Master's degree Translation and Interpretation Track Specialised Translation and Localisation
field(s) of training :
Arts, Literature, Languages
diploma level :
Master's degree (five-year degree)
duration of the program :
2 years
Course overview
You’re interested in international communication? You’re proficient in French and in other foreign languages? You enjoy translating, writing, reviewing and rewriting texts, and are not afraid of new technologies? This writing, language and technology skills are great assets to access various positions in translation or writing.
With the master’s in Translation and Interpretation, you will specialise in Specialised Translation and Localisation, and thus be trained in every aspect of specialised translation. Legal, technical, business, scientific… Every field needs experts in translation and writing!
The master’s provides training in various languages:
- 1st language: French
- 2nd language: English
- 3rd language: German, Spanish, Italian, Russian
This two-year full-time programme trains you in translation, localisation, and technical writing, allowing you to acquire skills useful in many different professional fields: translation project management, web writing, post-editing of machine translations, video game localisation and computer-assisted translation tools…
Highlights
Since June 2024 and for the next five years, the master’s in Translation and Interpretation specialised in Specialised Translation and Localisation has joined the European Master’s in Translation (EMT). Awarded by the European Commission’s Directorate-General for Translation, the EMT is a quality label for master’s programmes in translation that meet agreed professional standards.
The master’s in Translation and Interpretation provides:
- Course contents and activities based on Norman, national, and international economic resources and interests
- Courses taught by
- A teaching and research team specialised in professional translation
- Translation and writing professionals
- Digital tools used by translation professionals: SDL Trados, Wordfast, corpus tools, content management systems, machine translation tools…
- Meetings and discussions with translation professionals, through round-table discussions or other events
- Extracurricular activities including seminar days and conferences of researchers in translation and translation studies
The curriculum also includes professional experiences to discover various fields of application of translation:
- In the 1st semester of Year 1, you will attend a course on multimedia translation, a blooming field
- In the 2nd semester of Year 1, you will put your skills in translation, reviewing, writing and subtitling into practice with a supervised project. If you want to specialise in subtitling, the master’s works with Cinéréél documentary film festival. Your professional experience is guaranteed!
Application requirements
Entry requirements
A master’s in Translation does not teach the languages of study: hence you need to master the languages before the programme in order to acquire techniques in translation and writing.
As such, to enter the master’s, you should present the following language proficiency requirement:
- French (level required: C2, you’re fluent in the language, you’re a native speaker)
- English (level required: C1, you’re fluent in the language, you’re autonomous)
- A third language (level required: B2, you’re experienced in the language)
Language proficiency requirements
Minimum French proficiency level required: C1
Minimum English proficiency level required: B2
Specific conditions
Entry requirements for Year 2
If you have completed Year 1 of this master’s, you will automatically access Year 2.
If you have completed Year 1 of another master’s in Translation, with French as a first language, English as a second language, and a third language among these offered by the master’s, you can also apply to Year 2.
Course structure
Courses
- Take place on site in campus 1, within the Faculty of Foreign Languages of the University of Caen Normandy. Some courses can take place online.
- Amount to 16 hours a week, completed by personal study time and supervised projects.
- Are completed by a supervised project in Year 1 and a compulsory internship in Year 2.
Course units
The master’s in Translation and Interpretation’s main courses focus on:
- Translation theories
- Language improvement for second and third languages
- Translation practices (from second second and third languages to first language) in legal, business, technical and scientific fields
- Corporate communication and copywriting
- Technical and scientific writing and communication
- Computer science and information-seeking tools
- Introduction to French law
- Web content localisation (websites, applications and games, content management systems…)
- Machine translation (MT) and post-editing, reviewing, proofreading
- Computer-assisted translation (CAT) and project management: Wordfast, SDL Trados
- Translation services and project management
- Introduction to multimedia translation (subtitling)
- Introduction to corpus tools
- Documentation review and synthesis
Internships and placements
The master’s programme includes a compulsory internship, in a company or a laboratory, in France or abroad. Depending on the situation, remote internships may be arranged. The internship takes place in the 2nd semester of Year 2, and lasts between 8 weeks and 6 months. You can do your internship in
- Translation agencies
- Communication services within an institution or a private company
- Translation service within a public service
- Language expertise agency
- Multimedia translation agency
Both internships will be evaluated through detailed written report and an oral presentation of this report.
