Conference Interpreting – MA

Why study this course?

The Conference Interpreting MA prepares you for work as a professional conference interpreter for international organisations and the private market. Languages offered include Mandarin, French, English, German, Italian, Japanese, Polish, Russian and Spanish. You’ll benefit from work placements, site visits and dummy booth practice at the European Commission, the Court of Justice of the European Union and United Nations (Geneva and Vienna). Our state-of-the-art interpreting suite is equipped with digital facilities for interpreting practice, virtual classes and web streaming. 

More about this course

The course offers a wide range of language combinations paired with English: French, German, Italian, Japanese, Polish, Portuguese, Russian and Spanish. Further language combinations with English, such as Arabic, may also be available, subject to demand, staff expertise and availability of learning resources.

All simultaneous interpreting activities take place in the fully digital interpreting suite which also offers the latest multimedia facilities for virtual classes, recording of interpreting performances, as well as original speeches for student practice.

You’ll be able to practice interpreting in professional situations, including guided walks around London using the mobile interpreting system. Places you’ll visit can include the Bank of England, Lloyd’s of London, Buckingham Palace and the Barbican Centre. As well as opportunities to practise your translation skills locally, you’ll also have the possibility of translating meetings from the United Nations (Geneva), the Court of Justice at the European Commission (Brussels) and more.

The course modules are designed to prepare you to work as professional conference interpreters on the private market, for commercial organisations or large international institutions. The course also includes a strong reflective element present during interpreting performances such as the mock conferences and language specific tutorials. The dissertation offers the possibility to reflect on personal interpreting performance or research the interpreting field.

You’ll also benefit from guest speakers and conference interpreting professionals who visit the course and provide additional opportunities for practice and individual and group feedback.

Accreditation of Prior Learning

Any university-level qualifications or relevant experience you gain prior to starting university could count towards your course.

Modular structure

The modules listed below are for the academic year 2022/23 and represent the course modules at this time. Modules and module details (including, but not limited to, location and time) are subject to change over time.

Year 1 modules include:

Conference Interpreting (EU/UN Context) (core, 20 credits)

Consecutive interpreting (A into English or C2 into English) (core, 20 credits)

Consecutive interpreting (English into A, or C1 into English) (core, 20 credits)

Interpreting Theory and Interpreting Assignment Preparation Strategies (core, 20 credits)

MA Research Project (core, 60 credits)

Simultaneous interpreting (A<>English , or C1 and C2 into English) (core, 20 credits)

The Interpreter’s Professional Environment (core, 20 credits)

Where this course can take you

Students who complete the course automatically fulfil the requirement to access the EU/UN interpreting accreditation test to work as conference interpreters. Graduates are also fully qualified to work as conference interpreters on the private market in the UK and abroad, and to continue onto further study with a PhD.