Welcome to our first issue of the Language Exepress!

 1. What inspired you to do an MA?
 

Like most language students, I’ve always had a passion for language, culture and travel, but at eighteen I didn’t want to commit myself to a full language degree. I was cajoled into doing a BSc instead because everyone around me said science degrees are more employable which, as it turns out, is an urban myth.

Language wasn’t fully abandoned though. My undergraduate degree included a fieldtrip to southern Spain, where I translated my friends’ dietary requirements to a waiter, and another fieldtrip to Mexico, where I translated our forest guide’s advice on medicinal plants and a brochure on invasive bees.

After graduating I moved to Palermo where I picked up Italian. Of course as the native English speaker I was often asked to translate, and that’s when I started thinking “wouldn’t it be great to just do this full-time?”. But I also began to really reflect on the obvious issue of translation – equivalence. We’ve all struggled at some point to find the words in one language to express one simple word in another language, so if I was going to be a translator I needed to be fully equipped to deal with this.
 

 2. What does the course at Exeter involve?
 

The Translation Studies MA prepares students to deal with translation issues that I’d never even considered before. The theory module explores translation’s links to fields far beyond linguistics  – from gender studies to post-colonialism.

After we’ve problematized something in the theory module and explored theoretical solutions, we get to put translation techniques to the test in the practice module and discuss our own practical with other students in language workshops.

The whole course is designed to be as engaging as possible and help us become professionals. Through guest speakers alone I’ve already collected a handful of business cards I can rely on for advice when I’m eventually looking for work, and thanks to the creative assignments we get to do I’m as ready as I’ll ever be to pitch an idea to a publisher.
 

 3. What are the most enjoyable and most challenging aspects?
 

The unavoidable truth is that doing an MA is challenging. Grappling with philosophy was one of my biggest challenges, and the workload is intense so being organised (or making an attempt to be organised) is key. Having said that, seminars are an opportunity for students to discuss the week’s topic, so if you’re not entirely clear on something, like “what is Derrida going on about?”, one of your peers can break it down for you. The practical translation workshops are the best part because everyone has produced a different translation of the same source text, and we get to talk about why that is.
 

 4. What advice would you give to language students to do well in their degree?
 

From what I’ve seen language students’ passion seems to give them this momentum for learning about their subject which carries them down a rabbit hole of discovery. I would say just trust your interests to bring you to where you need to be, as long as you’re fascinated and keep learning you can’t go wrong. I’ve explored anything I’ve wanted to, from opera surtitles to feminist rewritings of Plato, and I even managed to fit Dr Suess into one of my essays!
 

 5. What do you want to do once you finish your MA?
 

The idea of being a freelance translator sitting on a beach somewhere working with my laptop still hasn’t lost its appeal, but with the other skills gained through the MA I’ve noticed my options growing.  Not only am I now confident enough to pursue several types of translation jobs, I can also move beyond translation into publishing, communication, or marketing.. and I’m actually more employable to science fields with my MA than I was with just a BSc.