Students

TRAN8074 – Professional Practice in Translating and Interpreting

2023 – Session 1, In person-scheduled-weekday, North Ryde

General Information

Download as PDF
Unit convenor and teaching staff Unit convenor and teaching staff
Marc Orlando
Adelis Huang
Credit points Credit points
10
Prerequisites Prerequisites
(TRAN821 or TRAN8021) and (TRAN877 or TRAN8077 or TRAN820 or TRAN8020)
Corequisites Corequisites
Co-badged status Co-badged status
Unit description Unit description

This unit prepares students for professional practice as translators and/or interpreters. Students will be required to complete the fieldwork components (Practicum) required to complete the program. In addition to the fieldwork, the unit will cover a range of knowledge and skills that are essential to working as a freelance practitioner or as part of an in-house team of translators and interpreters. These include a profound understanding of translator and interpreter ethics, business creation and administration, marketing, building good client relationships, and lifelong learning.

Important Academic Dates

Information about important academic dates including deadlines for withdrawing from units are available at https://www.mq.edu.au/study/calendar-of-dates

Learning Outcomes

On successful completion of this unit, you will be able to:

  • ULO1: Demonstrate a professional manner with or without supervision during a translation/interpreting job under practicum.
  • ULO2: Demonstrate effective communication with clients and good client relationship management.
  • ULO3: Analyse the scenarios during a translation or interpreting job and apply the AUSIT Code of Ethics in the activities of translation and interpreting practice.
  • ULO4: Demonstrate competent management of translation and interpreting tasks in a teamwork environment.
  • ULO5: Get in-depth knowledge on the translation and interpreting industry, incluing code of ethics/conducts for the translation and interpreting professionals, market composition, dealing with clients, industry associations and bodies, etc.

General Assessment Information

Grade descriptors and other information concerning grading are contained in the Macquarie University Assessment Policy.

All final grades are determined by a grading committee, in accordance with the Macquarie University Assessment Policy, and are not the sole responsibility of the Unit Convenor.

Students will be awarded a final grade and a mark which must correspond to the grade descriptors specified in the Assessment Procedure (clause 128).

To pass this unit, you must demonstrate sufficient evidence of achievement of the learning outcomes, meet any ungraded requirements, and achieve a final mark of 50 or better.

Further details for each assessment task will be available on iLearn.

Late Submissions

Unless a Special Consideration request has been submitted and approved, a 5% penalty (OF THE TOTAL POSSIBLE MARK) will be applied each day a written assessment is not submitted, up until the 7th day (including weekends). After the 7th day, a grade of ‘0’ will be awarded even if the assessment is submitted. Submission time for all written assessments is set at 11.55pm. A 1-hour grace period is provided to students who experience a technical concern. 

 For example:

Number of days (hours) late

Total Possible Marks

Deduction

Raw mark

Final mark

1 day (1-24 hours)

100

5

75

70

2 days (24-48 hours)

100

10

75

65

3 days (48-72 hours)

100

15

75

60

7 days (144-168 hours)

100

35

75

40

>7 days (>168 hours)

100

-

75

0

 

For any late submissions of time-sensitive tasks, such as scheduled tests/exams, performance assessments/presentations, and/or scheduled practical assessments/labs, students need to submit an application for Special Consideration.

Assessment Tasks

Name Weighting Hurdle Due
Interpreting and translation field work 50% No Various, depending on client requests
End-semester portfolio 30% No Week 13
Seminar journals 20% No one week after the seminar is delivered

Interpreting and translation field work

Assessment Type 1: Field work task
Indicative Time on Task 2: 57 hours
Due: Various, depending on client requests
Weighting: 50%

 

Students are required to undertake practicum tasks by attending interpreting placements, completing translation tasks, observing professional work, etc., to complete the required practicum hours. Aside from the interpreting and translation tasks assigned by the unit, students are strongly encouraged to source practicum opportunities by themselves and complete the tasks after the final approval is obtained from the unit convenor. Students are required to keep log sheets of the practicum work they perform, along with reflective journals for interpreting placements and client/self-evaluation forms for translation tasks. Students are required to complete 75 practicum hours in total to complete the unit. Word count of the task: 250 per reflective journal on average. Number of journal entries depending on the tasks each student takes.

