MA Public Service Interpreting
The MA Public Service Interpreting (PSI) fills a gap in academic interpreter training throughout the UK. Postgraduate interpreting programmes have generally focused on conference interpreting for international business and supranational institutions such as the EU or the UN. However, recent migration movements have led to a burgeoning demand for interpreting in intra-social settings, including health care services, courts and police stations, immigration offices, local community and social welfare centres. In the UK, this type of interpreting has become known as ‘public service interpreting’.
Learning from professionals and academics in a supportive environment, you will be entering a programme which is dedicated to the specific requirements and complexities of PSI, with a focus on the wide range of relevant legal settings (the courts, the police service and the immigration service).
Through a combination of background lectures and practice-based modules, the programme covers the principles of interpreting and translation, the professional background for public service interpreters, and offers regular language pair-specific interpreting and translation practice in small groups.
As a special feature, the programme pays particular attention to emerging forms of ‘remote’ interpreting via telephone and videoconference link. These forms of interpreting are an increasingly important feature in PSI (for example, to speed up legal proceedings or to facilitate medical aid in a multilingual society), for which adequate and informed training is urgently needed. We are the first to teach remote interpreting based on research conducted in this field.
The programme is offered in English paired with Arabic, Chinese, French, German, Greek, Italian, Norwegian, Polish, Portuguese, Russian, Spanish, Swedish and Turkish, according to demand.
Entry standards
Native English speakers: a UK First or Second class honours degree in a relevant language. Speakers of other languages: an equivalent degree in English or other relevant subject.
English language requirements
Non-native speakers of English will normally be required to have IELTS 6.5 or above, with 7.0 or more in writing (or equivalent) and a minimum of 6.0 in all other components (or equivalent).
Please note that the University of Surrey offers English language programmes and is also an IELTS Test Centre.
MA Public Service Interpreting - structure and modules
Module Titles
Modules (including optional modules)
- Applied Interpreting Skills
- Interpreting and Translating in Legal Settings
- Legal Settings and Institutions
- Interpreting Studies
- Public Service Interpreting Trends and Issues
Compulsory Modules
Applied Interpreting Skills (language pair-specific)
This module is concerned with spoken-language interpreting between English and your chosen language in business-related settings. It provides you with the practical knowledge and skills required to perform interpreting tasks professionally and effectively in a wide variety of relevant communicative situations.
Interpreting and Translating in Legal Settings (language pair-specific)
This module focuses on the practice of public service interpreting and translation between English and your chosen language. It helps you to learn what is required of a public service interpreter and enables you to interpret and translate competently and confidently in legal settings such as police stations, courts and immigration situations.
Legal Settings and Institutions
This module provides an introduction to the English legal system and covers in detail the structures and procedures of those legal institutions that are most relevant in a public service interpreting context. The module enables you to familiarise yourself with the major principles, underlying concepts and associated terminology of English law.
Interpreting Studies
This module provides a systematic framework for understanding the major principles and challenges of interpreting, the role of the interpreter and the nature of comprehension, decision making and production processes involved in interpreting. It enables you to apply this framework to practical interpreting tasks.
Public Service Interpreting Trends and Issues
This module introduces you to the professional dimension of public service interpreting and to current trends in the interpreting landscape including remote interpreting. In addition, it provides you with opportunities for observation and/or hands-on experience of interpreting in real-life situations and hands-on exploration of different forms of remote interpreting (via telephone and video-conference link).
Dissertation
This module allows you to specialise in an aspect of the programme of particular interest by writing a topic-based dissertation or doing a commentary based on an interpreting assignment. Successful completion of the module requires close collaboration with a supervisor and good planning and organisation skills.
Optional Modules
In addition to the compulsory modules, you will be able to select optional modules according to your specific interests. You may, for example, study the role of language in different social settings, broaden your view on translation studies or extend your specialist interpreting or translation expertise (subject to language proficiency and demand).
The Postgraduate Certificate, which is offered on a part-time basis, focuses on interpreting and translation in a PSI context and on legal settings and institutions.
Subject information
Why study in the Centre for Translation Studies?
You will be taught by both academic staff and experienced practising professionals in a supportive and welcoming atmosphere.
Our academic staff enjoy international reputations in their particular field and bring the insights of their research work into the classroom. You will be challenged to think and develop your own ideas.
Our extensive team of tutors – professionals who work as translators, interpreters, subtitlers and audio describers – bring their knowledge of the marketplace, its conditions and expectations to practice-based classes in which interaction and feedback are the keys to progress.
