Studies & Degrees in Technical-Scientific Translation
Choose where you would like to study Technical-Scientific Translation:
LatviaThe United StatesDegree courses in Scientific and Technical Translation respond to the increasing demand for translators, who specialize in the fields of science and technology. These translators play a key role in helping people all over the world study and benefit from the latest developments in science and technology, transcending the language barrier. These courses are usually offered at post graduate level and are aimed at graduates of scientific and technical disciplines. A Masters degree in Scientific and Technical Translation helps in developing a student’s ability to translate scientific and technical texts (usually from English to other languages or vice versa)
A study in Scientific and Technical Translation aims at equipping students with the skills necessary for translation, as well as helping them to perfect their scientific and technical communication/writing. The course also develops suitable working methods and gives students the opportunity to learn about this new and rapidly growing professional sector.
Courses for Studying Scientific and Technical Translation
Course duration and modules differ from one university to another. Candidates need to be flexible and preferably have a cross-curricular and inter disciplinary background. This would enable them to work on a wide range of texts in future.
Scientific and Technical Translation courses usually include modules to address the following objectives:
- The study and analysis of technical and scientific language, with a focus on terminology, writing styles and linguistic issues related to such translation
- Resolution of general problems that arise during scientific and technical translation. Sources, application and assessment of information resources
- Acquiring basic scientific and technical knowledge for improved comprehension of texts
- Consolidation of the skills required for writing specialized texts
- Familiarization with the latest tools and technologies to help in the translation process- assisted and automatic translation, search engines and database access, terminology management software and software localization
- Learning about the scope and career opportunities in professional translation in local as well as internationals centre
Institutes offering these courses usually accept graduates from both- technical and scientific degrees, as well as, those with translation and humanities degrees. These programs are aimed at science and technology graduates, who wish to be employed in writing and translation, and translation and philology graduates, who wish to specialize in scientific and technical translation.
Graduates, holding a bachelor’s degree or an equivalent can apply for post-graduate courses in Scientific and Technical Translation. Some institutes do accept candidates without a bachelor’s degree, based on their professional experience and professional academic achievements. Candidates should also have good language skills in the languages they wish to translate texts to and from. They might be required to submit language qualification certificates or take certain tests to demonstrate their language levels.
Career Options for Scientific and Technical Translators
A professional technical translator needs to work on a wide variety of technical material. These may include medical reports, research papers, patent and copyright documentation, reports on conferences and official proceedings, web pages and contents and even publicity texts. Hence job opportunities available to trained technical and scientific translators are plenty. Knowledge of multiple foreign languages gives an added advantage to any translator. Owing to the nature of their work, rapid scientific progress and increasing importance of knowledge sharing- the demand for technical translators is always increasing. Experienced scientific translators usually find working as a freelancer to be a lucrative option. However, the most popular employment options for technical and scientific translators are in translation agencies as interpreter, consecutive translators, proof-readers, and copywriters along with mainstream translation duties.