Thilini Senevirathne
- Country:
- Sri Lanka
- Course:
- MA Professional Translation
When I searched for Translation Masters, I found out that the course modules in the Professional Translation course at Swansea University are quite practical, unlike other universities. I wanted to learn about Translation from a more practical and modern perspective rather than theories or the history of this field. That is why I selected this university.
I am a government translator in Sinhala/English languages and now I am trying to build up my career as a freelance translator in French/English languages as well.
I enjoy all the course modules. But I really like the ‘Advance Translation’ module where we are given more opportunity to work on our own to do translations and it helps a lot to identify our strengths and weaknesses. Further, we all worked as a group which helped us to get feedback from our friends and this was really helpful to develop our translation skills as different people have different opinions and it can broaden our perspectives.
I find the lecturers really helpful. We can always go and meet them to discuss any problem whether it is academic or personal. They always reply to emails very quickly and they are ready to help us with anything.
I was surprised to see the feedback from the lecturers. They commented on each and every point be it positive or negative and it was really helpful. When they pointed out the mistakes it helps me a lot to do well in the next assignment and their positive comments were like a booster to continue my studies.
I find the course very flexible mainly because all the course modules are interconnected. Sometimes even the assignments that we do this semester are like the basics for another assignment in a different module next semester. Because of this, I feel that everything is connected and I don’t have to worry about separate modules.
My favourite modules are Foundations of Translations and Advanced Translation. Foundations covered a vast area in translations and we were given a lot of information that is essential to a professional translator. In Advanced Translation, we are given the opportunity to work on our own to do the translations in class and as homework. All these translations were marked by the lecturer with a full account of feedback. When I start this course, I had the doubt whether I will be able to do translations in French. However, now I am very confident that I can do these types of translations.