Translation & Intercultural Communication MSc/PgDip/PgCert
Practical Translation Workshop 1 MODLANG5042
- Academic Session: 2026-27
- School: School of Modern Languages and Cultures
- Credits: 20
- Level: Level 5 (SCQF level 11)
- Typically Offered: Semester 1
- Available to Visiting Students: No
- Collaborative Online International Learning: No
- Curriculum For Life: No
Short Description
This course offers a multilingual translation workshop, where students working across different languages will translate texts for feedback from peers and tutors. Students will examine how human-led translation work differs from and can use machine translation in order to better understand the current languages industry. The programme is intentionally co-creational, that is, decided with the students based on their interests, but it would be expected to cover using technology in translation, writing reflective commentaries, and translating across a range of genres and discourses (e.g. business, literary, legal, medical, technical).
Timetable
10 weeks x 2 hours as scheduled on MyCampus.
Excluded Courses
None
Co-requisites
None
Assessment
The standard assessments for this course are:
■ Oral Presentation - 10 minutes - 20%
■ Reflective Commentary 1 - 2000 words - 40%
■ Reflective Commentary 2 - 2000 words - 40%
If required, for instance where a disability prevents a student from undertaking a specific method of assessment, the following alternatives are available:
■ Oral presentation: recorded presentation (video or audio) / One-to-one presentation with staff.
■ There is no alternative to the Reflective Commentaries but extensions to the deadlines can be offered as reasonable adjustment (students should follow the usual process for extensions).
Further reasonable adjustments may be provided where necessary. Students are encouraged to consult with the course convenor. 
Course Aims
The course aims to:
■ Develop students' translation skills in a multilingual environment, and in relation to changes in technology, increasing AI literacy.
■ Encourage reflection on translation practice, in relation to existing scholarly work in the field and known standard practices.
■ Develop students' research skills in relation to translation practice.
■ Ask students to discuss translation practices across language barriers and explain their thinking orally and in writing.
Intended Learning Outcomes of Course
■ By the end of this course students will be able to:
Critically analyse their own and others' translation practice in relation to relevant scholarship.
■ Reflect on their translation practice, using knowledge of standard practices and relevant scholarship.
■ Examine how translation and other technologies can be used critically in the production of translated texts, or why they might be avoided.
■ Communicate complex ideas orally and in writing in relation to translation.