Master of Arts
Overview
This program prepares professionals for working in the growing language industry as it relates to a variety of fields—foreign affairs, media, business, law, and especially healthcare delivery. The current lack of interpreters and translators has led the U.S. Department of Labor to project an 18 percent increase in employment over the next decade. The program in interpreting and translation studies will not only help meet this demand, but also responds to Wake Forest’s “Pro Humanitate” motto, as its graduates will serve underprivileged communities while at the same time contributing to the quality of mainstream healthcare delivery and demonstrating the strong connections between liberal arts education and public service. The program offers four Master of Arts tracks: Intercultural Services in Healthcare; Teaching of Interpreting; Interpreting and Translation Studies, Spanish-English and Chinese-English. The degree can be earned through an intense two-semester course of study. The program admits students on a full-time basis only.
For students who are not able or ready to commit to earning a Master of Arts degree, but who would like to focus on an area of interest, the program also offers three Graduate Certificates and one postgraduate Certificate in specialized areas. Pairing various certificates provides a comprehensive package for students to reach their career goals in a more flexible, customized manner.
Master of Arts Tracks
The Interpreting and Translation Track is a language-specific, professionally oriented and research-based program that prepares interpreters and language specialists for working in the language industry. Graduates of this program will have a solid foundation in applied interpreting and translation studies, analysis of contextual meaning and extra-linguistic aspects of communication, cross-cultural awareness, sociolinguistics and dialectology, localization and terminology management, and advanced technologies for linguistic services. This program is especially appropriate for those who intend to pursue a doctorate in this field.
The Teaching of Interpreting Studies Track is a non-language-specific program that prepares graduates to be instructors in community or college-level interpreter training programs. It is the only program in the Northern hemisphere to focus on methodology of teaching interpreting in the medical context. Graduates of the program will not only provide their students with a set of techniques on how to interpret, but they will also teach, mentor, and raise awareness about the interpreting practice. The curriculum lays the foundation for understanding the interpreting encounter, the co-conversational process and sociocultural determinations. It also includes a broad interdisciplinary research component, which is absent from the training seminars/workshops of other, non-academic programs.
The Intercultural Services in Healthcare Track is a non-language-specific program and is the first such specialization in the U.S. It prepares graduates to enter managerial positions in culturally sensitive healthcare delivery areas such as bilingual employment, patient relations, translation and interpreting services, health discourse and health messages. The curriculum provides a solid foundation in cross-cultural health communication, sociolinguistics, applied interpreting and translation studies, written and oral discourse analysis, medical translation, advanced technologies for linguistic services, localization and terminology management, organizational behavior, and health promotion as related to ethnicity.
Foreign Language or Special Skills Requirements
The Interpreting and Translation Track: Spanish-English. Applicants who do not have a college or high school degree from a Spanish speaking country are required to take an online Spanish proficiency exam.
The Interpreting and Translation Track: Chinese-English. Applicants who do not have a college or high school degree in Chinese (Mandarin) may be subject to a written exam and/or oral interview.
The Teaching of Interpreting Studies Track. Proven interpreting experience is required for this program.
The Intercultural Services in Healthcare Track. Foreign language competency is desirable, but not required for this program
In addition to the courses listed under Interpreting and Translation Studies (TIS), the following list of courses in Linguistics and Spanish also count towards the completion of the required hours for the Masters or the Certificate programs:
Course List
Code |
Title |
Hours |
| |
COM 655 | Health Communication | 3 |
COM 656 | Health Communication: Patient-Provider | 3 |
| |
LIN 610 | Sociolinguistics and Dialectology | 3 |
LIN 680 | Language Use and Technology | 3 |
LIN 683 | Language Engineering Localization and Terminology | 3 |
| |
SPA 671 | Contrastive Spanish/English Grammar and Stylistics | 3 |
SPA 681 | Spanish Translation | 3 |
SPA 682 | Spanish/English Interpreting | 3 |
SPA 683 | Medical and Scientific Translation | 3 |
Interpreting and Translation Studies
TIS 684. Internship. (1-3 h)
The internship requires 60 hours of shadowing, observing, gathering data and interpreting/translation work in a professional interpreting, translation, educational or healthcare setting, depending on the student’s chosen track.
TIS 731. Applied Interpreting Studies. (3 h)
This course explores connections between research and practical issues in studies of interpreting (simultaneous, consecutive, bilateral and other modalities). It focuses on the interdisciplinary of the interpreting field and, based on case studies, examines the interface between interpreting as a profession, research in interpreting studies and the teaching of interpreting. It includes a research project.
TIS 732. Methodology of Teaching Interpreting. (3 h)
This course discusses syllabus design and lesson planning for teachers of interpreting in a field-specific context. It focuses on the development of interpreting skills, including use of recent technological advancements. It explores classroom management options and strategies for providing feedback to students. It also covers internship design methods, including an on-site observation of various interpreting settings.
TIS 733. Applied Translation Studies. (3 h)
This course examines the theory and practice of translation from a variety of linguistic and cultural angles. It introduces key concepts such as relevance, equivalence, skopos, back-translation, and explores critical approaches, depending on the translated text types.
TIS 734. U.S. Heritage Speakers. (3 h)
This course provides a comprehensive introduction to the fields of heritage languages, bilingualism, and bilingual education from a cross-disciplinary perspective. It covers a wide variety of topics, including individual and societal conceptions of heritage and dominant languages, general bilingual educational issues, bilingualism and multilingualism as they relate to identity, political and ideological issues, Spanish in the U.S. among many others.
