Poll: Do you have a university degree specifically in translation or interpretation?
Thread poster: ProZ.com Staff
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Feb 1, 2015

This forum topic is for the discussion of the poll question "Do you have a university degree specifically in translation or interpretation?".

This poll was originally submitted by Tuulia Tipa. View the poll results »



 
Tim Drayton
Tim Drayton  Identity Verified
Cyprus
Local time: 12:20
Turkish to English
+ ...
No Feb 1, 2015

No, my first degree is in linguistics and I learnt my main source language through immersion. I have also acquired my background knowledge in my main areas of specialisation through a mixture of self-study and experience.

 
Jack Doughty
Jack Doughty  Identity Verified
United Kingdom
Local time: 10:20
Russian to English
+ ...
In memoriam
No Feb 1, 2015

I don't think there was any such animal in the early fifties, when I was of university age, not in the UK anyway. But in any case I was in the RAF at that time, and there I was taught Russian and gained a Civil Service Interpreter Certificate (I have never worked as an interpreter though).

 
neilmac
neilmac
Spain
Local time: 11:20
Spanish to English
+ ...
No Feb 1, 2015

Just a language degree (French and Russian), although I work mainly in ES-EN.

 
Maria Teresa Borges de Almeida
Maria Teresa Borges de Almeida  Identity Verified
Portugal
Local time: 10:20
Member (2007)
English to Portuguese
+ ...
No! Feb 1, 2015

My degree is in economics.

P.S. As there were no student-workers by then, it took me so long to obtain it that I have never used it formally…

[Edited at 2015-02-01 16:20 GMT]

[Edited at 2015-02-01 16:21 GMT]


 
Yvonne Gallagher
Yvonne Gallagher
Ireland
Local time: 10:20
Member (2010)
French to English
+ ...
yes, MA in Translation Studies Feb 1, 2015

My first BA was way back in '74, (in Spanish and English) returned to uni for a 2nd BA in French(awarded 2002) as I was teaching French but not officially qualified so needed the piece of paper, and returned to uni for third time for MA (awarded 2010) before launching full-time into translation

 
Sheila Wilson
Sheila Wilson  Identity Verified
Spain
Local time: 10:20
Member (2007)
English
+ ...
Don't have one in anything Feb 1, 2015

I'm a tad younger than Jack but I don't seem to remember absolutely everyone staying in education until their mid-twenties the way you seem to have to nowadays if you're to get a half-decent job.

When I left school in 1975, I was offered a place at SOAS, but I did a one-year bilingual secretarial course instead, so I could start earning. Of course, I'll never know how my life would have panned out if I'd done the degree but I'm happy with the way it's gone. It's a pain that I'm auto
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I'm a tad younger than Jack but I don't seem to remember absolutely everyone staying in education until their mid-twenties the way you seem to have to nowadays if you're to get a half-decent job.

When I left school in 1975, I was offered a place at SOAS, but I did a one-year bilingual secretarial course instead, so I could start earning. Of course, I'll never know how my life would have panned out if I'd done the degree but I'm happy with the way it's gone. It's a pain that I'm automatically excluded from some jobs though. Seems daft to me - surely 40 years of working life must count for something? Fortunately, there are plenty of clients who think it does.
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Julian Holmes
Julian Holmes  Identity Verified
Japan
Local time: 19:20
Member (2011)
Japanese to English
Not, per se Feb 1, 2015

Degree in Japanese, two years of which were very translation-intensive. We translated modern and classical literature - I mean the really old stuff going back centuries to over 1,500 years ago - and articles from magazines.

Even though I was surrounded by loads of university colleges offering a variety of languages and courses, I never heard the magical words "degree in translation or interpretation." I doubt that they were widely available at the time, ahem, about 40 years ago.
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Degree in Japanese, two years of which were very translation-intensive. We translated modern and classical literature - I mean the really old stuff going back centuries to over 1,500 years ago - and articles from magazines.

Even though I was surrounded by loads of university colleges offering a variety of languages and courses, I never heard the magical words "degree in translation or interpretation." I doubt that they were widely available at the time, ahem, about 40 years ago.

Small additions

[Edited at 2015-02-02 07:50 GMT]
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Edward Potter
Edward Potter  Identity Verified
Spain
Local time: 11:20
Member (2003)
Spanish to English
+ ...
I said no Feb 1, 2015

Let's see. I have a BA in English, a five-year Spanish degree from the Spanish Official School of Languages, a six-month post-grad diploma in translation from the University of Valencia, a one-week legal translation certificate, and lots of smaller stuff.

Does the six-monther qualify as a university degree?


 
Kuochoe Nikoi-Kotei
Kuochoe Nikoi-Kotei  Identity Verified
Ghana
Local time: 10:20
Japanese to English
Yes, MA in Translation Studies Feb 1, 2015

I can count on one hand the number of clients who have even asked, much less cared though.

 
Triston Goodwin
Triston Goodwin  Identity Verified
United States
Local time: 04:20
Spanish to English
+ ...
No Feb 2, 2015

I do have a wide variety of certifications and licenses in several fields of computer science and I just received my AA in business administration. Sadly, almost everything I spent thousands of dollars to learn can now be easily found on YouTube for free :/ Great for the world, but awful for my wallet.

 
Paulinho Fonseca
Paulinho Fonseca  Identity Verified
Brazil
Local time: 07:20
Member (2011)
English to Portuguese
+ ...
The first thing I looked for... Feb 2, 2015

Before changing from a 20-year-EFL Job I went back to university for a Degree in Translations - I had a degree in Language Teaching. I find it important to understand how things may flow from one language to another as well as alternative sources regarding each target language options.



 
564354352 (X)
564354352 (X)  Identity Verified
Denmark
Local time: 11:20
Danish to English
+ ...
Yes, but... Feb 2, 2015

I learnt more English during the eight years I lived in England before commencing official language studies than I did during a 3-year BA programme in Danish, English and Spanish business communication and translation. And I learnt more 'practical Spanish usage' during a 5-month stay as an exchange student in Mexico than during a 3-year MA programme in Danish >< Spanish translation and interpretation.

In other words, degrees are useful to some extent - and good for our egos - but n
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I learnt more English during the eight years I lived in England before commencing official language studies than I did during a 3-year BA programme in Danish, English and Spanish business communication and translation. And I learnt more 'practical Spanish usage' during a 5-month stay as an exchange student in Mexico than during a 3-year MA programme in Danish >< Spanish translation and interpretation.

In other words, degrees are useful to some extent - and good for our egos - but nothing beats hands-on immersion in foreign language cultures and practical, hard grafting as a translator.

We are like good wine: We get better as the years (of practical language usage) go by...
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Muriel Vasconcellos
Muriel Vasconcellos  Identity Verified
United States
Local time: 03:20
Member (2003)
Spanish to English
+ ...
Other Feb 2, 2015

My doctorate is in linguistics, and my thesis was on translation theory.

 
Mario Freitas
Mario Freitas  Identity Verified
Brazil
Local time: 07:20
Member (2014)
English to Portuguese
+ ...
No, Feb 2, 2015

Every time I mention this, those who do crucify me, but the best translators I know have degrees in other areas (other than translation, arts, and the like). I wonder why, but it's true.

Jorge Payan
 


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Poll: Do you have a university degree specifically in translation or interpretation?






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