Master in Translation Studies
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Program Details

Complete your Master in Translation Studies in the only such program in Canada that doesn’t require applicants to be proficient in both English and French. You’ll gain an understanding of translation as you examine questions such as how translators address challenges, obstacles, conflicts and ethical issues. You will graduate with a full range of theoretical, conceptual and methodological tools necessary for a deeper analysis and understanding of issues related to translation. As part of your degree, you’ll have the option to complete a thesis or major research paper, which can focus on a wide range of research topics and language combinations and can be written in English or French. 

You’ll find the dynamic Translation Studies community at Glendon offers a variety of research-focused activities throughout the year, such as a translation research summer school, lectures, workshops, networking events and an annual graduate conference. And you can participate in events through the Research Group on Translation and Transcultural Contact, part of the Centre for Research on Language and Culture Contact. 

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Courses

Throughout your degree, you’ll find a curriculum that offers an in-depth and balanced approach to Translation Studies, from introductory survey courses to specialized topics, such as Translating Balzac, Research Methods in Translation Studies and Translation & Philosophy. 

View course timetables on York University's site

Students in a classroom.

TRAS 5100 3.0 TRANSLATION STUDIES (online)

Course Description

This course is an introduction to the field of translation studies through a survey of the various ways in which the practice of translation has been understood, defined and theorized since the beginning of the twentieth century.

TRAS 5155 3.0 TRAVEL, TRANSLATION AND DISPLACEMENT

Course Description

Le séminaire vise à mieux comprendre l’inscription de la traduction dans un environnement multilingue et multiethnique, ainsi que dans les enjeux de la mondialisation. Seront abordées en particulier les questions du brouillage des frontières et du positionnement identitaire.

TRAS 5251 3.0 REVISING AND EDITING FOR PROFESSIONAL TRANSLATORS

Course Description

The course examines issues in revision in the Translation Studies literature and approaches to revision in the translation industry as well as the editing work performed by professional translators. Participants practice revision using various concepts of quality, with emphasis on justification of changes and on differing degrees of revision depending on the nature of texts and their intended readership.
The language of instruction is English but participants may speak in and submit assignments in either English or French.

TRAS 5000 3.0 RESEARCH METHODS IN TRANSLATION STUDIES

Course Description

This course introduces students to current research methods in translation studies. It reviews standard methods of reading, collecting, processing and presenting data. Students are also introduced to research ethics.

TRAN 5130 3.0 HISTORY OF TRANSLATION AND CULTURAL TRANSFER

Course Description

A study of variation in the principles and practices of translation throughout history, focusing on socio-cultural factors. Emphasis is on the dominant uses of the concept of translation in the western world, with some excursions into non-western civilizations.


TRAN 5325 3.0 LITERARY TRANSLATION (online)

Course Description

This seminar includes a considerable number of practical exercises as well as a theoretical component. Students first examine the principles, methods and objectives common to all fields of specialized translation before analyzing the terminology, knowledge base and writing conventions specific to one particular field.

TRAS 5501 3.0 HISPANIC CULTURAL TRADITIONS IN THE GTA. A LIFE NARRATIVE PROJECT

Course Description

This course examines the cultural traditions of Hispanic immigrants living in the GTA through their life narratives. It focuses on how they negotiate the multiplicity of cultural meanings at play in their everyday lives, and the role language(s) play(s) in such negotiations.

TRAS 5185 3.0 IDEOLOGY OF TRANSLATION AND TRANSLATION OF IDEOLOGY (SU)

Course Description

This course explores the ideological dimensions of translation in various contexts. Through case studies covering literary and non-literary genres, students reflect on translation as a vector of ideology and on their own interventions as scholars.

TRAS 5345 3.0 TRANSLATING INTO A NON-NATIVE LANGUAGE (SU) (ONLINE)

Course Description

This course introduces students to the theory and practice of translating into a non-native language. It will review the current literature on the subject in translation studies and linguistics and offer students practice in translating into their second or third languages.

TRAS 5230 3.0 FICTIONAL APPROACHES TO TRANSLATION (ONLINE) S1

Course Description

This course offers an overview of the recent “fictional turn” in Translation Studies. Focusing on works of fiction and film that make use of translation as topos, or translators or interpreters as their protagonists, the course delves into the origins and implications of the fictional turn. Emphasis is made on fictional material which helps highlight issues and concepts in circulation in contemporary translation studies such as “translator’s visibility”, “metaphorics of translation”, “ethics”, “fidelity”, and “conflict”.

TRAS 5240 3.0 DESIRE IN TRANSLATION (online) S2

Course Description

This course offers a survey of theories and practices of literary translation that seek to account for the unpredictable effects of the cultural unconscious in the translator’s work. Drawing on a range of psychoanalytic theories of cultural production and translation, the course asks questions about the role of desire in translation, and its multifaceted implications with regards to the translator’s agency and her role as cultural producer.

TRAS 5100 3.0 TRANSLATION STUDIES (online)

Course Description

This course is an introduction to the field of translation studies through a survey of the various ways in which the practice of translation has been understood, defined and theorized since the beginning of the twentieth century.

TRAS-HUMA-EN 6157 3.0 COMPARATIVE AND WORLD LITERATURE SEMINAR: HISTORY AND PRACTICE

Course Description

Cross-listed in English, Humanities, and Translation Studies, this seminar introduces students to the conditions of emergence and development of the discipline of Comparative Literature from its beginnings in nineteenth-century Europe to its most recent global iteration of World Literature. Students will experience how expanded understandings of cultural translation and textuality have radically altered and expanded the Eurocentric character of the discipline.

