Spanish to English translation studies in a Spanish speaking country
Thread poster: pablobabe
Aug 22, 2010

Hi,

I'm researching post-graduate degrees in translation and interpretation at masters level and would love to study in a Spanish speaking country. Can anyone tell me how feasible it is to study Spanish to English translation in a Spanish speaking university? Or does anyone know of courses which accept non-native Spanish students or even that are in international style universities? I am particularly interested in studying in Spain or Mexico.

Thanks,

Aislin
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Hi,

I'm researching post-graduate degrees in translation and interpretation at masters level and would love to study in a Spanish speaking country. Can anyone tell me how feasible it is to study Spanish to English translation in a Spanish speaking university? Or does anyone know of courses which accept non-native Spanish students or even that are in international style universities? I am particularly interested in studying in Spain or Mexico.

Thanks,

Aisling
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Henry Hinds
Henry Hinds  Identity Verified
United States
Local time: 12:15
English to Spanish
+ ...
In memoriam
Chile Aug 22, 2010

Check out Chile. Its educational institutions have a fine reputation, and many do offer translation sudies. They seem to welcome foreign students. I do not think Mexico has nearly as much to offer in the field. I don't know about Spain, but I would think they would have a lot to offer.

Chile also has excellent wine which doesn't hurt.


 
Soonthon LUPKITARO(Ph.D.)
Soonthon LUPKITARO(Ph.D.)  Identity Verified
Thailand
Local time: 01:15
English to Thai
+ ...
The only job demands Aug 22, 2010

Study entrance requirements on qualification is another situation. But let's imagine. For a non-native speaker, translation among many languages is quite messing. I do JP-EN-TH-GE-FR-IT-ZH translation only to serve local rush or urgent demand. My translation into native language is serving globally. I guess that your future translation jobs will serve local Irish demands, not international ordering.

Best regards,

Soonthon Lupkitaro


 
Parrot
Parrot  Identity Verified
Spain
Local time: 19:15
Spanish to English
+ ...
Depends on how you intend to go about it Aug 22, 2010

Welcome to the proz.com community forum, Aisling! I'll try to orient you about Spain.

pablobabe wrote:

I'm researching post-graduate degrees in translation and interpretation at masters level and would love to study in a Spanish speaking country.


On that level (post-grad) I'm afraid it's and/or. I still haven't seen translation AND interpretation combined in an MA. Someone more up-to-date about this, please correct me if I'm wrong.

Can anyone tell me how feasible it is to study Spanish to English translation in a Spanish speaking university? Or does anyone know of courses which accept non-native Spanish students or even that are in international style universities?


That said, anyone who passes an admissions test can enroll in the state schools, as a general rule. These schools generally teach direct translation (for Spanish natives). In Barcelona (UAB), however, there are inverse subjects - please get in touch with me directly through my profile if you want to consult the matter with one of the inverse professors from the UAB.

If you've been admitted into an exchange program, you'd do best to consult the school authorities before taking the admissions test. I know of someone who didn't make the initial lists (not a Spanish native) but was admitted, having passed another competitive test when applying for state sponsorship in an exchange program. In that sense, the system can be flexible. (Once again, someone please update this information).

That said, and so you'll know the beaten path, it's not a recommended practice to take degrees in inverse translation/interpretation. But having said that once again, I did, and got away with it. You could probably call that an "informed decision". You see, I was already working in translation to English and halfway through a French> English MA when I was offered the opportunity (I passed an exam for an exchange program). And even faced with the limited course offers at that time, I figured I'd learn more fence-sitting on the other side, so to speak, than absorbing the limited diet that I was being fed in the direct translation courses. It was a choice between an orthodox method, and total immersion with the knowledge that I already had. As it turned out, when it came to the practical part, there were more institutions requiring native English in target.

As Dr. Lupkitaro points out, in global practice, you don't really get to apply what you learn in inverse. But it certainly gives you a long head-start in your own direct translation/interpretation work.

What I've said for translation does not apply to interpretation courses given in facilities equipped and endowed for multilingual students. Access to these facilities is over the EMCI programme ( http://www.emcinterpreting.org/ ). Note that some private universities claim to, and even can approximate the offer (for a pretty penny).

Best,
Cecilia


 
Lesley Clarke
Lesley Clarke  Identity Verified
Mexico
Local time: 12:15
Spanish to English
In Mexico Aug 22, 2010

I'm pretty sure there aren't any serious courses for Spanish into English in Mexico, but there is a Master's in Translation offered by the Colegio de Mexico, possibly the top post-graduate university in the country.

 
JaneTranslates
JaneTranslates  Identity Verified
Puerto Rico
Local time: 14:15
Spanish to English
+ ...
How about Puerto Rico? Aug 22, 2010

The University of Puerto Rico offers an MA in translation. There are occasional seminars in interpreting and opportunities for on-the-job training, but it's not part of the regular curriculum.

PR is part of the U.S., so a U.S. student visa would be required. With that, one can travel freely between PR and the U.S.

Native English speakers are welcome. The qualifying exam (for the degree) and the thesis can be done English>Spanish, Spanish>English, or French>Spanish. The
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The University of Puerto Rico offers an MA in translation. There are occasional seminars in interpreting and opportunities for on-the-job training, but it's not part of the regular curriculum.

PR is part of the U.S., so a U.S. student visa would be required. With that, one can travel freely between PR and the U.S.

Native English speakers are welcome. The qualifying exam (for the degree) and the thesis can be done English>Spanish, Spanish>English, or French>Spanish. The thesis is almost always a translation, with translator's notes, of a portion of a published book.

The professors are all working translators and fluent in, at least, English and Spanish.

A student from Ireland would be a very welcome novelty!


Jane
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Bilbo Baggins
Bilbo Baggins
Catalan to English
+ ...
EU funding Aug 22, 2010

One advantage of Spain is that you might get EU funding to study here.

 
pablobabe
pablobabe
TOPIC STARTER
Thank you! Aug 25, 2010

Thank you for your responses that's definitely given me a clearer perspective. Chile and Puerto Rico both sound like interesting option especially as I lived for nearly a year in Chile. I'll keep up the research and let you know if I come across anything.

Saludos,

Aisling


 
Ronald van der Linden (X)
Ronald van der Linden (X)  Identity Verified
Mexico
Local time: 12:15
German to Dutch
+ ...
Mexico Aug 30, 2010

In general, most, if not all, universities do not require the student to be a native speaker. However, the do expect is a good level of Spanish (if in LA/Spain) in order to carry out the part of the education where you are required to translate into Spanish.

Colegio de México (public university in Mexico City, already mentioned in this thread, is regarded as the best university in Me
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In general, most, if not all, universities do not require the student to be a native speaker. However, the do expect is a good level of Spanish (if in LA/Spain) in order to carry out the part of the education where you are required to translate into Spanish.

Colegio de México (public university in Mexico City, already mentioned in this thread, is regarded as the best university in Mexico, they have a 2-year translation master (http://www.colmex.mx/docencia/detalle_grados.jsp?id_grado=10). I had a look at two other excellent universities, "Tec de Monterrey" (http://www.itesm.edu/) and IberoAmericana (http://www.uia.mx/), but I could not find anything on translation.

The UNAM, the largest university of Mexico, has a language center CELE, where a 2-year translation course/diploma is offered: http://www.cele.unam.mx/ (go to: docencia and select traduccion/interpretacion)

More information on options in Mexico has this link: http://mx.answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20100107171112AA4zfeX (mentioning UNINTER in Cuernavaca and Centro Universitario Angloamericano)

Hope I was able to provide some additional information to your research.
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Spanish to English translation studies in a Spanish speaking country






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