How to prepare for a career in Translation (English/French)

March 15, 2011 4:24 PM

My partner did not get into a French translation program. What courses should she do to prepare?

So my partner recently applied to University of Moncton to take a translation degree. There was an aptitude test that consisted mainly of french grammar and structure and she didn't pass. She's currently looking for the best courses to prepare for a translation degree. The test focused on English to French translation.

Some background: She's a French undergraduate and has spoken both languages her entire life. She spent a term in France studying in French as well.

What would be her best option for a formal education in French geared towards an education or career in translation?

posted by angusiguess to education (3 answers total)

Some sort of grammar course? Moncton has a couple of FRAN courses if you're there. At Concordia, in my first year of Translation, I took FRAA 410 "Grammaire avancée du français":

Ce cours vise le perfectionnement des connaissances grammaticales sous‑tendant le fonctionnement de la langue française. À travers l'étude de la syntaxe de la phrase et des manipulations susceptibles d'y prendre place seront abordées les notions de constituant et de fonction grammaticale, les phénomènes d'accord, ainsi que la ponctuation. L'étude de la grammaire sera ici complétée par divers exercices d'analyse et de production, ainsi que par la lecture de textes.

It helped me immensely to really "get" French grammar, even though it's my native and primary language. So I'd say try to find a grammar/syntax oriented course in a University, ideally (IMO) one using the so-called "nouvelle grammaire" (there's nothing new about it; they just use new names and concepts to talk about the same rules).

She might want to read more, maybe something non-literary but well-written, like Le Devoir.
posted by Monday, stony Monday at 5:25 PM on March 15, 2011

Also, she might get the "standard" reference works/textbooks, at least from what I can see in Quebec:

Delisle's La Traduction raisonnée.
De Villers's Multidictionnaire.
The OQLF's Le Français au bureau.
Dubuc's En français dans le texte.
Horguelin and Pharand's Pratique de la révision (maybe for a little later).

And various Linguatech books:
Est-ce à, de, en, par, pour, sur ou avec?
Manuel pratique de terminologie.
Le Traducteur averti.

Going through La Traduction raisonnée the summer before I started my program really helped me get ahead in class.
posted by Monday, stony Monday at 5:39 PM on March 15, 2011

Is she willing to relocate? Université de Montréal has two levels of Certificates in translation. If she doesn't pass the admission test, she can take the first few courses as an independant student, and then transfer into the Certificate.
posted by OLechat at 6:21 PM on March 15, 2011 [1 favorite]