 


On successful completion you will be able to:
  • Demonstrate a professional manner with or without supervision during a translation/interpreting job under practicum.
  • Demonstrate effective communication with clients and good client relationship management.
  • Analyse the scenarios during a translation or interpreting job and apply the AUSIT Code of Ethics in the activities of translation and interpreting practice.
  • Demonstrate competent management of translation and interpreting tasks in a teamwork environment.

End-semester portfolio

Assessment Type 1: Portfolio
Indicative Time on Task 2: 3 hours
Due: Week 13
Weighting: 30%

 

Students are required to submit a portfolio by the end of Week 13 of the semester in which they enrol in the unit, enclosing all the activities they have done for the unit, including but not limited to: log sheets of translation projects, interpreting placements and court observations; journals of interpreting placements and observations, evidence of self-organised translation projects, client/self-evaluation reports of the translation tasks, and so on. Word count of the portfolio depending on the tasks each student takes.

 


On successful completion you will be able to:
  • Demonstrate a professional manner with or without supervision during a translation/interpreting job under practicum.
  • Demonstrate effective communication with clients and good client relationship management.
  • Analyse the scenarios during a translation or interpreting job and apply the AUSIT Code of Ethics in the activities of translation and interpreting practice.
  • Demonstrate competent management of translation and interpreting tasks in a teamwork environment.
  • Get in-depth knowledge on the translation and interpreting industry, incluing code of ethics/conducts for the translation and interpreting professionals, market composition, dealing with clients, industry associations and bodies, etc.

Seminar journals

Assessment Type 1: Reflective Writing
Indicative Time on Task 2: 12 hours
Due: one week after the seminar is delivered
Weighting: 20%

 

The students are required to attend unit-organised seminars on various topics in relation to their professional practise, including but not limited to: code of ethics, legal interpreting, conference interpreting, etc. A journal is required to be submitted on iLearn for each seminar within one week after the seminar is delivered unless otherwise specified. For each seminar, the students are required to submit reflective journals with reference questions in relation to the topic of the seminar. Word count of the task: 300 per seminar journal.

 


On successful completion you will be able to:
  • Analyse the scenarios during a translation or interpreting job and apply the AUSIT Code of Ethics in the activities of translation and interpreting practice.
  • Get in-depth knowledge on the translation and interpreting industry, incluing code of ethics/conducts for the translation and interpreting professionals, market composition, dealing with clients, industry associations and bodies, etc.

1 If you need help with your assignment, please contact:

  • the academic teaching staff in your unit for guidance in understanding or completing this type of assessment
  • the Writing Centre for academic skills support.

2 Indicative time-on-task is an estimate of the time required for completion of the assessment task and is subject to individual variation

Delivery and Resources

The unit seminars will be delivered in a face-to-face mode on campus with live streaming concurrently. The seminars are aimed to cover different topics of working as a professional translator and/or interpreter. Other than attending the seminar, the T&I Program is also liaising with the community to secure interpreting placement opportunities and translation projects for the students to practise in the real mode, with the final products supervised by qualified interpreters and/or translators. Students will also be encouraged to act as practising interpreters/translators for various clients sourced by the program or by themselves (pre-approval of the program is needed before the actual work is carried out).

Unit Schedule

Please refer to the iLearn unit for a detailed seminar schedule.

Policies and Procedures

Macquarie University policies and procedures are accessible from Policy Central (https://policies.mq.edu.au). Students should be aware of the following policies in particular with regard to Learning and Teaching:

Students seeking more policy resources can visit Student Policies (https://students.mq.edu.au/support/study/policies). It is your one-stop-shop for the key policies you need to know about throughout your undergraduate student journey.

