The Department of Translation Studies

The Department of Translation Studies at the University of Graz was established in 1946. Since then, generations of translators and interpreters have studied here. One of the most important priorities of our department is to provide a profound theoretical basis for practice-orientated translation training. Since 1994, the department has been a member of CIUTI (Conférence Internationale d’Instituts Universitaires de Traducteurs et Interprètes).

Currently, about 1000 students are registered at the Department of Translation Studies. About 20 % of them study German as a foreign language, including the exchange students from about 40 partner-universities. Regular graduate students studying German as a foreign language mostly come from Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Italy and Hungary.

The Department of Translation Studies offers the following languages:

The course takes five years and is divided into three phases, the first of which takes one year, the second and the third take two years each. The first two years are focused on acquiring language and cultural competence in the chosen foreign languages as well as in the mother-tongue or the language in which you were educated. In the third year, the students are introduced to the basic skills of translating. At the beginning of the third phase, students have to choose between translating or interpreting and focus on specific job profiles. In the course of the first two phases, the students  are given an introduction to the basics of translation theory. During the third phase, students acquire a deeper knowledge of translation or interpretation theory and enhance their competence in translation or simultaneous interpreting in practice. Each phase ends with an exam. At the moment, a division of the course into “Bakkalaureat”, “Magisterstudium” and “Doktoratsstudium” (bachelor - master - PhD) is in progress.

Since the winter term 2004/2005, the Department of Translation Studies  has offered the following short courses: Albanian (3 terms), Community Interpreting (4 terms) and European Master's in Conference Interpreting (2 terms).

The Department of Translation Studies is housed in the “Universitätszentrum Wall”. This building used to be a print shop and was renovated and adapted to serve as a location for various university departments such as Linguistics, Slavonic Languages and Romance Languages and two IT-Centres.

South-Eastern Europe

The University of Graz has chosen South-Eastern Europe as a research focus. Research conducted by members of the Department examines historical, geographic, socio-cultural and linguistic aspects associated with the region. The ITAT closely cooperates with partner universities in Croatia (Osijek and Zagreb), Hungary (Pécs), Macedonia (Skopje) and Slovenia (Ljubljana, Maribor) and every year welcomes a large number of students and exchange students from the area.