TIS 735. Discourse Organization and Interpreting. (3 h)
This course will explore the links between social situations, interlocutors, and the functional aspects of communicative events. The course will focus on several important methodological approaches that have been developed to do discourse analysis in as much as they highlight important features of translation and interpreting. We will review the varied traditions around meaning-making, including sociolinguistics, conversation analysis, critical discourse analysis, and discursive psychology. Readings will tie in traditional topics in discourse analysis with specific issues in translation and interpreting. This course will link theory to practice. One session per week will be devoted to practical, hands-on activities using real world data in various formats:written transcripts, aural speeches, or videos.
TIS 736. Organizational Behavior and Interpreting. (3 h)
This course is designed to apply organizational behavior theories into the interpreting field in order to bring about a better understanding of how individual interpreters or interpreter teams actually behave in large-scale project/organizational setting. Particular emphases are placed on interpreter's roles and on how to evaluate interpreter's performance, motivate interpreters, and maintain a high level of interpreting services. This course prepares students to enter managerial positions in translation/interpreting companies or organizations.
TIS 737. Remote Interpreting. (3 h)
Through discussion-oriented sessions, simulations and testing, and talks given by guest speakers, this language-neutral course examines the origins and evolution of remote interpreting, including over-the-phone interpreting, video-mediated interpreting and remote simultaneous interpreting in community and conference settings. Students will explore issues in professionalism and ethics as well as future trends in remote interpreting.
TIS 738. Editing and Revising for Translators. (3 h)
This course covers various aspects of the editing of translated English text, from copy editing to more substantive forms. Rules of grammar, orthography and principles of composition are reviewed in the context of specialized discourses. Focus is placed on practical issues and editing tasks commonly faced by translators.
TIS 742. Spanish Specialized Translation. (3 h)
Develops and refines a practical translation skill set within specialized domains, for example, technology, law, international relations, media. Students gain familiarity with textual conventions that govern source and target texts in specialized contests and deepen their understanding of both Spanish and English as language for specific purposes.
TIS 743. Spanish-English Dialogue Interpreting. (3 h)
In this course students will develop advanced interpreting skills through bidirectional short consecutive translations in some major domains, including business, education, social care, and law. The course focuses on practicing active listening, delivery techniques, glossary preparation, public speaking skills, interpreter's professionalism and ethics in dialogue interpreting.
TIS 750. Contrastive Chinese-English Grammar. (3 h)
Advanced study of structures and vocabulary. Exploration of general principles behind 'atom-like' rules and the main lexical dichotomies, and how implications for meaning help in choosing the best option. Discussion of structures that are usually taught as idiomatic but are more compositional than previously thought: subject-predicate vs. topic-comment, verb-particle, verb-complement, serial verb construction, relative clause construction, reduplication, imperative, negation, adposition, etc.
TIS 751. Chinese-English Translation. (3 h)
Development of advanced translating skills through the practice eror bidirectional translation with a strong emphasis on Chinese into English translating. Some back translation exercises will be offered as part of this course.
TIS 752. Chinese-English Specialized Translation. (3 h)
Develops and refines a practical translation skill set within the specialized domains such as medicine, science, business, etc. In addition, students will gain familiarity with textual conventions that govern source and target texts within these domains and deepen their understanding of both Chinese and English as language for special purposes. Apart from translation proper, students will also be able to analyze texts for register, style, tone and content to determine the most appropriate process to achieve the highest quality translation. Finally, students' research skills will improve through the examination of available resources and the creation of domain-specific resources.
TIS 753. Chinese-English Dialogue Interpreting. (3 h)
In this course students will develop advanced interpreting skills through bidirectional consecutive translations in some major domains, including business, education, social care, healthcare and law. The course focuses on practicing active listening, delivery techniques, glossary preparation, public speaking skills, interpreter's professionalism and ethics in dialogue interpreting.
TIS 755. Chinese-English Interpreting. (3 h)
Chinese-English Interpreting develops strategies for community, conference, escort and other types of interpreting. Current employment opportunities in the field of interpreting will be also briefly presented. In class work will focus on learning and practicing interpreting techniques. Individual, at home, preparation - besides the assigned readings and interpreting exercises - will also include a strong terminology enhancement.
TIS 760. U.S. Landscapes: Systems, Culture and Norms. (3 h)
This course is designed for international students to increase their knowledge of US socio-political structures and Anglo-American cultural identity through the study of U.S. history, politics and popular traditions.
TIS 770. Multimedia Translation. (3 h)
This language-neutral course examines concepts, characteristics, tools and software of multimedia translation, a distinctive and booming sector in the arena of translation and localization. Students will explore translation challenges encountered and creative techniques adopted in translating films, TV shows, documentaries, anime, etc.
TIS 785. Applied Research Project. (3 h)
The applied research project will establish a rigorous connection between the practical experience in the workplace and the more theoretical experience in research and in the classroom. The applied research project will be divided in two components: during the fall semester (3 credit hours) students will learn about general research methodology and receive individual guidance to choose between the research project options. During the spring semester (3 credit hours) students will complete the research project under supervision of a project director.
TIS 786. Special Topics. (1-3 h)
Examination of topics not covered in the regular curriculum. May be repeated for credit.
TIS 789. Independent Study. (1-3 h)
Independent research project to meet the needs and interests of selected students to be carried out under the direction of a faculty member. Must be approved by program director. May be repeated for credit.
Program Director Olgierda Furmanek
Associate Director Diego Burgos
Professors Olgierda Furmanek, Luis Gonzalez
Associate Professors Diego Burgos, Cesar Gutierrez, Jerid Francom, Tiffany Judy, Zak Lancaster, Stephanie Pellet
Teaching Assistant Professors Xijinyan Chen, Carlos A. Fasola, Brett Rosenberg, Chaowei Zhu