To find other policies relating to Teaching and Learning, visit Policy Central (https://policies.mq.edu.au) and use the search tool.

Student Code of Conduct

Macquarie University students have a responsibility to be familiar with the Student Code of Conduct: https://students.mq.edu.au/admin/other-resources/student-conduct

Results

Results published on platform other than eStudent, (eg. iLearn, Coursera etc.) or released directly by your Unit Convenor, are not confirmed as they are subject to final approval by the University. Once approved, final results will be sent to your student email address and will be made available in eStudent. For more information visit ask.mq.edu.au or if you are a Global MBA student contact globalmba.support@mq.edu.au

Academic Integrity

At Macquarie, we believe academic integrity – honesty, respect, trust, responsibility, fairness and courage – is at the core of learning, teaching and research. We recognise that meeting the expectations required to complete your assessments can be challenging. So, we offer you a range of resources and services to help you reach your potential, including free online writing and maths support, academic skills development and wellbeing consultations.

Student Support

Macquarie University provides a range of support services for students. For details, visit http://students.mq.edu.au/support/

The Writing Centre

The Writing Centre provides resources to develop your English language proficiency, academic writing, and communication skills.

The Library provides online and face to face support to help you find and use relevant information resources. 

Student Services and Support

Macquarie University offers a range of Student Support Services including:

Student Enquiries

Got a question? Ask us via AskMQ, or contact Service Connect.

IT Help

For help with University computer systems and technology, visit http://www.mq.edu.au/about_us/offices_and_units/information_technology/help/

When using the University's IT, you must adhere to the Acceptable Use of IT Resources Policy. The policy applies to all who connect to the MQ network including students.

INCLUSION AND DIVERSITY

Social inclusion at Macquarie University is about giving everyone who has the potential to benefit from higher education the opportunity to study at university, participate in campus life and flourish in their chosen field. The University has made significant moves to promote an equitable, diverse and exciting campus community for the benefit of staff and students. It is your responsibility to contribute towards the development of an inclusive culture and practice in the areas of learning and teaching, research, and service orientation and delivery. As a member of the Macquarie University community, you must not discriminate against or harass others based on their sex, gender, race, marital status, carers' responsibilities, disability, sexual orientation, age, political conviction or religious belief. All staff and students are expected to display appropriate behaviour that is conducive to a healthy learning environment for everyone.

Professionalism

In the Faculty of Medicine, Health and Human Sciences, professionalism is a key capability embedded in all our courses.

As part of developing professionalism, students are expected to attend all small group interactive sessions including clinical, practical, laboratory, work-integrated learning (e.g., PACE placements), and team-based learning activities. Some learning activities are recorded (e.g., face-to-face lectures), however you are encouraged to avoid relying upon such material as they do not recreate the whole learning experience and technical issues can and do occur. As an adult learner, we respect your decision to choose how you engage with your learning, but we would remind you that the learning opportunities we create for you have been done so to enable your success, and that by not engaging you may impact your ability to successfully complete this unit. We equally expect that you show respect for the academic staff who have worked hard to develop meaningful activities and prioritise your learning by communicating with them in advance if you are unable to attend a small group interactive session.

Another dimension of professionalism is having respect for your peers. It is the right of every student to learn in an environment that is free of disruption and distraction. Please arrive to all learning activities on time, and if you are unavoidably detained, please join activity as quietly as possible to minimise disruption. Phones and other electronic devices that produce noise and other distractions must be turned off prior to entering class. Where your own device (e.g., laptop) is being used for class-related activities, you are asked to close down all other applications to avoid distraction to you and others. Please treat your fellow students with the utmost respect. If you are uncomfortable participating in any specific activity, please let the relevant academic know.


Unit information based on version 2023.04 of the Handbook