Coursework and assessment
The course lasts 2 years and is divided in 4 semesters, each comprising several courses units. For each semester and in each unit, coursework is graded on a scale from 0 to 20, 20 being the best grade. Examinations can be held through coursework or through final exams at the end of each semester in some course units. Grade compensation is organized without eliminatory marks and on the basis of the general average obtained in every course unit:
- Over each semester
- Over the 2 semesters of a same year
To successfully complete a semester, you must have an average mark of at least 10 points out of 20. If you have not completed your semester, you can retake the courses units you failed; you do not have to retake the courses in which you have obtained at least 10 points out of 20.
Language
- French
- English
- Spanish or Italian or Russian or German
Study abroad
Language proficiency, organisation, flexibility, curiosity… These qualities are all required from translation professionals. Studying or doing an internship abroad are great opportunities to enrich your linguistic, cultural and professional background by experiencing first-hand another culture!
To do so, the internships of the master’s in Translation can take place abroad, and you can study abroad as part of university exchanges through networks and programmes such as the Quebec student exchange programme (BCI), the ISEP and Asia Exchange, allowing you to travel in various destinations: Africa, South America, Asia, Australia, Canada, United States of America, Europe, United Kingdom (including Warwick and Birmingham)
Is going abroad expensive? It may be, depending on the destinations. You can go abroad for less than 500 euros, and you can benefit from cumulative financial supports (including scholarships).
When can I go abroad? Most students go abroad in Year 3, for a year or for the second semester. To do so, you need to apply for an exchange during the previous year.
You want to learn more about financial supports or discover other ways to go abroad? Read more (all resources are in French) on the dedicated page of the Faculty of Foreign Languages and or that of the Service for the international mobility programmes, which co-organises study exchanges and international internships. You will also discover the experiences of other students who took these opportunities!
Learning outcome
By the end of this course, you will be able to
- Translate and solve translation problems from your second and third languages to your first language
- Write specialised texts in French and provide accurate writing and editing solutions according the field
- Manage and lead projects in translation, localisation, technical writing in changing and complex contexts
- Management post-editing and reviewing projects in French and English
- Communicate in a professional way with your clients for any tasks, translation-related or not
- Use specialised digital tools applied to translation (CAT and MT), as well as the tools used in technical writing and web writing
- Localise web contents, interfaces and video games
- Use corpus tools (exploitation, SEO, alignment…)
- Subtitle with an easy-to-use software
Further study
Once you’ve obtained your master’s degree in Translation and Interpretation, you can pursue doctoral studies if you specialise in one of the following research fields:
- Translation studies
- Terminology
- Terminography
- Natural language processing
Careers
You can choose the field in which you want to use your expertise in translation! As soon as a field takes part in international exchanges, a translator will be needed. Beyond the most well-known fields (law, technical, business…), translation can be found in many industries:
- Administration
- Communication
- International relations
- Law mediation
- Cultural mediation
- Content creation
- Video game localisation
- Subtitling
- Dubbing
Notable positions include:
- Translator
- Technical writer
- Terminologist
- Editor
- Proof-reader
- Translation project manager
- Multimedia translator
- Copywriter
- Publisher
Address
Université de Caen Normandie
UFR LVE · Langues vivantes étrangères
MLI · Maison des langues et de l’international
Esplanade de la Paix · CS 14032 · 14032 CAEN cedex 5
France
Course leader
formation : Ineke Wallaert · ineke.wallaert@unicaen.fr