Studying translation at university as a stand-alone subject was not on my radar until halfway through my undergraduate degree. In fact, I didn’t know it was an option: I thought translation was just a module you took in a language degree.
The truth is that translation is just not a well-advertised profession which means that, even after signing up for a translation course, many students (including me) are not exactly sure what their study path will entail.
So, today, I’m going to be sharing my experience of studying translation at university in the UK to help you decide if it’s something you’d be interested in.
Where Can I Study Translation in the UK?
I studied my Masters in Translation and Interpreting at the University of Manchester. For me, choosing which university to study at was an easy decision, because I wanted to live at home. I was lucky that Manchester offers a translation-specific course because, the truth is that translation programmes are not available everywhere.
Of the four universities I was considering, only two of them (the University of Manchester and the University of Liverpool) offered Master’s degrees in translation.
And, even if the university you want to go to offers translation courses, they might not offer the language combinations that you want to study. Some universities offer language-specific translation courses (such as the University of Liverpool), while others allow a wide range of language combinations, which was the case for me at Manchester.
It’s also worth noting here that some universities offer undergraduate translation degrees, usually in combination with a language. While this is not the most common route people take, it is a good option if you already know that you are interested in translation by the end of college.
If you’re considering studying translation at university and want to get an idea of where you will be able to do so, I recommend heading to WhatUni.com, where you can search for a wide range of courses available across the UK.
What Qualifications Do I Need to Study Translation?
Qualifications will vary from university to university.
In the case of Manchester, applicants require a first or 2:1 undergraduate degree in a humanities subject. Technically, this includes subjects such as history and geography. However, the most advisable degree to have is a languages degree, which proves that you can speak at least two languages to an advanced level.
Funnily enough, nowhere in the entry requirements does it actually state that you need to speak two languages to apply but, given the nature of translation, this is a given.
If you are not from an English-speaking country, you will also have to prove that you have a formal qualification in English. This is important since all the lectures and course materials are delivered in English.
So, in other words, you need a high-scoring undergraduate degree and the ability to speak at least two languages.
For specific entry requirements of each university, head to the university’s website.
What Will I Study On a Translation Degree?
This is where I was naive.
I don’t know what I thought I would be studying exactly, but I expected the majority of my assignments to be translations. Of course, we did translate, but the vast majority of the course was theory-based.
After doing some research for this post, this is not necessarily the case at every UK university. In other words, not all translation degrees are made equal, so make sure to do your research about the modules that are offered on the course you want to study.
Practical vs Theory-Based Courses
The first thing you’ll want to consider is what percentage of the course is theory-based versus practical translation tasks. This was the aspect of my course at Manchester that surprised me the most.
Since you can choose to study a wide range of translation pairs, most of the lectures were about translation theory, which could be applied to any language pair. For example, in a typical week, I would have approximately 6 hours of classes and just 1-2 hours of translation practice.
So, you might be asking, what does translation theory involve?
Well, I will be writing a full post on this soon, but briefly, translation theory involves studying the previous techniques various translation scholars have proposed as the best way to approach translation.
I quite enjoyed learning about translation theory, and it does actually help me with my decision-making when I translate now, but it is not for everyone. So, it is important to check the content covered on the courses you are considering.
Specialisations
Most translators have a specialisation – a subject area that they are either trained in or have extensive experience in. In my case, I specialise in tourism translation mainly because of my travel experience, but also because I studied how to translate this type of text on my Master’s course.
On most translation courses, the optional modules you choose to take will inform your chosen specialisation as a translator. That is because translating a medical document requires very different skills than translating a blog post.
At the University of Manchester, there are two main optional translation modules. The first is Translating for the Creative and Heritage Industries, which mainly covered the translation of books and literature and subtitles, as well as few more niche areas including video game and song translation.
The second module was called Translating for Business and Institutions, and this covered a wider range of texts, including technical texts such as instruction manuals, business documents, official documents and, most importantly for me, tourism texts.
The way the course is structured at Manchester allows you to study both modules, which I think is great considering most people find it hard to settle on a specialisation at the start of their course.
However, it is important to bear potential specialisations in mind when choosing which university to study at, because some universities even offer specialisation-specific translation degrees. For example, the University of East Anglia offers an MA in Literary Translation and the University of Leeds offers an MA in Audiovisual Translation and Localisation.
So, while you don’t need to have it all figured out, it is important to think about what you might want to specialise in when choosing where to study.
Type of Assessment
Another key factor to consider when picking a university is how you will be assessed. Some people hate formal exams, whereas others find coursework challenging.
