List of modules from University of Malaga, Spain

UMA01: Theoretical Approaches to Translation Studies (3 ECTS)

Obligatory module in the 1st semester

This module will cover translation from a theoretical strand. It will provide a historical overview of main trends and approaches within contemporary translation theory, e.g., the sociolinguistic approach, the communicative approach, the linguistic approach, the literary approach, and the semiotic approach, among others. The actual translation process will be analysed as a problem-solving task within various theoretical frameworks.

Learning outcomes

  1. Demonstrate an in-depth knowledge base of specific topics within the areas of translation studies and interpreting studies.
  2. Demonstrate a critical understanding of the published literature and current debates in these areas.
  3. Demonstrate self-direction and originality in formulating research questions about relevant research topics of interest, and in selecting and applying appropriate linguistic methods to successfully address them.

Assessments

  1. Essay assignments
  2. Written and/or oral examinations  
  3. Oral presentations  
  4. Active participation in seminars/tasks

UMA02: Research Methods in Translation Studies (3 ECTS)

Obligatory module in the 1st semester

The aim of this module is to approach the student with the methodologies and research techniques applied to Translation and Interpreting. It will also cover the analysis of the different academic genres, e.g., PhD theses, master dissertations, scientific articles, and proceedings, among others. Students will be introduced into key issues of academic writing in English with the aim of acquiring good academic research and writing skills.  

Learning outcomes

  1. Demonstrate an in-depth knowledge base of specific topics within the areas of translation studies and interpreting studies.
  2. Demonstrate a critical understanding of the published literature and current debates in these areas.
  3. Demonstrate self-direction and originality in formulating research questions about relevant research topics of interest, and in selecting and applying appropriate linguistic methods to successfully address them.

Assessments

  1. Essay assignments
  2. Dissertation or other output from research/project work
  3. Oral presentations  
  4. Active participation in seminars/tasks

UMA03: Ethical, Professional and Legal Aspects of Translation (3 ECTS)

Obligatory module in the 1st semester

The content of this module will be focused on three main areas: the study of different ethical approaches in Translation and Interpreting Studies, the study of professional aspects, and the study of intellectual property rights and other legal issues.

Learning outcomes

  1. Demonstrate an in-depth knowledge base of specific topics within the areas of translation studies and interpreting studies.
  2. Demonstrate a critical understanding of the published literature and current debates in these areas.
  3. Demonstrate self-direction and originality in formulating research questions about relevant research topics of interest, and in selecting and applying appropriate linguistic methods to successfully address them.

Assessment

  1. Essay assignments
  2. Written and/or oral examinations  
  3. Oral presentations  
  4. Active participation in seminars/tasks

UMA04: Translation and interpreting as cultural mediation (3 ECTS)

Obligatory module in the 1st semester

This module addresses concepts such as identity, otherness and emigration/immigration as a form of contact, seen from a perspective of encounter of civilisations. Cultural mediation is analysed as a discipline and its professional perspectives are also presented.

Learning outcomes

  1. Demonstrate an in-depth knowledge base of specific topics within the areas of translation studies and interpreting studies.
  2. Demonstrate a critical understanding of the published literature and current debates in these areas.
  3. Demonstrate self-direction and originality in formulating research questions about relevant research topics of interest, and in selecting and applying appropriate linguistic methods to successfully address them.

Assessment

  1. Essay assignments
  2. Written and/or oral examinations  
  3. Problem-solving exercises  
  4. Oral presentations  
  5. Active participation in seminars/tasks

UMA05: Computer tools for translators (3 ECTS)

Obligatory module in the 1st semester

With a theoretical-practical approach, this module introduces computer-aided translation. A definition of translation technology will be provided, together with the main tools and components of ‘so-called’ translators’ workbench (e.g., machine translation, localisation, computer-assisted translation, post-editing, etc.), as well as other computer applications used in audiovisual translation (e.g., subtitling software).

Learning outcomes

  1. Demonstrate an in-depth knowledge base of specific topics within the areas of translation studies and interpreting studies.
  2. Demonstrate a critical understanding of the published literature and current debates in these areas.
  3. Demonstrate self-direction and originality in formulating research questions about relevant research topics of interest, and in selecting and applying appropriate linguistic methods to successfully address them.
  4. Demonstrate practical skills in running machine translation (MT) software packages, computer-assisted translation (CAT) tools, and the ability to analyse and evaluate the quality of the output.
  5. Demonstrate advanced, high-level practical skills in using a wide variety of state-of-the-art tools and resources for translation.
  6. Demonstrate practical skills in setting up a translation project using different machine translation (MT) software packages, and computer-assisted translation (CAT) tools.

