Joint MA programme in Translation
at the Department of English and American Studies
and the Department of Romance Studies
Faculty of Classical and Modern Philology
Sofia University “St. Kliment Ohridski”
Directors of the Joint MA Programme in Translation:
Professor Vessela Guenova, D. Litt.
Department of Romance Studies
Associate Professor Maria Pipeva, Ph.D.
Department of English and American Studies
Programme Description
The Joint MA Programme in Translation is a full-time taught programme lasting 3 semesters and worth 90 ECTS credits.
The Programme offers the following language combinations:
- English – Bulgarian
- French – Bulgarian
- English+French – Bulgarian, and
- French+English – Bulgarian.
The aim of the Programme is to equip students with the scholarly knowledge and practical skills and competences, including those related to the specifics of the local and international market of translation services and IT resources. The great number of compulsory choice (elective) courses offers students a wide range of options for specialisation in different areas of the translation profession. All courses, as well as the Translation Internship, allow students to get practical training in a real-life working environment and by working with experienced professionals.
The Programme welcomes students with very diverse BA backgrounds. Our statistics show that over the last 8 years, out of the students we have admitted, 70 % have a background in the working languages studies, 5.7% have a background in other languages studies (from Swedish to Greek to Czech), and 24.2 % graduated in other BA studies (economics, finance, engineering, law, international relations, psychology, biology, philosophy, cultural studies, European studies and other). About 7 % of our students are mature professionals with a strong motivation to enhance their skills and competences.
The programme welcomes students with disabilities and provides them with special accommodations to fit their unique needs (e.g. adapting course attendance, exam and internship modalities).
The programme is oriented towards written translation but it also offers students the opportunity to acquire initial skills in consecutive and simultaneous interpreting.
Admission Requirements
- A Bachelor’s degree.
- Applicants for self-financed study must present proof that the average grade from their studies is not lower than 4.00.
- Applicants with a different academic background must provide a certificate of high proficiency (CEFR level C1-C2) in written and spoken English or French (or both).
- The admission exam, held in September, is in two parts.
- The first one is a written in-house exam. Applicants must translate a short general-purpose text in English or French into Bulgarian (applicants for specialization in both English and French have to translate texts in each language). The use of paper dictionaries is allowed.
- Those who have successfully passed the written part of the exam can proceed to the oral part. It is conducted as an interview in English and/or in French, in the course of which the applicants must show their language competence, general knowledge, communication skills, and motivation to pursue the programme.
The lowest average grade from the two parts required for enrolment in the programme is 4.50.
DEGREE COMPLETION: DEFENCE OF MASTER’S THESIS
THESIS DEFENCE SESSIONS: APRIL AND OCTOBER
