English-Chinese Interpreting with Translation MA
Master
In Birmingham
Description
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Type
Master
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Location
Birmingham
Interpreting is a highly-skilled profession, requiring academic training as well as extensive practice in relevant settings.
Facilities
Location
Start date
Start date
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Subjects
- Ms Word
- Project
- Public
- English
- Word
- Interpreting
- Translation
Course programme
You will study four core modules and two optional modules plus a final 15,000 word project.
Core modulesYou will study four core modules:
Introduction to Consecutive InterpretingThrough this module, you will acquire fundamental knowledge and skills required for transferring communication between Chinese and English in the consecutive mode. Important skills such as public speaking, note-taking, memorising, number conversion and so on will be introduced. You will also start to accumulate initial background knowledge of popular topics at international conferences. Through workshops and intensive practice, you will be able to interpret speeches with moderate challenges and develop a good understanding of interactional features associated with interpreting.
Assessment: reflective report and classroom-based live interpreting test
This module will introduce you to basic skills required to transfer communication from English into Chinese in the simultaneous mode. Earlier modules on the programme will have helped you to develop sufficient writing and speaking skills that have prepared you to cultivate attention-split, shadowing, long or short memory retention and other capabilities, enabling you to listen and interpret at the same time.
Assessment: 800-word reflective report and a classroom-based live interpreting test (10-12 minutes)
This module is designed to equip you with advanced knowledge and skills of transferring messages in the consecutive mode between Chinese and English languages. Through workshops and intensive practice, you will develop sophisticated skills of managing challenges posed by factors including the speaker’s accent, fewer intervals throughout a speech, complex syntactic structures, and so on. You will also accumulate specialised background knowledge of popular topics emerging at international conferences and relevant terminologies.
Assessment: reflective report and classroom-based live interpreting test
This module aims to provide you with solid training in written translation. It will focus on translating texts for businesses and organisations, 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 webpages. 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 followed tools: general IT resources, online dictionaries, search engines, termbases, aligned texts and corpus tools.
Assessment: translation from English into Chinese and a reflective commentary
In addition to the compulsory modules, you will also choose two optional modules from a range that may include:
English-Chinese Liaison Interpreting (Chinese-language students only)This module will enable you to undertake interpreting practice between Chinese and English on a range of topics, including those from business, legal and medical settings. You will develop a range of skills including: public speaking, memory retention, note-taking, professionalism and ethics/codes of conduct in community interpreting settings, cultural mediation, rapport management, and role management.
Assessment: reflective report and classroom-based live interpreting test
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.
Assessment: one essay and one paper analysing a source text and justifying the approach that you would take to translating it
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.
Assessment: critical report
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 specialised 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.
Assessment: two translations from English into Chinese and a reflective commentary
This course considers the problems faced by translators from a theoretical point of view. The course examines current theoretical thinking in the field of Translation Studies, including cultural theories, sociological theories, political approaches, among others. The module emphasises 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.
Assessment: essay
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 totalling 15,000 words.
- Extended interpreting project: you will collect recorded interpreting data of your choice, which should last for 30 minutes in total. You will then write a 15,000-word commentary on the interpreting data and relevant issues involved, reflecting on: appropriate theories, methodologies and approaches to the interpretation of varied speeches; issues such as cognitive and linguistic aspects in simultaneous interpreting; and/or cultural, professional, ethical and interpersonal aspects in consecutive and/or community interpreting.
- 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-type 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.
English-Chinese Interpreting with Translation MA