Interpreting and Translation Studies (ITS)

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 two Master of Arts tracks: Teaching of Interpreting and Interpreting and Translation Studies. The Interpreting and Translation Studies program offers two language tracks: Chinese-English and Spanish-English. The Chinese-English track is a full-time, in-person program requiring a minimum of 36 credit hours, designed to be completed over the course of two academic years. The Spanish-English track offers two modalities: a 30-credit, profession-oriented option and a 36-credit, research- and profession-oriented option. This degree can be completed in as little as two intensive semesters. The Spanish track offers greater flexibility, with full-time, part-time, and online options available.

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.

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.

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.

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
Communication
COM 655	Health Communication	3
COM 656	Health Communication: Patient-Provider	3
Linguistics
LIN 610	Sociolinguistics and Dialectology	3
LIN 680	Quantitative Text Analysis	3
LIN 683	Computer-Assisted Translation and Localization	3
Spanish
SPA 671	Contrastive Spanish/English Grammar and Stylistics	3
SPA 681	Advanced Translation Skills for the Modern Translator	3
SPA 682	Spanish-English Interpreting	3
SPA 683	Medical and Scientific Translation	3

Interpreting and Translation Studies

TIS 684. Internship. (3 h)

This internship requires 60 hours of shadowing, observing, and interpreting/translation work in a professional interpreting/translation setting in the student’s chosen field of interest.

TIS 731. Applied Interpreting Studies. (3 h)

This course explores connections between interpreting as a profession and the cutting-edge research in interpreting studies. It focuses on the intercultural and intersocietal aspects of the interpreter’s agency. Based on case studies in simultaneous, consecutive, remote and other modes of interpreting, this course prepares students to address practical issues such as clients’ expectations, education of users on AI-supported interpreting, and professional ethics in interpreting.

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. Critical Translation Competencies for the Language Industries. (3 h)

This course focuses on developing high-level translation competencies essential for successfully contributing to the contemporary language industries. Students will explore foundational concepts, pragmatic strategies, and the socio-political dimensions of translation, preparing them to critically assess and adapt their work to various contexts. By the end, students will possess the expertise needed to critically and effectively engage in the evolving landscape of modern language services and technologies.

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, Revising and Post-editing. (3 h)

This course delves into the critical aspects of machine translation and post-editing (MTPE), focusing on the nuances of refining machine-generated translations. Students will enhance their editing and revising, applying these to both machine-generated and human translations. The course emphasizes practical MTPE techniques, addressing accuracy and coherence, as well as more extensive edits to improve fluency and readability. Through hands-on exercises and real-world examples, students will be equipped to tackle the diverse editing challenges in the rapidly evolving field of machine translation and language services.

TIS 739. Transcreation in Global Marketing. (3 h)

As one of the fastest-growing areas of the translation industry, transcreation is often seen in marketing, advertising, political, literary, and entertainment arenas. However, misconceptions about transcreation abound. In this language-neutral course, students will gain insights into the challenges that this type of service poses and discuss how transcreation differs from other types of translation services. Students will develop and refine a practical transcreation skill set by completing complex real-life transcreation projects individually and as a team, where they understand the processes at play and the different roles involved.

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 Simultaneous Interpreting. (3 h)

This practice-focused course develops advanced Chinese-English simultaneous interpreting skills across domains like education, business, and healthcare using state-of-the-art booths and technology. Students will start with foundational techniques such as shadowing and attention management, then progress to domain-specific practices including remote interpreting, booth etiquette, and handling complex language elements. The course also emphasizes the use of glossaries and ethical considerations to prepare students for real-world interpreting challenges.

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 784. Applied Research Project I. (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, In Applied Research Project I, students will learn about general research methodology and receive individual guidance to choose between research project options.

TIS 785. Applied Research Project II. (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. In Applied Research Project II, students will complete their research project under the 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.

Academic Bulletin