Translation Studies MSc

Our MSc Translation Studies will enhance your practical skills in, and theoretical understanding of, translation as an activity. You will have the opportunity to focus on two languages in addition to English, making the University of Edinburgh the ideal place to study translation.

Throughout our programme, we encourage critical thinking on language use and translation and an understanding of the factors which impact translation practice and the field of Translation Studies.

We will introduce you to key concepts in translation theory and discuss how to apply them in translation practice.

This will help you sharpen important professional skills, such as:


- undertaking research


- thinking and writing analytically


- understanding texts in different genres and how to translate them


- writing commentaries and essays to deadline


- developing oral and visual presentation techniques


- using a range of resources


The programme will also broaden your understanding of issues relating to translation, such as gender, institutional power relations, technological advancements (including AI), and colonialism.

Languages
We offer a wide variety of languages, from Arabic to Norwegian, with the opportunity to focus on two of them in addition to English.

Browse our full range of languages offered and find out about language pairs

Community
Our MSc Translation Studies draws on the expertise of research-active teaching staff and translation and interpreting practitioners from across the School of Literatures, Languages and Cultures, as well as visiting speakers.

You will be part of an international community of students and a friendly, close-knit department with an excellent PhD programme, its own seminar series, and many industry and cultural partners in the city of Edinburgh.

The University of Edinburgh library holds some two million borrowable volumes and subscribes to the 'Bibliography of Translation Studies'.

Translation and technology
We closely follow the developments in machine translation and generative AI, and how they might influence the teaching of translation. We also look to the language service industry and professional associations to understand how translators use AI and what opportunities and challenges these technologies might pose for linguists.

Our option course, Technology and Translation in the Workplace, focuses in part on the field of machine translation. The computer-assisted translation (CAT) tools we use, such as RWS Trados, now incorporate not only translation memory systems, but also machine translation and other forms of automation as standard components. In our classes, we examine the impact of these technologies on the workflow and on the role of the translator.

We continuously adapt our teaching to include discussions on technologies as they develop. For example, we also cover machine translation and generative AI in other courses, particularly in relation to creativity, translation practice and research methods, and ethical and legal issues (such as data usage or transparency).