Translation Studies (MA)

In our multilingual classroom, you’ll be taught through a combination of lectures, workshops, and seminars. Our approach to teaching is challenge-led and enables you to co-create your learning experience.

Lectures take a range of forms but generally provide a broad structure for each subject, introduce key concepts, and convey relevant up-to-date information. In seminars, you’ll have the opportunity to discuss specific themes or topics, to consolidate and get feedback on individual learning and to develop skills in oral presentation. Our workshops range from sessions using translation technologies to simulated professional scenarios. You will also undertake tailored placement opportunities, which are geared to your specific aims and aspirations. All sessions are delivered by internationally renowned specialists in their subject areas and experienced industry practitioners.

As well as the ongoing development of core academic competences, communication skills are developed across all sessions, where you will make individual contributions to group study, for example by responding to ideas or debating key issues with the group.

Participation in diverse learning activities, such as small-group discussions, debates, oral presentations, independent research tasks, and written assignments develops your intellectual and presentation skills.

The programme also offers talks by visiting scholars and professionals, ad-hoc events related to the translation industry or academia, and social events to support network development. Attending these events will enable you to broaden your understanding of issues that are key to this programme of study.

Assessment will consist of formative and summative assessment.

Formative tasks do not contribute towards your final degree classification but are designed to give you an opportunity to develop skills and practice for summative assessments. They enable you and your tutors to evaluate the development of your skills and progress in each module. Formative tasks will involve written coursework or may comprise individual student presentations.

Summative assessments contribute towards your final degree classification. During the taught stage, these will vary by module but typically involve written coursework and practical assignments such as translations, reflective commentaries, portfolios, and presentations involving various media.

Summative assessment in the dissertation stage comprises a dissertation or an Annotated Translation Project (ATP), which allows you to tackle an extended translation while reflecting on the challenges that your project poses.

Ultimately, this range of assessment types represents a unique offering that supports choice and allows you to show your abilities in a way that suits you.

You’ll work with the programme convenor to identify your key research interests and appropriate module selection. All module tutors will support your academic and professional development across the programme, encouraging you make use of the range of options available.

You’ll receive feedback on your work from accomplished professional translators, while our teaching team work closely with academic and industry-facing bodies across the language industry, both in the UK and internationally, allowing us to connect you with exciting global networks.

More widely, you will be assigned to a personal tutor, who is responsible for your pastoral care and academic development. You’ll also benefit from the individual supervision of your written assessments by members of staff with appropriate specialist research interests and be assigned to a dissertation supervisor based on your interests and the relevant staff expertise.

A range of other staff are available to provide further support, including professional services teams, specialist librarians, and a Disability and Diversity Officer who ensures that reasonable adjustments are made for students with disabilities.

Study skills are incorporated into the core Research Methods module, but you also have access to the university’s Academic Study Skills programme, delivered by the Academic Study Skills and Mentoring Team.

All modules within the programme make extensive use of the university’s virtual learning environment, Learning Central, where you can access discussion forums and find course materials, including recordings of lectures and links to related materials.

The programme convenor will also support you in your career planning, in partnership with the University’s Student Futures (careers) service. Other support services related to wellbeing, money matters, or disability can be accessed through the Centre for Student Life.

The Learning Outcomes for this Programme describe what you will achieve by the end of your programme at Cardiff University and identify the knowledge and skills that you will develop. They will also help you to understand what is expected of you.

On successful completion of your Programme you will be able to:

Knowledge & Understanding:

• Evaluate the core theories and concepts of Translation Studies and apply them to understand a wide range of translation practices and phenomena.
• Critically analyse how translation and translators shape identities, cultures, societies, knowledges, and economies.
• Understand the specific needs and requirements of a range of domains of translation practice and appreciate their place within the wider industry context.
• Design and develop an independently researched dissertation or translation project, employing appropriate and ethical analytical, critical, and practical methods.

Intellectual Skills:

• Apply translational thinking to question assumptions and reflect on your own positionality.
• Identify and apply a range of translation methods in an informed, effective, and contextually‑justified way, while critically appraising appropriate supporting resources.
• Drive your own learning and intellectual development through engaging with feedback and through iterative practice.
• Construct original argument in response to a substantial body of scholarship and/or an extensive piece of translational or creative practice.
• Exercise personal, intellectual, and academic integrity when pursuing knowledge and developing skills.

Professional Practical Skills:

• Critically evaluate the effectiveness of a range of technological resources related to translation (and more broadly).
• Complete translations and other translation‑related products and projects to a high standard, applying adaptability and critical judgement when faced with creative, technological, and professional challenges.
• Communicate to a high standard with professional, academic, and public audiences.
• Apply the principles of effective career planning to critically appraise the opportunities and challenges of employment in general, and careers in the language industry and academia in particular.
• Reflect critically on personal practice, identifying strengths, weaknesses, and areas for development.

Transferable/Key Skills:

• Work independently, taking initiative and consulting others as required to meet desired objectives.
• Communicate ideas clearly, effectively, and fluently, both orally and in writing.
• Apply critical reasoning and problem‑solving skills through discussion, analysis, and creative practice.
• Work collaboratively, contributing and developing your skills, negotiating interests and nurturing an inclusive ethos.