UMD Launches a Sorely-Needed Translation and Interpreting Program

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Global Watchtower

Common Sense Advisory Blogs

Posted by Nataly Kelly on December 3, 2012 in the following blogs: Interpreting, Translation and Localization
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As we look back at 2012, the year has given the language services industry plenty of reasons to celebrate – strong growth rates, a positive job outlook, spikes in volume, and good sales figures as most companies head into 2013. We have a piece of important news as we approach the year’s end – a brand-new graduate degree program at the University of Maryland (UMD). We interviewed Dr. Shawn Parry-Giles, the interim director of the program, to learn more.

Here are some of the details:

Class size. For the first year, the program hopes to attract 48 students, and is prepared to accommodate upwards of 60 in the following few years.

Languages. Starting in fall 2013, the program can accommodate students of all languages. One language-specific track (Chinese<>English) is already available, and more will be added depending on student interest and enrollment, but the school hopes to attract students from a variety of tongues.

Faculty. Thanks to its location near Washington, D.C., the program has already had interest from interpreters and translators working at the IMF, the U.S. Department of State, the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, and Pan-American Health Organization, and other U.S. government and multilateral institutions. The program anticipates having many such instructors who will contribute their real-world professional experience to the program.

Emphasis. The program will fuse interpreting and translation with UMD’s existing offerings in communication studies. In addition to translation and interpreting coursework, students will study intercultural, health, political, and business communication. As Dr. Parry-Giles pointed out, “While the Graduate Studies in Interpreting and Translation program is a professional studies program that focuses on the practice of interpreting and translation, we think that one hallmark of the program is the integration of communication theory and practice with interpreting and translation and vice versa.” Indeed, this approach holds great promise and makes the program unique.

Why does this new offering matter in the broader context of the market? The U.S. hugely lags Europe in translation and interpreting education, despite its need for language specialists in government and commerce. One of our recent reports, “Translation Future Shock,” identified problems for recruiting quality staff in this area, pointing out that this challenge only stands to grow as time goes on.

Europe has 54 – yes, fifty-four – graduate degree programs in translation. It also has 17 institutions that form part of the consortium for a master’s program in conference interpreting. In contrast, U.S.-based graduate education opportunities in the field are sparse. The California-based Monterey Institute of International Studies (MIIS) is one of the few schools to offer multiple translation-focused graduate degree programs. Kent State University in Ohio offers both a master’s and a doctoral degree in translation. Both MIIS and Kent State include localization in their offerings, making graduates of these two institutions prized assets, albeit too few in number, for recruiters in the software space.

A small sprinkling of other programs can be found throughout the United States, but most of these focus primarily on literary translation, such as the Ph.D. in Translation Studies at Binghamton University, and the University of Texas at Dallas. More recently, the University of Illinois has also announced a master’s program in translation and interpreting, but its website does not yet indicate what its focus will be. Sadly, some of the language degree programs in the U.S. that would feed graduate programs for translation and interpreting have been decimated by budget cuts.

Many graduate degree programs for sign language interpreters exist in the United States, but Americans who wish to obtain graduate degrees in interpreting for spoken languages do not have as many to choose from. Indeed, the Monterey Institute is the only school to offer an accredited graduate degree program in conference interpreting.

The problem? Monterey is a long way away from where most of the conference interpreting jobs are found, on the East Coast of the United States. How big of a problem is this? To give Europeans an idea of the extent of this inconvenience, someone who lives in Washington, DC would have to move 2,900 miles (or 4,667 kilometers) in order to get a degree at MIIS. This is the same distance between Oslo, Norway and Damascus, Syria. So, to say that the D.C. area needed a graduate degree program in translation and interpreting is, well, an understatement.

If you work at a language service provider or organization that buys translation and interpreting, this announcement matters. Educational programs are critical, not only because they develop the labor pool for your industry, but because they shape the future of the field. One suggested resolution for your company in 2013? Reach out to your local educational institutions and build a relationship. You can recruit from their pools of graduates, create internships, sponsor research projects, and find other ways to partner with the schools that are developing your next generation of employees and customers.

Admission information for the UMD program, which starts in Fall 2013, is available here. Individuals interested in applying are also welcome to contact Dr. Parry-Giles.

And, if you’re a school that has news to share about your work in the translation and interpreting field, tell us about it.

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