TRAS 5322 3.0 SPECIALIZED TRANSLATION – MEDICINE (online)

Course Description

This seminar will discuss the stylistic specificities of a variety of medical documents dealing with various diseases or advices for their prevention. Translation exercises will be provided in the following language combinations: English-French; French-English; Spanish-English; Spanish-French. These exercises will serve as a basis for a thorough terminological research and the development of information files for documentation purposes. Translation memories, glossaries and database entries in the student’s language combination may be required as well. Information on the course will be available in French and/or English. Students with other language combinations can take the course as well.

TRAS 5165/TRAN 4255 3.0 COMMUNICATION, TRANSLATION AND ETHICS 

Course Description

This course discusses the intercultural issues in contexts of asymmetrical and conflictual exchanges. Students will develop ethical reasoning skills based on critical analysis, inclusion, cooperation, informed decision-making and anticipation of results.

TRAS 5342/FREN 5245/FREN 6209 3.0 BALZAC TRANSLATED-TRANSLATING BALZAC/BALZAC TRADUIT-TRADUIRE BALZAC

Course Description

Stemming from Translation and Reception theories (Jauss, Iser) and more recent cultural theories (Bassnett, Lefevere), this course highlights some of the issues – political, social, historical among others – that determine the translation of an author in a receiving country. Case studies of Balzac in English and in Chinese serve as a basis of study of his translation/reception in other languages and/or countries.

TRAS 5000 3.0 RESEARCH METHODS IN TRANSLATION STUDIES

Course Description

Introduces students to current research methods in translation studies. It reviews standard methods of reading, collecting, processing and presenting data. Students are also introduced to research ethics.

TRAS 5601 3.0 TRANSLATION AND DIGITAL TECHNOLOGIES

Course Description

This course investigates the intersection between translation and digital technologies Exposed to both theoretical perspectives and hands-on experience, students are encouraged to write final papers based on interdisciplinary scholarship relevant to a specific aspect of the course topic, and/or to carry out practice-oriented projects involving translation and digital technologies.

TRAS 5328 3.0 AUDIOVISUAL TRANSLATION AND SUBTITLING

Course Description

This course examines the principles and practice of audio-visual translation, as opposed to other translating modes. It covers all relevant linguistic, cultural, cognitive and technical constraints to AV translation, including inter-lingual and monolingual subtitling, dubbing and voiceover.

Discover our Students’ Accomplishments  

Discover the diversity of topics and disciplines that the Master's in Translation students explored through their work and publications.

Hind Ben Salama, 2021, Translation, Conflict and Mediation: How Translators ‘Re-narrate’ the Conflict

Natalia Davila, 2020, Spanish and French Translations of the Riddles in the Hobbit or there and back again: A Prismatic Approach

Laura How, 2020. Breaking Binaries: Rethinking Gendered Metaphors in Translation Theory

Alina Yevhenivna Zdrazhko, 2019. The Development of Ukrainian Children’s Literature Translation Tradition from Russian Imperialism through the Soviet Era to the Global Context. The Study of Various Translations of Rudyard Kipling’s Tale “The Cat that Walked by Himself” into Ukrainian

Ming Du, 2018. On Ezra Pounds’s Translation of Classical Chinese Poetry in Cathay

Anissa Bachan, 2017. Still Two Solitudes? Translation of Manifestos and Political Platforms in Quebec

Deanna Nemeth, 2017. Who Framed Conrad Black?: Language and Translation in Print Newspaper Articles

Abeer Alharbi, 2016. Saad Elkhadem’s The Plague in English: A Study of the Translation Strategies used to Recreate the Egyptian Ethos

Rachel Flynn, 2016. Audiovisual Translation, Ideology and Politics: A Case Study of the Effects of Franco-American Relations on Hollywood Film Translation

Adrijana Jerkic, 2015. Interpretation of Iconography and Iconography of Interpretation: Uncovering La Malinche

Abd Darouzy, 2022. Positive Psychology in Translation: an Arabic into English Commented Translation
of Selected Chapters from the Updated Human by Sherif Arafa

Shakiba Sharifpour, 2022. Case Study: Gazing into four translations of an excerpt from the second sex

Yang Duan Yun, 2021. Cultural Shifts in a Chinese Medical Textbook Adapted for an English-Speaking Reader

Soliman Marwa, 2021. How geopolitics and political agendas affect journalism translation of reports by Human Rights Watch

Hongyang Ji, 2020. Dialogue between Chinese translation studies and Western translation studies: Eco-translatology and Western thinking

Babar Khan, 2020.  Metaphysical Equivalence: An Analysis of Walter Benajmin’s “The Translator’s Task”

Dina Elbourdini, 2020. Examining the domestication of Tao Te Ching for the Arab muslim reader case study: Amini’s Arabic Translation

Usman Shahid, 2018. Tackling the linguistic translation challenges of an Islamic Urdu text – A case study of Haqiqatul Wahi

Tania Pla Osca, 2017. The Baroque Stage translated: A preliminary study of the on-stage translation of Los Empenos De Una Casa

Shatha Mohammed Al Jabri, 2017. Translation of the Poet’s Reverie: Wordsworth’s “Daffodils” in Arabic

Wasilah Charbenny, 2015. A case study of Zabiba and the King’s Translation into English

Other Program Details

Student Awards

We want to recognize your academic success and commitment to excellence in the Master in Translation Studies program. Not just a financial boost, awards and scholarships are a great way to show your hard work on your resumé and university transcript. Check out the available awards, which include the Daniel Simeoni Graduate Award in Translation. 

Join Our Student Association  

For students in the program, the Master of Arts in Translation Studies Students’ Association (MATSA) is a social community that offers opportunities to meet your classmates, learn new skills and get peer support.   

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