In August I rediscovered what an exceptionally beautiful part of the world the Lake District is (we were blessed with sunshine throughout our stay, however). Now that Brexit has probably scuppered my plans of moving back to the Continent to retire near the lakes in northern Italy to be close to family, I might just end up in the Lake District instead.
Today’s guest post has been written by Jennifer O’Donnell on her MA in Theory and Practice of Translation at SOAS and it is part of this blog’s series on MA courses in Translation and Interpreting (currently divided into European and Non-European sections). If you have done an MA relatively recently and would be interested in writing about your experience to help future students, then please get in touch. You’ll find more information about writing for this blog here and a list of all guest posts here.
As far as I was concerned, the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS) was one of the best language schools in Europe. It was a school that stuck in my mind as prestigious, hard to get into and seriously driven to improving the understanding of other cultures and languages. Actually studying there was… not what I had imagined.
This MA course review is written by Nathalie Verschelden. For more information on MA courses and links to other reviews, see the European MA and the non-European MA pages on this blog.
Please get in touch if you completed your MA recently and would like to take part in this series. You’ll find more information about writing for this blog here.
After three years of the Bachelor’s Degree in Applied Linguistics at the University of Ghent, I applied for the Master of Arts in Translation (Dutch, German and Spanish), also at the University of Ghent. The MA was the first in Flanders to receive the European Master’s in Translation quality label from the European Commission assigned to high-quality education.
I had spent twenty years teaching French, German and beginner’s Italian in comprehensive schools in the South of England and had also worked for CILT and CfBT.
I then was fortunate enough in early 2014 to have been able to pay my mortgage and all loans off and thought if I wanted to change my life, then was the time.
For a few years I had been toying with the idea of doing the MA in Translation Studies as a 3-year online correspondence course. However, being a full-time teacher I really had no time spare to devote to studying for a Master’s Degree over and above the demands of the general teaching workload. Now, however, I was able to seriously consider a career change for the better to my mind, at least on the work/life balance front.
An interview at the University of Bath kicked off my experience as a student on the Masters in Interpreting and Translating (MAIT). I had two interviews (one for each of my working languages, French and Spanish): the interviews involved on-sight translation, memory exercises, discussions on current events in France and Spain and a general interview. Following the interview, I did two written tests consisting of a translation test and a short essay. The interview process lasted a day and was a fairly relaxed affair.
Today’s guest post is by Nicola Thayil and it’s the first review on an MA at a non-European University on this blog. The European MAs page lists a number of courses with links to other reviews.
I am always on the look-out for reviews, so please get in touch if you completed your MA recently and would like to take part in this series. You’ll find more information about writing for this blog here.
Monash University in Melbourne, Australia, offers a Master by Coursework in translation and interpreting (T&I), in two streams, translation only and translation & interpreting.
Today’s guest post is by Nancy Matis and was first published on the sadly now-defunct blog of The Alexandria Library. It ties in nicely with a new theme on revisions on my blog, since I will be writing more about this topic in the near future. If you would like to write a guest post on the subject of revisions, proofreading or editing, please get in touch.
I’ve never been a brilliant translator myself. But I do think I’m quite good at revising others’ translations. This is probably because I started my career working as a language reviser.
As I’m not the most tech-savvy of people, it usually takes me a while to pick up the basics, let alone the niceties, of any program. In March I finally learned a few more commands in DNS (Dragon NaturallySpeaking), specifically how to underline, put in italics and make bold. For example, in the previous sentence, if you want to put “specifically” in italics, you say “select specifically” followed by “italicise that”. If you want to underline it, you select it and then say “underline that” and (I’m sure you’ve got the idea by now) if you want it to be bold, you say “bold that”.
Made a mistake and want to reverse what you’ve done? Just select the word again and repeat the same commands. In other words, if specifically is already in italics and you say “select specifically, italicise that”, it will revert back to normal Roman type. I also tried this with “All caps that” (the command to capitalise a word or phrase you’ve previously selected), but unfortunately it didn’t work.
Today’s guest post is by Émilie Barbier and it is part of the MA in Translation and Interpreting review series. If you have studied an MA in recent years and would like to share your experiences, I’d love to hear from you. You’ll find a complete list of all the guest posts and some general guidelines for writing for this blog here.
The LISH Master (Lettres, Interfaces numériques & Sciences Humaines), originally called the T3L Master, was created in 2006 by a team of researchers and translators at the University of Paris 8. This two-year selective programme provides students with both academic knowledge and professional training, allowing them to choose between three majors: literary translation, legal translation and online media translation. Language combinations include English, German, Spanish, Portuguese, Russian, Arabic and Italian from or into French.
Today’s guest post is by Kasia Pranke and it is part of the MA in Translation and Interpreting review series. If you have studied an MA in recent years and would like to share your experiences, then please get in touch. You’ll find a complete list of all the guest posts and some general guidelines here.
In 2015 I graduated from Queen’s University Belfast in Translation. With an MA in Linguistics from my home country and two thirds (at that time) of the Diploma in Translation under my belt, I was not an average intake. At that time I had been living in Belfast, Northern Ireland for a few years and with only a limited amount of continuing professional development for translators available locally, I followed the advice of some former QUB students and started attending open-to-everyone weekly seminars every Monday. I’m a lifelong learner at heart and delight in being able to listen to such speakers as Lawrence Venuti, Christiane Nord or Pilar Orero, and so I did not have to think for too long before deciding to undertake the full Masters course the following year.
Tranix Translation & Editing Services 