The information that is available online about assessments varies. However, I can tell you that, at the University of Manchester, we had no formal exams. Our final mark was based on a combination of academic essays and translations.
Translation vs Translation and Interpreting
When applying to study at Manchester, I didn’t pay much attention to the fact that the course was called Translation and Interpreting. That was because, while I wanted to focus on translation, I didn’t mind trying out interpreting to see if it was something I would enjoy. As it happened, it wasn’t for me, but I was glad I tried it.
However, there’s no doubt that interpreting is a lot more daunting. You have to stand up in front of a room of people and speak, switching between languages in real-time while also listening to a conversation taking place in two different languages. So, if you want to avoid having to do this, make sure to choose a course that just focuses on translation.
My Experience Studying Translation at the University of Manchester
I won’t bury the lead: I thoroughly enjoyed my time studying translation at the University of Manchester, and I would recommend that anyone interested in becoming a translator study for a translation degree.
As I mentioned, I had to take both translation and interpreting modules, but I focused on the translation side as much as I could.
In the first semester, I had to take one compulsory module and three of four available optional modules.
The compulsory module was titled ‘Introduction to Translation and Interpreting Studies’, and, in these classes, we learned about general theories of translation and interpreting. I had covered much of this on a more basic level during my undergraduate degree, but it was a useful refresher for me and a way for those who had never studied translation before to gain solid foundational knowledge about translation theory.
When it came to optional modules, I chose to study:
- Translation for the Creative and Heritage Industries
- Translation for Business and Institutions
- Interpreting Society and Skills
Again, these modules focused on the basics of translation and interpreting theory, with the two translation modules getting further into theories about specific types of translation such as literary, audiovisual, and legal translation. It is interesting to note that, during the first semester, we only had a few practical translation sessions, which took place every few weeks in small groups according to language pair.
In case you were interested, the optional module I chose not to take was a research module, aimed at students who wanted to go into translation research rather than the practical field.
Most of these initial units were assessed through theoretical essays, with just two of the approximately nine or ten pieces of submitted work including any form of translation. So, as I said, if translation theory isn’t for you, then neither is this course.
In semester 2, we dropped to just two modules, which would be studied in more detail. As I’m sure you can imagine by now, I chose to carry on with the two translation modules. This semester was more of an even mix between lectures and practical sessions, which I enjoyed a lot more. While I did enjoy the theoretical side of the course, the thing that attracted me to translation was the in-depth discussions about all the possible ways a sentence could be translated.
As a result, the assignments were more evenly balanced in this semester between theoretical and practical tasks.
The Dissertation
The final thing to talk about is the dissertation, the compulsory long-form essay that every student has to write at the end of their degree.
At Manchester, you can choose to do either a practical or a research-based dissertation. The research-based dissertation would be theoretical, meant for those wanting to pursue a PhD.
However, the more popular option, and the one that I chose, is the practical dissertation. This involves choosing a 6,000-8,000 word text to translate and writing an accompanying 6,000-8,000 word essay using translation theory to back up the decisions made in the translation portion.
This was a lot of work, and I struggled for a while over which text to pick, but I enjoyed the process in general and I was really proud of the work I produced in the end.
Just bear in mind that the dissertation is completed during the third semester over summer and, while there aren’t classes as such, you do have to meet up with your dissertation supervisor several times throughout May, June and July.
Is It Worth Studying Translation at University?
So, now that I’ve explained what studying translation at university is like, it’s time to answer the question: is it worth it?
I would say that it is.
While you don’t specifically need a translation degree to work as a translator in the UK, having that specialised degrees is helpful in several ways. Firstly, it is a good way to show potential clients that you have the skills they are looking for before you have real-world translation experience. It’s also worth noting that many translation agencies require their translators to have a degree, so you may be locked out of a lot of opportunities without it.
And finally, I would recommend doing a translation degree to learn more about what translation is and what to expect in the translation industry. As we’ve established throughout this post, translation is not a well-known profession, and it would be very difficult to navigate your way to your first jobs if going in blind. While a translation degree will not get you a job per se, it will teach you what to expect when working as a translator, and provide you with pointers of how to get started with a career in the field. This knowledge has been invaluable to me, and was especially important in the first six months of so of my career as a freelancer.
So, in conclusion, while not a necessity, having a translation degree is a great way to help you get started in the translation industry.
That’s it for today’s post. I hope you found it useful in helping you choose whether to study translation at university. If you have any questions about studying translation, leave a comment below and I’ll get back to you.
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Thanks for reading, and see you next time.