Introduction to Translation Course

Spanish > English

About the course

This course - which we offer both in situ and as a distance course - is especially designed for people who are interested in becoming translators. Maybe you have tried a few translations, or maybe not. But your Spanish is good and you are keen on language. You are probably teaching but you would like another occupation, perhaps in addition to teaching, and another skill to add to your CV.

The course aims to introduce you to the skills and techniques which you need to translate well. By the end of the course you should have a basic level of competence which will enable you to take on translation work with confidence.

The course offers practical approaches to translation. It is based around topic areas, incorporating study of different text-types, style, use of dictionaries, text comparison, collocation, equivalents, and practical hints and tips.

The Internet is used both as text resource and as translation tool.

Course format

There are eight modules in total and students will have two weeks to complete each module. We offer three sixteen-week courses each year running from October to January, from February to May and from June to September.

The course is delivered by distance, using the International House 'virtual classroom' on the IH Online Training site. Our online classroom uses Moodle, the world's fastest growing e-learning platform.

The course has a Forum facility: the Forum is a chance for you to discuss your findings with your fellow course participants and with your tutors. Research shows that collaborative learning fosters the development of critical thinking and problem-solving skills through discussion, clarification of ideas, and evaluation of others' ideas.

Course content

Each module includes:

• An introduction
• A task (a text to translate)
• A post-task analysis (a model version, comments/analysis and research)
• An assignment (a text to translate)
• A model version (to be sent with the corrected assignment)

The eight modules are as follows:

• Module 1 – Film reviews
• Module 2 – The Internet
• Module 3 – Business 1 – The Stock Market
• Module 4 – Business 2 – Company Finance
• Module 5 – Science
• Module 6 – Law 1 – Civil vs Criminal
• Module 7 – Law 2 – Legal texts
• Module 8 – Literature

There will be a total of sixteen texts to translate as well as three exercises and reading for research.

Course dates & timetable

• October 2007 – February 2008
• February - June 2008
• June – September 2008

Prices

from October 2007: €325

Face-to-face course

We also run this same course in situ in Barcelona.