BA Program in Translation and Interpreting Studies

 

The Department of Translation and Interpreting Studies at Boğaziçi University was founded in the 1983-84 academic year. Then named the Department of Translation and Interpreting, it was the first department in Turkey to offer education in translation and interpreting at undergraduate level. The name of the department was changed to Translation and Interpreting Studies in 2004.

 

The aim of the department’s BA program is to produce graduates who have advanced linguistic knowledge in Turkish and English, an in-depth understanding of the culture and institutions of both languages, are equipped with theoretical and critical skills as well as practical skills in the field of translation and interpreting, know at least one additional foreign language to a level at which they can translate from that language, and who are familiar with the subject matter and terminology of fields such as social sciences, political sciences, economics, literature and history. In the first three years of studies, all students follow the same curriculum, while in the fourth year they can specialize in either translation or conference interpreting.

 

Various written translation can be split into a number of categories, including literary translation (prose, poetry, drama), non-literary translation (translation of scientific and technical texts, social sciences and humanities texts, commercial texts, informative texts), and audiovisual translation. Each category of translation has its own specific characteristics and presents its own difficulties. The department’s faculty members have publications and research projects in all of these areas.

 

Our department provides students with the opportunity to develop their translation skills in a range of fields with courses on the translation of a wide range of different text types, including technical translation, legal translation, audiovisual translation and translating texts in the fields of archeology, art, economics and social sciences.

 

In the undergraduate curriculum, students take compulsory courses in written translation, such as Introduction to Translation and Translation Studies I and II, Turkish for Translators, IT for Translators, Technical Translation and Literary translation, and also have the chance to specialize in a range of different subject areas through elective courses including Translating Texts on Economics and Business, Translation of Prose Fiction, Poetry Translation, Audiovisual Translation, Song Translation, Translating Texts on Social Sciences, Translation of Archeological and Art History Texts, Legal Translation and Translating Texts on Political Science and International Law.

 

We can view interpreting in terms of the method — dialogue interpreting, consecutive interpreting or simultaneous interpreting — or the contexts in which it is carried out — conference interpreting, community interpreting, court interpreting or media interpreting.

 

Interpreting is divided into two major modes — simultaneous and consecutive — and contexts — community interpreting and conference interpreting. Community interpreting is a form of interpreting that enables people who do not speak the official language(s) of a country to access public services, social services and services in the fields of law, medicine and education. This form of interpreting is frequently used in courts and hospitals. Conference interpreting is carried out in conferences in fields such as international relations, politics, science or culture, and also at meetings held by international organizations such as the United Nations or the Council of Europe. Forms of interpreting that fall outside the definition of community or conference interpreting (e.g. bilateral business meetings) are referred to as ‘dialogue interpreting’.

 

Our department is a leader in Turkey in terms of education in both conference and community interpreting, and we have the longest-running undergraduate program in conference interpreting in the country. We were also the first department to introduce and develop a curriculum for courses in community interpreting.

 

Interpreting courses in our undergraduate program start in students’ second year. As well as taking our compulsory courses in interpreting, Introduction to Interpreting and Introduction to Consecutive Interpreting, students can also choose to follow elective courses in Community Interpreting and Introduction to Simultaneous Interpreting. Students who perform well in these courses can choose to take a screening test, and those who pass the screening test follow specialized courses in conference interpreting in their fourth year of studies.