Translation Studies programs, any ideas?

[quena]

Hi everyone,

 

I've been browsing this forum for a couple of days and finally decided to ask this: does anyone know any complit phd programs that have an emphasis on translation studies?

 

I saw that UC Irvine has a similar focus, but I'm not sure about applying there because of their funding situations etc. (I'm an international applicant.) I've already submitted four applications and I'm considering adding a couple more to my list.

 

My major interests are: 20th and 21st century poetry (especially that of Latin America & China), modernism and postmodernism, translation studies, psychoanalysis, deconstruction.

 

A bit of my background: I'm from China. Majored Spanish in college, spent 2 years in Latin America, currently attending grad school in Spain. For the MA thesis I'm working on a Argentinian poet from a psychoanalytical & deconstructionist perspective. 

 

Besides the question asked above, I would also really appreciate any advices related to the applications, since I've never been to the States and have zero knowledge of how things work there... Thanks in advance!

Edited November 9, 2014 by quena

[__________________________]

Several Comp Lit programs offer certificates literary translation.  Two that come to mind are Indiana University at Bloomington (http://www.indiana.edu/~complit/special/translation.shtml) and Washington University in St. Louis (http://complit.artsci.wustl.edu/graduate/translation_studies). 

 

This may be less useful to you, but another program that comes to mind is the certificate in "Applied Literary Translation" offered by the Dalkey Archive Press/University of Illinois (http://www.dalkeyarchive.com/applied-literary-translation/).  Maybe if you end up going to a school that doesn't offer its own certificate you could do that program over a summer or something, maybe even get some money from your program to do it?  It's pretty cool -- the class is conducted online and you have to have a suitable project in mind, but at the end of the program you have to potential opportunity for the text you've translated to get published by Dalkey (which is a very cool press by the way).

Edited November 10, 2014 by mollifiedmolloy

[quena]

Thanks a lot for the info Mollifiedmolloy! It's very helpful!

 

I'm checking those programs they seem interesting

[__________________________]

No problem quena!  You should probably just browse the interests of some of the professors at the schools you're already applying to.  Translation studies is something that you could go down a couple of roads for -- there are programs for more "professional" translation (like for businesses, law firms, what have you), and then certificates for more scholarly and literary focuses.  There are definitely programs I'm applying to where there are POIs for me that have interests in translation theory, and who teach it, even if there isn't a formal certification in translation -- I'm applying to three different sorts of programs, and I can tell you with some confidence that there are people interested in translation in all three of those.  Since what I'm trying to do will involve working with previously untranslated texts in an academic context, doing some translation will be part of the routine.

 

In short, if a program looks to be to your liking and you're already applying there, especially for comp lit, there's a good chance you can find someone interested in translation, since for a lot of people who have Ph.D.s in Comp Lit, translations of texts is a big part of their publishing work.  If you're shooting for academic work, a formal certificate may not be all that necessary.  But for jobs outside of academia, I'd imagine a certificate in translation could be quite helpful.

 

That certificate in Applied Literary Translation would be more  literary (obviously), but this might be one worth checking out (also through U of Illinois) for other interests:

 

http://www.translation.illinois.edu/programs/certificate1.html

 

 

Hope this helps! 

Edited November 10, 2014 by mollifiedmolloy