Should the decision where to study Int/Transl depend on where I want to work later? Thread poster: Marie Safarovic
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Marie Safarovic
Russian Federation
Local time: 06:39
Russian to German
+ ...
Dear everyone,
last year I studied towards the European MA in Conference Interpreting at the Universidad de La Laguna. Even though I made good progress, it was not quite enough to pass the final exams.
Rather than repeating the whole course, I decided to fulfill a dream: I moved to Russia and am currently learning Russian with great dedication. Not only have I fallen in love with the language, but also with Russia and its people. To cut a long story short: I am hoping ... See more Dear everyone,
last year I studied towards the European MA in Conference Interpreting at the Universidad de La Laguna. Even though I made good progress, it was not quite enough to pass the final exams.
Rather than repeating the whole course, I decided to fulfill a dream: I moved to Russia and am currently learning Russian with great dedication. Not only have I fallen in love with the language, but also with Russia and its people. To cut a long story short: I am hoping to add Russian to my language profile. (yes, it is already added on my Proz Profile, but I am not looking for employment at the moment, so fear not) I know that it is an ambitious plan but I cannot be talked out of it.
I am planning to study Interpreting again; this time I want to do it in combination with Translation though.
Since I can see myself living and working longer term in Russia, I wondered if a Russian degree would be my best option or if I should study in the UK rather.
I am currently in the process of contacting various unis about practical issues, mainly language combinations. It is quite disappointing to see that many degrees offer students to work only from one source language into one target language, but there are a handful in the UK where you can at least work from two source languages.
Languages are not everything though, so I would like to also enrol for a long distance course that would teach me specialist knowledge (and vocabulary) in a relevant field, but so far I have not found anything like that. I am interested in politics, history (not relevant, I know) more than anything, but could dedicate myself to economics or law instead.
So, my questions are:
Would you advise me to study in Russia (provided I find a university that offers my language combination) or in the UK?
Do you have any suggestions for a long distance programme that teaches sufficiently profound knowledge of a translation- relevant subject (see above)
Many thanks in advance
Marie ▲ Collapse
| | | | | If you opt for the UK do it fast | Jun 5, 2011 |
Hello Marie.
Beware that fees for postgraduate studies in the UK are likely to go up by quite a bit in the near future as Universities are losing their government subsisdies! The prices from 2012 are likely to be much more expensive even for EU citizens who fall under the "home fees" category.
I am not aware of any UK MA though that combines both translation and interpreting.
Where I work at London Metropolitan we have separate pathways for interpreting and translation as thes... See more Hello Marie.
Beware that fees for postgraduate studies in the UK are likely to go up by quite a bit in the near future as Universities are losing their government subsisdies! The prices from 2012 are likely to be much more expensive even for EU citizens who fall under the "home fees" category.
I am not aware of any UK MA though that combines both translation and interpreting.
Where I work at London Metropolitan we have separate pathways for interpreting and translation as these are quite different skills-
Do check our Interpreting MAs, they are very good and the course leader is positively inspirational
http://www.londonmet.ac.uk
I am not quite sure if Russian is available on a regular basis (it was this year) - but we also have links with Moscow State University so that may be worth checking.
Another option is to take some of the Chartered Institute of Linguists examinations as a stand alone candidate... if you are interested in Law, the Diploma in Public Service Interpreting may be a good option. We offer preparation courses for these running for one or two weeks.
Good luck,
Marion ▲ Collapse
| | | | Marie Safarovic
Russian Federation
Local time: 06:39
Russian to German
+ ...
TOPIC STARTER | no hasty decisions | Jun 5, 2011 |
Dear Marion,
thanks for your reply. Yes, I heard about the problem with tuition fees in the UK. Netherless, I am not going to make a hasty decision since this time I want to do the right thing.
I agree with what you say about interpreting and translation being two different skills and therefore initially I was going to opt for interpreting only. However, after a long chat with the course leader from Heriot Watt Uni, it became clear to me that it is hardly realistic to f... See more Dear Marion,
thanks for your reply. Yes, I heard about the problem with tuition fees in the UK. Netherless, I am not going to make a hasty decision since this time I want to do the right thing.
I agree with what you say about interpreting and translation being two different skills and therefore initially I was going to opt for interpreting only. However, after a long chat with the course leader from Heriot Watt Uni, it became clear to me that it is hardly realistic to find employment with interpreting only.
And I am also aware that after a year´s study I am not automatically a skilled translator or interpreter.
Anyway, to come back to the point: One of the main problems I had at La Laguna was the fact that I was constantly being assessed by non native speakers. In the end, the reason why I failed was "lack of fluency in my mother tongue", which is the credit you get for living abroad for too long and having no contact to a skilled interpreter with the same A language as you.
However, I cannot retake the course in Germany or a German speaking country because it is not allowed to study Int/Transl there if you have previously tried and failed. (stupid but true)
So the decision is between Russia and the UK really, as I am not interested in returning to Spain. It is quite likely I will still have the problem with my mother tongue, or that it in fact worsens. But I am thinking of spending some months back in Germany, doing an internship and speaking German on a daily basis to get it back up to scratch.
Thanks for your advice on the law course. I will invistigate this- but two weeks seems an extremely short time to me?!
Maybe I should post in the Russian forum? It is just that I work as a teacher here in Russia and all I hear from my students about Russian universities is very negative, so I am a little biased.
Hoping to hear more opinions
Regards from Moscow
Marie ▲ Collapse
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