Translation Training

Lesson 1 • Ethics and Professional Norms

Introduces the ethical obligations of translators, including confidentiality, impartiality, and accuracy. Grounds professional conduct expectations for all subsequent work.

Lesson 2 • Source and Target Text Relationships

Examines how meaning transfers between source and target texts and where gaps arise. Prepares students to diagnose fidelity problems systematically.

Lesson 3 • What Translation Is and Does

Defines translation, distinguishes it from interpreting and localization, and maps its communicative function. Establishes shared vocabulary used throughout the course.

Lesson 1 • Discourse and Cohesion

Examines how texts achieve coherence through cohesive devices, thematic progression, and information structure. Students learn to maintain discourse-level quality in translations.

Lesson 2 • Pragmatics and Cultural Meaning

Addresses speech acts, implicature, and culturally embedded meaning that resist literal transfer. Prepares students to handle pragmatic nuance in real texts.

Lesson 3 • Contrastive Grammar and Syntax

Analyzes structural differences between source and target languages at sentence level. Enables students to anticipate and resolve syntactic mismatches during translation.

Lesson 4 • Register, Style, and Tone

Teaches identification and reproduction of formal, informal, technical, and literary registers. Students practice matching tone across language pairs.

Lesson 1 • Sentence and Paragraph Restructuring

Teaches how to reorder, split, and merge sentences to produce fluent target texts. Students practice restructuring without altering source meaning.

Lesson 2 • Evaluating and Justifying Choices

Trains students to assess their own translation decisions against source intent and target norms. Builds the critical self-reflection skills needed for professional revision.

Lesson 3 • Literal and Direct Techniques

Covers borrowing, calque, and literal translation and identifies when each is appropriate. Students practice applying direct techniques without distorting target-language norms.

Lesson 4 • Handling Untranslatables

Provides strategies for culture-specific items, neologisms, and conceptual gaps with no target equivalent. Students develop principled approaches to unavoidable translation loss.

Lesson 1 • Research Strategies for Translators

Teaches how to identify reliable sources, verify terminology, and research unfamiliar domains quickly. Students develop a repeatable research workflow applicable to any subject area.

Lesson 2 • Building and Managing Glossaries

Covers the creation, structure, and maintenance of bilingual and multilingual glossaries. Students produce a working glossary for a specialized domain.

Lesson 3 • Terminology Standards and Consistency

Addresses the importance of consistent terminology across long projects and multi-translator teams. Students apply style guides and term bases to ensure uniformity.

Lesson 1 • Legal and Administrative Texts

Examines the conventions of legal documents, contracts, and official correspondence requiring precision and formality. Students learn to navigate legal register without practicing law.

Lesson 2 • Marketing and Persuasive Texts

Focuses on advertising copy, slogans, and promotional content where effect on the reader drives decisions. Students practice transcreation techniques to preserve persuasive impact.

Lesson 3 • Literary and Creative Texts

Introduces the challenges of translating fiction, poetry, and creative nonfiction where form and voice matter as much as content. Students experiment with creative solutions to literary problems.

Lesson 4 • Informational and Journalistic Texts

Covers news articles, reports, and factual documents where accuracy and neutrality are paramount. Students practice preserving factual content while adapting journalistic style.

Lesson 1 • Machine Translation and Post-Editing

Covers neural machine translation output quality, error types, and post-editing standards. Students practice light and full post-editing to professional quality thresholds.

Lesson 2 • File Formats and Localization Basics

Addresses common file types encountered in professional translation, including office documents, XML, and subtitle files. Students prepare and deliver files in client-ready formats.

Lesson 3 • Introduction to CAT Tool Environments

Orients students to the interface, file formats, and core functions of leading CAT platforms. Students complete a full translation project within a CAT environment.

Lesson 4 • Quality Assurance Tools

Introduces automated QA checks for terminology, consistency, formatting, and omissions. Students run QA reports and resolve flagged issues before delivery.

Lesson 1 • Revision vs. Proofreading vs. Editing

Clarifies the distinct roles of revision, proofreading, and editing in the translation production chain. Students practice each role on sample translations to internalize the differences.

Lesson 2 • Quality Evaluation Frameworks

Covers industry-standard quality models and scoring rubrics used by agencies and clients. Students apply a weighted error model to score and rank translation samples.

Lesson 3 • Error Typologies and Classification

Introduces standard error categories including accuracy, fluency, terminology, and style errors. Students classify errors in sample translations using a professional error taxonomy.

Lesson 4 • Feedback Integration and Improvement

Teaches students to receive, interpret, and act on client and peer feedback constructively. Students track recurring errors and build targeted improvement plans.

Lesson 1 • Simulated End-to-End Project

Integrates all course skills in a capstone project replicating a real professional translation assignment. Students deliver a complete, revised, and formatted translation package.

Lesson 2 • Understanding Client Briefs and Scope

Covers how to read, clarify, and respond to client briefs, including scope, deadlines, and specifications. Students practice asking targeted clarifying questions before starting a project.

Lesson 3 • Working with Translation Agencies

Explains agency structures, vendor onboarding, rate negotiation, and communication norms. Students simulate agency interactions including test translations and rate discussions.

Lesson 4 • Workflow Planning and Time Management

Teaches students to estimate word counts, set realistic deadlines, and plan revision time. Students build a project schedule for a multi-document translation assignment.