German Translation and Interpreting

Undergraduate education in translation at our university first began in the 1996-1997 academic year under the name of the German Translation Department within the Faculty of Arts and Sciences. Expanding with the establishment of the French Translation Department in 1997-1998, translation education was carried out as separate departments for two years, and has been combined under one roof in the Translation Department since 2000-2001. At the end of 2022, in line with the decision of YÖK and with the formation of the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, the department was renamed the Department of Translation and Interpreting, comprising three preparatory classes and two undergraduate programmes.

In addition to the eight-semester (four-year) undergraduate programme, a 1 (+1) year preparatory class education is offered. In the preparatory class, students are provided with basic foreign language knowledge and skills, and those who pass the proficiency exam can begin the four-year undergraduate education. Although the preparatory class is compulsory, students who pass the exemption exam held on the dates specified in the academic calendar can proceed directly to undergraduate education.

In the first two years of undergraduate education, compulsory courses help students develop foreign language proficiency, field knowledge and other determinants of translation skills (mother-tongue awareness, text-production skills and language sensitivity, world and cultural knowledge, etc.); in the third and fourth years, in accordance with the Bologna Process, education is mainly carried out through elective courses aimed at providing specialized skills and knowledge. The programme includes courses on translation methods and strategies, terminology and specialized field knowledge, as well as courses covering the history of language, culture, thought and literature and current topics such as localization and translation technologies.

In both the German and French Translation and Interpreting programmes, English as a second foreign language is compulsory in every semester of the eight-semester programme. In this way, students are expected to acquire translation skills in two foreign languages and reach a level of competence capable of meeting the demand for qualified translators in fields such as tourism, international trade, law and media.

The department conducts its academic and teaching activities with an experienced staff of faculty members and lecturers. To carry out education and training efficiently, 4 classrooms, 1 seminar room, a library and an oral translation laboratory have been allocated in the A2 building of the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences. The department's core mission is to train competent translators who can work in any field requiring written and oral translation in multilingual and multicultural communication environments.