The Dioplóma Iarchéime san Aistriúchán programme is aimed at those who already have a good standard of Irish, but who wish to learn translation skills or to enhance the skills they already have. It is also ideal for those who work through Irish on a daily basis – teachers and journalists, for example – who wish to improve their standard of writing in the language.
Learning Outcomes
These are the learning outcomes that will be achieved by students who complete the course satisfactorily:
They will have a comprehensive knowledge of Irish language grammar and will have high-level written skills in the language.
They will be able to translate a range of English language texts to Irish and will have specialised knowledge regarding the translation of legal texts from English to Irish.
They will be able to review texts that they write themselves and texts written by others.
They will be familiar with a range of useful technological resources used in the Irish language and in the translation sector, and they will be able to use them effectively.
They will have an understanding of translation theory.
They will have an insight into translation as a career and will have an understanding of the practical aspects of the work.
They will be able to use a range of research and enquiry techniques.
They will be able to operate professionally in a range of roles in the translation and Irish language sectors.
Duration and general structure of the course
The Dioplóma Iarchéime san Aistriúchán programme, which is a level 9 NFQ course (www.nfq.ie), runs for three semesters, over a fifteen-month period.
A blended learning approach is used in the programme, featuring a combination of online study, live online classes, and lectures and tutorials in the classroom. The classroom-based sessions are held on one Saturday a month.
Course work
Students have access to interactive courses on Gaelchultúr’s e-learning website, ranganna.com, and they can use this material to prepare for the classroom sessions and the live online classes. It is also useful to them as they revise the course work.
Students are given written tasks to do on a regular basis and they are asked to submit these lessons by email to their tutor. Comprehensive feedback is provided by email.
There is a limited number of live online classes each semester; these classes are held at night. Students are given more information regarding the live online classes and all other aspects of the course in a handbook that is provided at the beginning of the first semester. This handbook also contains information about the projects students are required to submit.
Course modules
Accuracy in Irish (1, 2 and 3)
30 ECTS
This module will focus on the core aspects of Irish language grammar. The aim is to help participants improve their ability in Irish by giving them a range of grammar exercises to do in which the focus will be on common points of difficulty with the language.
There will be a particular emphasis on useful idiomatic expressions and on the importance of avoiding direct translation from English to Irish. Punctuation and editing will also be addressed, and students will be given information about the technological resources available to those who write in Irish.
Translation Skills (1, 2 and 3)
15 ECTS
This module aims to help students develop and improve their translation skills.
They will be taught to deal critically and analytically with the problems that often arise in English–Irish translation, e.g. jargon, register, semantic gaps and syntactic differences between the two languages. There will be an emphasis on Anglicism and how to avoid it, and the module will also look at the challenges of translating new terminology and the difficulty of translating concepts from English to Irish. There will be a particular focus on intelligibility and the importance of taking the target audience into consideration when a text is being translated.
The module will deal primarily with the types of texts most frequently translated to Irish in a professional context – annual reports and television scripts, for example – but students will also have an opportunity to translate a range of other texts, including literary texts.
Translation Theory (1 and 2)
10 ECTS
In the first part of this module, the main aspects of contemporary translation theory will be explored and the various types of translation that suit different genres of texts will be discussed. There will also be a focus on translation criticism in order to give students a better understanding of what constitutes a ‘good translation’ or ‘bad translation’.
The second part of the module will look at translation as a career and students will be given practical information about working in that sector, e.g. employment opportunities in Irish and EU institutions, the work typically done in translation companies.
This module will build on the Translation Theory / A Career in Translation module and students will have a further opportunity to study translation criticism and theories of translation. They will be required to critically analyse various types of translated texts in light of those theories to assess their merit as translations and target language texts. Students will use the material from the two modules to undertake a research project: a critical essay on a text translated from English to Irish.
Legal Translation
5 ECTS
This module will look at legal translation in Ireland and in the EU institutions. The difficulty of translating texts of this type will be explored and there will also be a focus on register and style, constitutional questions, precedents, and decisions regarding terminology and intelligibility.
Optional Module : Translation Technology
- without ECTS credits
This module aims to make students aware of the most important technological resources available to those who work through Irish and in the translation sector.
The module will aim to enable students to find information regarding Irish language grammar and terminology online so that they can write at a much higher level in the language. There will be a strong emphasis on the technological developments that have occurred over the past ten years that have implications for those working as translators. The students will be taught how to make effective use of terminology databases and there will also be a focus on translation memory software.
Students will attend two one-day workshops, which will take place in Dublin city centre in June and July 2022 (dates to be decided).
Course delivery
The 2021-2022 course will be delivered entirely online.
Course brochure
Entry Requirements and Application
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