Facilities

Significant investment over the past few years has made the CTS@Leeds one of the best-equipped centres for translation studies in the country in terms of facilities for both private study and teaching activities. A £945k investment programme has resulted in the refurbishment of the translation and subtitling laboratory and the creation a second, all-digital conference suite for interpreter training supporting practice in remote interpreting.

Alongside the University's excellent library, Language Centre and general ICT provision, CTS@Leeds offers the following specialised facilities.

Translation and subtitling laboratory

The Electronic Resources and Information Centre (ERIC) is the School's own dedicated ICT facility. It provides 42 high-spec PCs, high-speed internet access and an outstanding range of language software, including the specialised computer-assisted translation software that is the focus of the MA Applied Translation Studies and the subtitling software that is the focus of the MA Audiovisual Translation Studies. The PCs are arranged in clusters of seven in order to facilitate team work. A ceiling-mounted webcam serves to broadcast webinars from ERIC.

Students sit their timed tests for specialised translation in ERIC and so have unlimited access to the tools and all internet resources, just like any professional translator.

Conference suites for interpreter training

The facility comprises two conference venues with projection facilities, and both single and double interpreter booths. The booths are designed to the highest standards of space and sound-proofing expected by professional interpreters. The conference rooms and the booths are cabled with high-speed links providing access to internet resources and offer all the facilities of a modern work environment for conference interpreters. A video link between the two conference suites makes it possible to practise remote interpreting, with the delegtes in one room and the interpreters in the other. Both suites offer recording facilities, which allow students to record their own performances for self-monitoring purposes.

Research student facilities

Following a series of successful funding bids, the School offers three well-equipped study areas for research postgraduates in the Michael Sadler Building, totaling around 30 workstations. The Human Communications Laboratory provides support for studies of software usability, annotation of multimodal data, recording of interviews and digital editing.