Assessment

  1. Essay assignments
  2. Practical reports or portfolios
  3. Problem-solving exercises  
  4. Oral presentations  
  5. Active participation in seminars/tasks

UMA06: Specialised Translation: medical texts (3 ECTS)

Optional module in the 1st semester

This module offers an approach to research articles and scientific discourse, to later address its translation and the different resources and tools available for this type of texts. The module will also be focused on the study of the characteristics of medical terminology, and the translation of biosanitary texts.

Learning outcomes

  1. Demonstrate an in-depth knowledge base of specific topics within the areas of translation studies and interpreting studies.
  2. Demonstrate a critical understanding of the published literature and current debates in these areas.
  3. Demonstrate self-direction and originality in formulating research questions about relevant research topics of interest, and in selecting and applying appropriate linguistic methods to successfully address them.
  4. Demonstrate advanced, high-level practical skills in using a wide variety of state-of-the-art tools and resources for translation.

Assessment

  1. Essay assignments
  2. Practical reports or portfolios
  3. Problem-solving exercises  
  4. Active participation in seminars/tasks

UMA07: Computational and Corpus-based Phraseology: Contrastive and Translation Issues(3 ECTS)

Optional module in the 1st semester

This module introduces students to computational and corpus-based approaches to the study of phraseology, with a special emphasis on the applications of multilingual corpora (comparable, parallel, reference and web-crawled) for contrastive analysis and translation, including machine translation systems. Issues related to the detection and extraction of phraseological units (PUs), their classification and analysis, as well as phraseological correspondences and textual equivalents will be addressed.

Learning outcomes

  1. Demonstrate an in-depth knowledge base of specific topics.
  2. Establish relations among these concepts.
  3. Demonstrate advanced, high-level practical skills in using a wide variety of corpus-based and computational tools and resources for translators.
  4. Acquire the competencies of the module.
  5. Satisfactorily carry out the proposed activities both during lectures and during self-directed work time.

Assessment

  1. Essay assignments
  2. Active participation in class

UMA08: Terminology, Lexicography and Dictionaries (3 ECTS)

Obligatory module in the 2nd semester

This module presents a broad overview of the theoretical and methodological bases of Terminology and Lexicography as well as an approach to the characteristics of general and specialised communication. It also covers the distinction between theoretical research, descriptive research and applied research in Lexicography and Terminology so that the students can select and apply the most appropriate methodology to their works.

Learning outcomes

  1. Demonstrate an in-depth knowledge base of specific topics within the areas of translation studies and interpreting studies.
  2. Demonstrate a critical understanding of the published literature and current debates in these areas.
  3. Demonstrate self-direction and originality in formulating research questions about relevant research topics of interest, and in selecting and applying appropriate linguistic methods to successfully address them.

Assessment

  1. Essay assignments
  2. Practical reports or portfolios
  3. Written and/or oral examinations  
  4. Problem-solving exercises  
  5. Active participation in seminars/tasks

UMA09: Corpus-based translation (3 ECTS)

Obligatory module in the 2nd semester

This module covers different areas of corpus-based translation studies, including but not limited to corpus-based study of translation features, regularities, norms and universals, translation practice and translator training. It will provide an overview of the development of corpus-based translation studies and the use of corpora in different research areas. The module will also introduce students to corpus compilation (methodology, types, representativeness, etc.) for translation practice and research.

Learning outcomes

  1. Demonstrate an in-depth knowledge base of specific topics within the areas of translation studies and interpreting studies.
  2. Demonstrate a critical understanding of the published literature and current debates in these areas.
  3. Demonstrate self-direction and originality in formulating research questions about relevant research topics of interest, and in selecting and applying appropriate linguistic methods to successfully address them.
  4. Demonstrate practical skills in compiling and exploiting corpora as part of computer-assisted translation (CAT) tools, and the ability to analyse and evaluate the quality of the output.
  5. Demonstrate advanced, high-level practical skills in using a wide variety of state-of-the-art tools and resources for translation.
  6. Demonstrate practical skills in setting up a translation project using corpora and computer-assisted translation (CAT) tools.

Assessment

  1. Essay assignments
  2. Practical reports or portfolios
  3. Problem-solving exercises  
  4. Active participation in seminars/tasks

UMA10: Interpreting Technologies (3 ECTS)

Obligatory module in the 2nd semester

This module will discuss the impact of information and communication technology on interpreting and recent developments in the areas of remote, computer-assisted, and, most recently, machine interpreting. The focus will be on the interplay between interpreting and technology, with an aim to exploring key issues, new trends and challenges of this emerging field.

