The RESONANT team have compiled a model syllabus of an MA course in Institutional Translation. Apart from a common core, the course outline also comprises options corresponding to specific needs or preferences. It is supplemented with extensive bibliography.
An abridged version of the syllabus is given below.
Course outline: Translating for International Institutions
RESONANT+ (Research Collaboration in the Area of Institutional Translator Training), 2024
| Course name | Translating for International Institutions |
| Course type | Combined (lectures and practical training) |
| Course duration | 12 weeks, 90 minutes per week |
| Number of credits | 2–6 ECTS, depending on the relevance of the course for the study programme and the assessment criteria |
| Study level | MA |
| Prerequisites | At least one practical course in non-literary/specialised translation |
Course description
The course introduces students to institutional translation, with special emphasis on EU texts. Students learn how to produce translations that comply with the standards and guidelines of the given institution. As regards the EU, the course provides an introduction into its institutional structure, competences and text types (legislative, non-legislative, public-oriented). Terminological and phraseological competences are developed with the help of available multilingual databases and corpora. Students gain an understanding of the social role of the institutional translator, client-specific translation strategies and editorial rules, the use of IT tools in the translation process, qualitative standards of translation and the ethics of translation for the institution. Practical training includes translation into the students’ L1, translation revision, post-editing machine translation, terminology search, text summarising and translation analysis. The content of the course is inspired by the requirements defined by the EMT network.
Course objectives
Upon completion of this course, students will be able to:
