Welcome to the University of Leeds Centre for Translation Studies

MA Audiovisual Translation Studies

With a growing demand across the audiovisual media for highly qualified linguists capable of subtitling for foreign-language viewers or for the hard-of-hearing, this programme familiarises you with the linguistic, cultural and technical challenges of not only screen translation, including subtitling, dubbing and - for a visually impaired audience - audio description, but also theatre captioning.

Why audiovisual translation?

The translation of multimedia content is a relatively novel field that embraces activities such as subtitling and dubbing films or adapting Flash animations and video games. Such media are increasingly found on corporate and government websites and in educational and training materials.

Why CTS@Leeds?

CTS@Leeds has gained a reputation for excellence in consistently anticipating industry trends, in partnership with professional bodies, leading employers and translation tools providers.

CTS@Leeds collaborates with leading European universities, professional bodies and tools providers to stay at the forefront of professional training. eCoLoMedia (ecolomedia.uni-saarland.de) is one of several EU-funded projects to design novel resources for training in translation tools and deliver them online for the benefit of all. It is intended to benefit students and trainers of audiovisual translation.

How is the programme distinctive?

The distinctive focus of MAAVTS is on the analysis of audiovisual communication, including the semiotic conventions of film making, in order to be able to adapt and and condense the spoken word with a view to creating effective subtitles. To achieve this, you must be familiar with the limitations of viewers' reading speeds and their ability to follow the subtitles and the visual action at the same time.You will learn to create, display and revise subtitles with the help of software tools that are widely used in the subtitling industry, including Swift, and ISIS.

You also follow courses in specialised written translation between English and one or two of the following languages: Arabic, Chinese, French, German, Greek, Italian, Japanese, Polish, Portuguese, Russian and Spanish.

The Centre has designed a number of elective modules that are led by research and respond to the concerns of the translation industry, dealing with machine translation, the uses of corpora, technical writing, and an introduction to translation technologies. You may also take electives offered by other sections of the School of Modern Languages, by the Language Centre or by other faculties.

Non-native speakers of English can opt for a module on English for translators.

Career prospects

MAAVTS graduates have been consistently successful in finding employment in subtitling in such locations as Hong Kong, London, Taipei and Tokyo.

Many of our taught MA graduates progress to jobs at leading private companies, government bodies and international political organisations, such as the BBC, the UN, World Bank, WTO, SAP and major translation companies (SDL, thebigword). For more information how our graduates use their degrees to further their career, please consult the Alumni & Careers pages of this site.