The year abroad in the BA Translation

The year abroad is normally compulsory after level 2 for all language students. Spending a year abroad gives you the opportunity to get immerged in the language(s) you study and improve your level of proficiency significantly. It also gives you an internal view of the culture in a country where the language is spoken. However, there are cases in which you can be exempted from the year abroad (see below: Exceptions).

For BA Translation students there are a number of special considerations in the choice of year abroad arrangements.

We have exchange agreements with some excellent translation schools and universities with specific translation degrees (see below: Partner institutions). The experience you can get at these institutions is much more useful than other ways of spending your year abroad. It is therefore strongly recommended to use this opportunity. It is not possible for BA Translation students to work as a teaching assistant in their year abroad.

The culture of professional translation differs substantially from one country to another. Normally the year abroad will be split between two institutions so that you can get the experience of both. This is not an absolute rule, however, and exceptions are possible (see below).

The order of the visits to the two countries is usually determined by the semester dates. Because of the large discrepancies between different countries in this respect, you may have a break between the two parts of your year abroad. Overlaps are avoided.

In each of the two semesters you are required to get approximately 30 ECTS (corresponding to 60 credits in Britain).

Exceptions

Exemption from the year abroad can be applied for if you are a native speaker of the language(s) you study or if you are a mature student and cannot spend a year abroad for practical reasons. If at all possible, it is still recommended that mature students go on their year abroad. Please note that other students in your year will have had this extra opportunity and you will be at a disadvantage in final year if you skip the year abroad.

Spending the entire year in one location is possible for BA Translation students who have native-like proficiency in one of the languages they study. This typically applies to students of Welsh, but can apply equally to, for instance, a student who did most of their school in another European country. Note, however, that there are also other considerations than language proficiency alone.

In general, we always try to find optimal, personalized solutions for the year abroad for each student, within the framework provided by institutional regulations.

Partner institutions

Ecole de Traduction et d'Interprétation (ETI), Université de Genève

ISIT, Paris

Fachbereich Angewandte Sprach- und Kulturwissenschaft (FASK), Germersheim, Johannes-Gutenberg-Universität Mainz

Institut für Translation und Mehrsprachige Kommunikation (ITMK), Fachhochschule Köln

Departamento de Traducción e Interpretación, Universidad de Granada

Facultad de Traducción e Interpretación, Universitat Pompeu Fabra, Barcelona

Scuola Superiore di Lingue Moderne per Interpreti e Traduttori (SSLMiT), Forlì, Università di Bologna

Vertaalacademie, Hogeschool Zuyd, Maastricht

Institut Filologii Angielskiej, Uniwersytet im. Adama Mickiewicza, Poznan