Learning outcomes

  1. Demonstrate an in-depth knowledge base of specific topics within the areas of translation studies and interpreting studies.
  2. Demonstrate a critical understanding of the published literature and current debates in these areas.
  3. Demonstrate self-direction and originality in formulating research questions about relevant research topics of interest, and in selecting and applying appropriate linguistic methods to successfully address them.
  4. Demonstrate practical skills in running machine translation (MT) software packages, computer-assisted translation (CAT) and interpreting (CAI) tools, and the ability to analyse and evaluate the quality of the output.
  5. Demonstrate advanced, high-level practical skills in using a wide variety of state-of-the-art tools and resources for interpreting.
  6. Demonstrate practical skills in setting up a translation project using different machine translation (MT) software packages, computer-assisted translation (CAT) and interpreting (CAI) tools.

Assessment

  1. Essay assignments
  2. Written and/or oral examinations  
  3. Problem-solving exercises  
  4. Oral presentations  
  5. Active participation in seminars/tasks

UMA11: Interpreting at the publishing and academic sectors (negotiations, interviews and speeches) (3 ECTS)

Optional module in the 2nd semester

This module provides an overview of the characteristics of the different discourses within the academic and editorial contexts. The student will learn how these contexts influence in the interpretation and in the chosen modality. The role of culture and the preparatory work needed in the interpretation in financial and academic contexts are emphasised.

Learning outcomes

  1. Demonstrate an in-depth knowledge base of specific topics within the areas of translation studies and interpreting studies.
  2. Demonstrate a critical understanding of the published literature and current debates in these areas.
  3. Demonstrate self-direction and originality in formulating research questions about relevant research topics of interest, and in selecting and applying appropriate linguistic methods to successfully address them.
  4. Demonstrate advanced, high-level practical skills in using a wide variety of state-of-the-art tools and resources for interpreting.

Assessment

  1. Essay assignments
  2. Written and/or oral examinations  
  3. Problem-solving exercises  
  4. Oral presentations  
  5. Active participation in seminars/tasks

UMA12: Specialised Translation: legal and institutional documents (3 ECTS)

Optional module – currently not running

This module begins with an analysis and comparison of the typology of texts and textual conventions to continue with the analysis of certain documents in the legal and institutional field (contracts and legal documents of the Directorate-General for Translation, among others). In addition, documentary resources and terminology retrieval techniques are presented.

Learning outcomes

  1. Demonstrate an in-depth knowledge base of specific topics within the areas of translation studies and interpreting studies.
  2. Demonstrate a critical understanding of the published literature and current debates in these areas.
  3. Demonstrate self-direction and originality in formulating research questions about relevant research topics of interest, and in selecting and applying appropriate linguistic methods to successfully address them.
  4. Demonstrate advanced, high-level practical skills in using a wide variety of state-of-the-art tools and resources for translation.

Assessment

  1. Essay assignments
  2. Practical reports or portfolios
  3. Problem-solving exercises  
  4. Active participation in seminars/tasks

UMA13: Specialised Translation: technical texts and texts of scientific dissemination (3 ECTS)

Optional module – currently not running

This module offers an approximation to the translation of texts belonging to the field of telecommunications and computing, addressing the types of texts in this sector, their classification, their characteristics as well as the documentary resources and the tools that facilitate the translation of these texts.

Learning outcomes

  1. Demonstrate an in-depth knowledge base of specific topics within the areas of translation studies and interpreting studies.
  2. Demonstrate a critical understanding of the published literature and current debates in these areas.
  3. Demonstrate self-direction and originality in formulating research questions about relevant research topics of interest, and in selecting and applying appropriate linguistic methods to successfully address them.
  4. Demonstrate advanced, high-level practical skills in using a wide variety of state-of-the-art tools and resources for translation.

Assessment

  1. Essay assignments
  2. Practical reports or portfolios
  3. Problem-solving exercises  
  4. Active participation in seminars/tasks

UMA14: Work Experience in translation and interpreting (3 ECTS)

Optional module, 2nd Semester

This module will provide students with hands-on experience in a variety of professional settings. Students will have the opportunity to familiarise themselves with different workflows in selected translation and/or interpreting companies. B2 level (CEFR) in Spanish required.

Learning outcomes

  1. Demonstrate generic transferrable skills of relevance to industry and employability, such as professionalism and the exercise of personal responsibility, excellent planning and time management skills, team work, presentation skills, and preparing texts for publication.
  2. Develop essential employment skills, e.g. good interpersonal skills and confident teamwork, advanced problem-solving skills, the ability to handle constructive criticism and avoid conflict;
  3. Gain real-life, practical experience working in a professional setting, building on the skills and competences developed in the classroom;
  4. Gain commercial and global awareness of the market, as well as an ability to work cross-culturally;
  5. Develop good networking abilities, i.e. knowing how to connect with professionals in the field of translation and interpreting.

Assessment

A2. Practical reports or portfolios

A7. Placement reports