The Department of German Language Translation Studies 

Prof. Dr. Sueda ÖZBENT

Head of Department

 

The Department of German Language Translation Studies – or, Almanca Mütercim Tercümanlık in Turkish - at Marmara University in İstanbul was founded in 2006 as part of the School of Foreign Languages before moving to the Faculty of Science and Letters in 2008. The department is embedded in a cluster of three translation studies departments - German, English, and French - and enjoys a close working partnership with the university’s German Studies and German Teacher Training departments.

The current head of the department, Associate Prof. Dr. Sueda Özbent, is a trained German language and literature specialist who received her Masters and PhD degrees from Eichstätt University in Germany. In addition to Dr. Özbent, there are two further leading specialists in German linguistics and Translation Studies on staff at the department. Complimenting them is a team of three native German-speaking lecturers, one of whom has recently being awarded her PhD in translation studies from Sakarya University, a second one is a trained translator and interpreter from Cologne, and the third one is a linguist and historian with a background in teaching. Rounding up the team at the department are two research assistants and two hourly-paid specialists in conference interpreting and linguistics. This wide variety of expertise and academic interests at the department helps to ensure that students receive an education rich in perspective and high in quality.

The four-year-curriculum of the department includes both classes with a theoretical approach towards translation and practical classes that focus on subjects such as translation in the fields of law, economy, literature, culture, tourism, health and computer based-translation  In addition to Turkish and German students attend English classes during the four years of their studies and can also choose between French or Spanish as  a third  foreign language  from the second year.

Speaking of students coming to the Department of German Language Translation Studies:

• the official annual student intake number is currently 25;
• the undergraduate course offered at the department is a full, first-cycle, four-year Bachelor degree which allows graduates to directly progress to a Masters degrees (although currently postgraduate courses are not offered in the department);
• students who cannot prove a high-enough (CEFR-Level B2) degree of proficiency in German must first undertake an academic year of language studies at the university’s School of Foreign Languages before they are permitted to embark on their undergraduate studies at the department;
• the medium age of students at the department is slightly higher than the university’s average as a number of mature and returnee (from Germany) students choose to study there;
• students at the department follow a prescribed pathway in the first two years of their studies before they are allowed to specialise through choosing from a catalogue of elective courses in the third and fourth years respectively;
• throughout their course, students have the opportunity to practise their conference interpretation skills in a purpose-built laboratory as well as receiving practical training on industry-standard translation software (TRADOS, TRANSIT );
• during the third year of their course, students at the department also have the chance to participate in the Erasmus+ exchange programme. We currently have exchange agreements with three partner universities in Germany, one in Austria and another one in Finland;
• in addition to this, the department endeavours to maintain active links with industry to allow students to gain practical experience while still at Marmara University.