Our students of translation, interlingual subtitling and interpreting take part in practice-based classes in language-specific groups for which assignments are set throughout each semester. You will get individual feedback on a regular basis from an expert tutor in your chosen language pair throughout the academic year.
Postgraduate students are fully integrated in the life of the Centre for Translation Studies (CTS) and benefit from being part of a larger community in the Faculty of Arts and Human Sciences. Research students enjoy the use of a dedicated postgraduate research room.
MA Public Service Interpreting - entry standards
Entry standards
Native English speakers: a UK First or Second class honours degree in a relevant language. Speakers of other languages: an equivalent degree in English or other relevant subject.
English language requirements
Non-native speakers of English will normally be required to have IELTS 6.5 or above, with 7.0 or more in writing (or equivalent) and a minimum of 6.0 in all other components (or equivalent).
Please note that the University of Surrey offers English language programmes and is also an IELTS Test Centre.
Planned intake
Up to 15
Start date
SeptemberProgramme director
MA Public Service Interpreting - fees and funding
Fees
Public Service Interpreting:
UK/EU - £5,740
Overseas - £11,550
Funding
Departmental scholarships are available on a competitive basis as a contribution towards fees. Further details on request.
MA Public Service Interpreting - professional context
Professional recognition
Students may join the Chartered Institute of Linguists (CIoL) as student members.
Accreditation
Links with Professional Associations
The Centre for Translation Studies is proud of its active links with the Institute of Translation and Interpreting (ITI) and the Chartered Institute of Linguists (CIoL). The Centre is a corporate member of the ITI and supports its activities by contributing to courses in continuing professional development. By working together with the ITI and the CIoL, the Centre is keen to promote all branches of translation and interpreting and to work towards establishing and maintaining the highest possible standards.
MA Public Service Interpreting - teaching
Teaching hours
Teaching: 10–12 hours per week
Private study: 28–30 hours per week
Dissertation: approximately 600 hours over three months
Staff perspective
Dr Sabine Braun
My interest in audiovisual media has also led me to conduct research into audio description for visually impaired people as an emergent form of intersemiotic translation.
Last but not least, I am interested in new methods of language and interpreter training, and have developed a video corpus of spoken professional English (ELISA) which is regularly used in our interpreting classes.
Recent research projects:
At present, I am leading the EU project AVIDICUS, which assesses the quality of videoconference and remote interpreting in legal proceedings.
I also contributed to the EU project BACKBONE, which created video corpora in several languages as well as corpus-based interpreter training material.
Most recently I have started the EU-funded project IVY, which will allow students to practise interpreting and collaborate with other students in a 3D virtual environment.
MA Public Service Interpreting - learning
MA Public Service Interpreting - graduate profile
MA Public Service Interpreting - more
Strengths of the Centre for Translation Studies
- We combine state-of-the-art teaching methods with up-to-date insights from translation and interpreting research.
- Our programmes are taught by a combination of academic staff and practising professionals.
- We maintain close relations with the profession: CTS has forged close links with the Institute of Translation and Interpreting and the Chartered Institute of Linguists and has an extensive network of visiting professionals.
- We place equal emphasis on translation/ interpreting theory and practice.
- Our programmes prepare you for the professional market as well as research; we help you to develop the professional skills required to start a career in your chosen field of translation/ interpreting or research.
- We offer regular language-pair-specific practice throughout the academic year, taught in small groups.
- Our programmes enable you to study according to your specific interests; each programme combines a range of compulsory modules with a variety of options.
- We provide excellent academic support facilities.
- We use state-of-the-art professional translation software; our software includes translation memory, terminology management, subtitling and audio description software and is accessible 24/7.
- We have state-of-the-art interpreting labs.
- We offer a supportive environment for learning.
Research in the Centre for Translation Studies
CTS enjoys an international reputation for its scholarship and research across a range of areas in translation and interpreting studies.
Founded in 1982, the Centre offers a full portfolio of programmes from undergraduate through Masters to doctoral level. The Centre is staffed by scholars who are actively involved in the national and international research scene. Colleagues regularly participate in international conferences, give invited lectures, publish in peer-reviewed journals, produce edited volumes on topical themes with leading publishers, and write monographs.
