Universitat Pompeu Fabra
Undergraduate Studies

Bachelor's degree in Translation and Interpretation

Branch Arts and Humanities  
Duration Four academic years
ECTS credits 240 basic subjects: 62 (16 of which correspond to a stay abroad); compulsory subjects: 122; optional subjects: 48; end-of-degree project/dissertation: 8.
Languages English, French, German and Catalan sign language (depending on the subject). Students are recommended to have at least level B1 for their first language and A2 for their second, according to the Common European Reference Framework for languages.
Timetables   First year, morning; second year, afternoon; third year, morning, and fourth year, afternoon. If you meet the established requisites (family, professional, etc. reasons) you may apply to attend part time.
Places 100 places in English and 70 places between German, French and Catalan Sign Language
Price of first year € 1,425
Organised by Faculty of Translation and Interpretation

Presentation

Teaching goals

Translation and interpreting are areas of increasing interest. The globalisation process, the spread of new technologies, the development of education, together with the concern for democratising political systems, have increased the need for translation and interpreting, as well as the need for the production of computerised linguistic resources (translation programmes, terminological vocabulary, document forms, etc.), and, as such, professionals specialising in these fields are increasingly in demand. The degree in Translation and Interpreting provides up-to-date training in this professional growth sector and emphasises the most important aspects of philological studies (grammar, literary tradition, etc.) and the new linguistic disciplines (discourse analysis, terminology, computer linguistics, etc).

Course description

The degree of Translation and Interpreting is fully adapted to the European Higher Education Area and to the agreements drawn up in the Bologna Declaration and, as such, it is officially valid throughout Europe. The subjects are count for European credits (ECTS), which measure both class-contact hours and the work undertaken by student on their own account.

The degree in Translation and Interpreting provides opportunity for the following:

  • Receiving comprehensive and multi-disciplinary training in translation and interpreting: students will write and speak in both their mother tongues and in foreign languages. They will study towards a theoretical and practical command of target languages and techniques for oral and written communication in particular depth. If a student's only mother tongue is Spanish he/she will be assigned a specific linguistic track.
  • Becoming familiar with using computer resources and new technologies applied to professional undertakings in translation and communication.
  • Choosing from a wide range of optional tracks: legal-economic translation, scientific-technical translation, literary translation, translation and the media, reflection on translation, translation technologies, interpreting, interpreting of Catalan sign language.
  • Choosing between German, English, French and Catalan sign language as working languages.
  • Undertaking an external-company internship.

Skills acquired by graduates in Translation and Interpreting

The specific skills in the degree qualification are as follows:

  • Excellence in the written and oral command of the student's own language or languages.
  • Receptive and productive command, both written and oral, of two foreign languages.
  • Knowledge of foreign cultures and civilisations.
  • Specialist knowledge in one or more thematic areas.
  • Ability to translate texts of a general nature.
  • Ability to translate texts in at least one specialist area.
  • Ability to undertake liaison interpreting.
  • Ability to reflect on the workings of the language.
  • Ability to reflect on the workings of translation.
  • Ability to use computer tools applied to linguistic mediation, including a command of computer-assisted translation and localisation.
  • Skill in searching for and managing information and documentation sources.
  • Knowledge of the professional, legal and financial aspects of translation and interpreting.
  • Ability to edit and review texts.
  • Ability to design and manage linguistic projects.

Profiles

Translation and the Media
Specialised translation: Juridical-economic, Scientific-technical, Humanistic-literary
Translation Technologies
Interpreting Interpreting Catalan Sign Language
Reflection on translation  

Entrance test

If you wish to enrol in the Faculty with English as your language of access, you must pass an aptitude test. The test consists of summarising in Catalan and/or Spanish a lecture given in English and you must also do a simple writing exercise in English.

Consult the dates of the test on the UPF website at  www.upf.edu/factii

No test is required for access via the other languages

Stay abroad (Modern Language Course: Immersion)

In the first term of the second year, students will undertake a compulsory three-month stay at a foreign university. A team of lecturers/tutors will orversee this stay abroad during the first year under the terms and conditions of the student exchange agreements within the Erasmus/Socrates network and other agreements signed by the UPF. Students may apply for a grant to finance this stay abroad.

Career prospects

  • Translation of both a general nature and in specific professional areas: legal, economic, scientific, humanistic, literary, audiovisual, etc.
  • Interpreting of Catalan sign language
  • Interpreting in professional and social environments
  • Checking and correcting texts in the mother tongue and foreign languages
  • Language teaching and research.
  • Awareness of software and other computer products.
  • Administrative and documentary work in multilingual environments.
  • Work in the field of applied linguistics, linguistic consultancy and management and in technology applied to language in multilingual environments

Last updated 29-03-2012
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