From evening classes to a PhD in retirement: my lifelong learning journey with translation studies

It certainly encouraged me to apply for a PhD course in the Modern Languages department at Cardiff University after retiring from a full-time professional career as an orthopaedic surgeon and completing a master’s degree in Translation Studies.

Learning languages had long been my passion, helping me to talk to and engage with more people when travelling and learning about other cultures. It has since become a lifelong learning journey with my passion carrying me through a BA and an MA, and onwards to a doctorate.

Lifelong learning – staying curious, staying engaged

I began my journey at Cardiff University with evening classes in Spanish and German with Lifelong Learning. These subsequently qualified as an entry “Pathway to a Degree” with a BA in Translation, which I studied part-time.

The next step was a master’s degree in Translation Studies which fed my intellectual curiosity. As translation is a living specialty, it is continuously changing, especially with technological developments, from machine translation tools to artificial intelligence tools.

I learned about translation theories, specialist translation techniques for scientific, legal and political texts, minority languages and learning a new language, which for me was Welsh. Translating a substantial text was a challenge and an excellent introduction to the world of translation. After 12 years of study with the School of Modern Languages, I had made a lot of friends, and it felt like home.

A MA in Translation Studies can lead in many directions, and I enjoyed using the skills I had learned deciphering foreign language texts for the benefit of others and my own satisfaction. To have some degree of flexibility for my time in retirement from medicine, I decided to continue doing some voluntary translating for charities and applied for a part-time PhD as a natural progression of my lifelong learning.

I was also encouraged by my family to continue studying, especially as my mother had achieved her first degree, a BSc when aged 78. Research into doctoral studies and advice from my previous tutors helped find my Cardiff University research project.

Building on my specialism and experience to bridge the gap

Healthcare language interpreting is especially under-researched and so using my past experience as a surgeon, I decided to help to bridge the gap between doctors and interpreters for the benefit of patients.

Having applied in competition, my studies are funded by the Economic and Social Research Council, and to assist my change of mindset from scientific research methods to a humanities approach I have found the supportive teaching provided by the University and wider doctoral community very useful.

In my initial research, I have found that a range of interpreting assistance is used in medical consultations from professional interpreters in person or remotely, to families and Google Translate.

However, risks of using AI tools for interpreting in healthcare include a lack of patient safety and privacy, and public organisation liability (Do Carmo, F. 2025. ‘Evidence review report on the use of AI for multilingual communication in public services: with a specific focus on the NHS’. CTS, University of Surrey). Doctors have to consider potential risks when making decisions and now this includes being accountable if using AI tools to translate.

Cardiff University supports mature students, and many other universities are equally supportive. So, higher education is still possible for those who want to follow their dreams at any age.