Research Projects
AVIDICUS–Assessing Videoconference Interpreting in the Criminal Justice System
Videoconference technology is now widely used in criminal proceedings to speed up cross-border communication, reduce costs and increase security. The emerging settings – for example, video links between courtrooms and witnesses abroad, between police stations and prisons – also involve bilingual communication and therefore require interpreters to be integrated into the videoconference setting. The project (led by CTS) aims to investigate the viability and reliability of videoconference and remote interpreting in criminal proceedings.
BACKBONE–Corpora for content-and-language-integrated learning
The Backbone project (led by the University of Tübingen) aims to compile a multilingual corpus of authentic spoken discourse in a range of cultural and professional contexts to be used for the development of language proficiency in interpreter/translator training. CTS is primarily concerned with research into the pedagogical foundations of corpus compilation/exploitation and will create a corpus of British regional and sociocultural varieties and enrichment materials for business and community interpreting contexts. The project corpora will be piloted with CTS interpreting students.
Seminars and Events
CTS regularly organises a varied programme of international events.
A two-day seminar on ‘Audio Description for Visually Impaired People: Towards an Interdisciplinary Research Agenda’, sponsored by the Institute of Advanced Studies, was initiated and hosted by CTS. It provided an interdisciplinary framework for dialogue and future research, and brought together thirty participants from eight countries.
‘Translation and Opposition’ was an international one-day event organised by CTS, under the auspices of the publisher Multilingual Matters Ltd. The aim of the event was to bring together specialists from various institutions in the UK and other European countries to discuss and debate the conflictive aspects of translation.
The 21st anniversary of Surrey’s MA in Translation was marked with an event entitled ‘The Translator as Professional and Scholar: Challenges and New Horizons’. Guests included a senior representative of the Institute of Translation and Interpreting, and over 70 students from both undergraduate and postgraduate CTS programmes.
The Royal Embassy of Norway in London sponsored a two-day International Translation Symposium hosted by CTS staff.
‘In So Many Words: Language Transfer On The Screen’, an international conference on audiovisual translation, was co-hosted by CTS and the Hispanic Research Centre at the University of Roehampton.
Linking Academic Disciplines
The European and International Studies Research Centre (EISRC) was created in 2007 to link the different research groups focusing on these subjects at the University of Surrey.
The aims of the EISRC are:
- To promote collaboration and mutual support through research mentoring and monitoring, internal peer review of grant applications and book proposals/draft articles
- To organise conferences and to stimulate multidisciplinary grant bids and other forms of cooperation
Members of the EISRC attract funding from a wide range of sources including the AHRC, the ESRC, the British Academy and the EU, and many are regarded as experts in their field.
The management committee comprises: Susan Breau (Law), Chris Flood (Politics), Colin Grant (Sociology) and Margaret Rogers (Centre for Translation Studies) – with accountability to the Associate Deans for Research in the Faculty of Arts and Human Sciences and the School of Law.
Translation Studies 1+3 Taught Masters Leading to PhD
This route enables a single combined application for study on a taught Masters programme with further study for a research degree. The initial application should include details of the proposed taught Masters programme and the broad area of the proposed future research. Offers for the 1+3 programme will include progression criteria that will be applied at the end of the taught element, usually in the form of an overall percentage and a minimum performance in the dissertation. This pathway is primarily intended for the MA in Translation Studies but can be considered for other programmes.
English Language Support
Mastery of English is vital for success in our translation and interpreting programmes. The Department’s intensive academic English courses are available for students who begin their degree programmes in the autumn.
These pre-sessional classes are available in four- to ten-week sessions between July and September as well as from October to June. The University sometimes asks for completion of our ten-week pre-sessional programme as a condition of entry.
Support is also available to you throughout the academic year in study skills and academic writing. You will receive individual attention from our experienced and friendly staff to help you get the most from your degree programme.
MA Public Service Interpreting - apply
You can apply for this programme online using the link(s) below. We recommend making an application as soon as you can, even if you do not have all the necessary supporting information ready at that time.
As part of the application process, you will be asked to enter a username and password. If you've used our application system before, please enter your details or click the forgotten password link.
If you are a new user, you will need to create a username and password by clicking the New User button.
Start date
SeptemberPlanned intake
Up to 15
Programme length
PG Certificate: 9 months part-time
PG Diploma: 9 months full-time
MA: 12 months full-time
Programme director
For general enquiries
T: 0800 980 3200 or
+44 (0)1483 681681
E: pg-enquiries@surrey.ac.uk
For admissions enquiries
T: 01483 689178
E: lts-pg@surrey.ac.uk