Program Overview

Why choose this course

• Surrey’s Centre for Translation Studies (CTS) is one of the UK’s top translation and interpreting research centres, with over four decades of experience in postgraduate education and research training.
• Our course has a strong, language-pair-specific practical component and explores emerging areas of the discipline, including different forms of audio/video-mediated remote or distance interpreting, hybrid modalities of interpreting and audiovisual translation (e.g. live subtitling), and AI.
• As a UK centre of excellence in interpreting studies, supported by the Surrey Institute for People-Centred AI, our teaching is guided by our leading research on integrating professional interpreting practices with AI-driven technologies such as neural machine translation, speech technologies and generative AI (e.g. ChatGPT).
• We support internships and professional development activities, which will enable you to collaborate with language service providers and build a professional engagement portfolio that you can present to future employers.

What you will study
Our MA Interpreting, Technology and AI course has both a multilingual and a Chinese pathway.

On this multilingual pathway we regularly offer Arabic, Chinese (Mandarin), French, German, Greek, Italian, Korean, Norwegian, Polish, Portuguese, Romanian, Russian, Spanish, Swedish and Turkish paired with English. Many other languages are available upon request, subject to a minimum number of students.

You will develop professional skills in all interpreting modes (consecutive, dialogue and simultaneous interpreting, and sight translation) and practise both on-site interpreting and remote/distance interpreting via audio/video link including remote simultaneous interpreting. Guided by professional interpreters and experienced academics, you will cover a variety of specialisms (e.g., business, legal, scientific, technical and medical domains), as you develop a solid grounding in the linguistic, cognitive, quality-related, social and ethical dimensions of interpreting. You will also learn to understand, discuss and justify interpreting-related decisions.

Uniquely, our course emphasises the integration of cutting-edge technologies into the interpreting workflow, e.g. to support the interpreter’s preparation and real-time performance (such as electronic glossaries, digital note-taking, automatic speech recognition, machine translation and generative AI) and the delivery of interpreting services (audio/video-mediated remote/distance interpreting). With the Centre for Translation Studies (CTS)’ leading research track record in interpreting technologies, you will gain a critical understanding of the role of different digital technologies and AI in today’s language services industry, empowering you to use these tools effectively and responsibly in your interpreting practice.

Simultaneous interpreting practice takes place in our top-tier interpreting facilities, including two interpreting suites with ISO-standard soundproof booths—identical to those used by major international organisations and connected to videoconferencing platforms for remote interpreting. While our interpreting suites support professional-level practice, our virtual platform supports digital audio and video recording and gives you access to teaching materials and resources to practise.