teaching staff and invited speakers (academics or Language Services Industry experts), the programme also serves as a theatre of comparative analysis in language usage, translation/interpreting practice and norm-supported professional behaviour in the service of inter-social and intra-social communication. The tasks and assessments undertaken across the programme are geared towards fostering the internalisation and confident navigation in the terminology and debates relevant to the above perspectives, thus rendering CTS graduates experts in their respective areas of specialisation.

Employability: The programme is designed to equip students with the linguistic, translation, technological, business and interpersonal and soft skills needed for a successful career in the language services industry or academia and industry research analysis contexts. Through the programme¿s reflective approach, students approach simulations of realistic scenarios in a reflective manner and cover different thematic areas, such as news, business, economics, engineering, legal, medical, hospitality and advertisement translation. Technology- and business/industry-related modules jointly equip students with transferrable skills needed in prevalent and emerging areas in the industry, such as computer-assisted translation, post-editing of machine translation output, platform-enabled remote collaborative translation, intra-lingual and inter-lingual respeaking, video-mediated remote interpreting, managing translation projects and global supply chains. Students have an opportunity to benefit from insights into best practice and authentic examples in the remit of translation, interpreting and audiovisual translation professions, as shared by invited external speakers: academics, language service experts and representatives of professional associations with whom CTS have long-standing links, including those of the Chartered Institute of Linguists, Institute of Translation and Interpreting, Translation Automation User Society, Globalization and Localization Association, European Language Industry Association. Students can take active part in a dedicated Language Services Industry Careers Fair (in semester 2). Throughout the year, students may develop a Professional Engagement Portfolio, where they document work placements and other collaborations with language services providers and extra-curricular activities (such as joining a professional body, attending professional development webinars/workshops, voluntary translation work); this portfolio can be taken as a substantial component of the University¿s Employability Award, thus allowing students to tailor the Employability Award to the Language Industry. Finally, the programme offers systematic research training that may stand graduates in good stead, should they choose to pursue an academic career or a career as an analyst in the language services industry by further specialising in a long dissertation project.

Digital Capabilities: Throughout the programme students learn to use the VLE for real-time in-class learning as well as guided learning and self-study activities so that they can unleash their research potential and critique existing translation/interpreting solutions. Depending on options taken, students are also introduced to and gain proficiency in specific digital tools, including inter alia, computer-aided translation tools, machine translation systems, terminological databases, terminology management tools, subtitling software, sound-editing software, respeaking software, corpus management tools, interpreter note-taking digital tools, communication tools (videoconferencing, webconferencing, webcasting) supporting distance/remote interpreting events. The teaching approach adopted is eclectic and reflective in that it is not tool-led or tool-focused as such, given that technologies evolve rapidly; rather the programme adopts an approach whereby students are trained to assess the quality, reliability and contextual understanding of technological solutions to translation and/or interpreting projects. The use of the afore-mentioned types of technology are an integral part in the professional world as the speed, quality and economic value of language solutions depends on the ability to gather information, assess tried-and-tested translation equivalents and apply methodological abilities that allow optimal communication to occur across language and cultural boundaries. Thus, assessments equip students with the practical skills needed, a thorough appreciation of how technologies impact the interaction of participants and clients, and the ability to articulate (dis)advantages in the use of technological resources and specific workflows in order to achieve output that serves the purpose of communication in a given context.

Sustainability: Students discover which translation/interpreting digital/business solutions may best serve future tasks, thus consolidating resources, saving time and preparing them for greater volume of work and work diversification in the future (see also employability). They also actively engage with theories and debates on the visibility of cultural and linguistic minorities and on how these may be best served through language mediation, thus reducing inequalities. At the same time, students acquire thorough knowledge of language mediation as a global enabler of economic growth, expression in the creative industries and general well-being for clients of all ages and cultural backgrounds (by, say, having access to public services or consumer products in their own language). On a more general yet self-referential level, the topic of sustainability is integrated in the holistic approach to skill development throughout the academic year; each graduate is prepared for a variety of careers where language data, text transfer across cultures and adaptability to changing technological and business contexts are key. This ensures the sustainability of the translation/interpreting profession itself (see also Resourcefulness and Resilience).

Resourcefulness and Resilience: The inter-disciplinary foundations of the programme are undergirded by a social sciences perspective in empirical, evidence-based investigation and by humanities-informed philosophy of reflexivity vis-à-vis the ethical use of communication skills, technology and workflows in language mediation. Such foundations, in combination with the types of assessments employed (see below) simultaneously instil a strong sense of disciplinary identity and confidence in using metalanguage/professional terms as experts in their respective areas of specialisation. The programme allows students to explore the rich diversity of translation/interpreting phenomena and to develop their problem-solving skills in a supportive learning environment before venturing into the professional world or academia. Given the nature of our programme and a long-established culture in CTS, the above is complemented by empathic communication and academic or professional candour allowed in small groups of both practical-oriented modules and more theory-oriented modules (where applicable); experience tells us that such an environment is conducive to learning through trial and error, risk taking and openness to multiple perspectives, without losing sight of desired levels of academic standards or language service provision standards. From early in the programme, students are introduced to the expectations regarding teaching, learning and assessments to facilitate self-efficacy. Timetabling and module optionality encourage agency in planning workloads and tailoring the course according to preferred domain-specific, media-specific and situation-specific types of translation/interpreting. Formative and summative assessments are designed feed forward to assessments within modules and to future modules in the programme, whilst peer feedback fosters empathy and the use of appropriate written and oral communication techniques. Throughout the programme, students have opportunities to develop their critical thinking and their responsiveness to different contexts of language transfer scenarios and phases of a project life-cycle (preparation, process, post-delivery/evaluation). The programme requires individual and collective resourcefulness in developing optimal solutions for simulated translation/interpreting scenarios and in implementing the standards applicable to the provision of a language service.