Translation Studies

The MPhil/PhD in Translation Studies is a research training programme which combines foundational and advanced training in the core areas of translation studies, research methods and research work leading to a thesis. The Department is strongly research-oriented, and through a combination of courses, advanced seminars and individual supervision, aims to provide the intellectual discipline, knowledge and skills required of a well-rounded researcher.

Supervision is offered in theoretical, descriptive and comparative, historical translation studies, as well as a wide range of interdisciplinary areas cutting across linguistics, cultural studies, sociological and political field of studies. Depending on the research topic, it may be possible to arrange joint supervision with specialists in other departments.

Research at the Centre for Translation Studies and in the Department of Linguistics

Research interests of the faculty are wide-ranging, spanning the languages across the world, from Chinese to Arabic, Swahili to Korean, Mongolian to Japanese. This focus on Asian and African languages, combined with the unparalleled access to the considerable language and regional expertise of other SOAS researchers constitutes a unique resource for the study of translation studies benefitting from expertise of many leading researchers in the areas of other languages, theoretical, comparative and descriptive linguistics, and area studies, which greatly enrich the field of translation studies.

Some recent completed theses

• The Influence of Translation on the Arabic Language: A Study on the Translation of English Idioms in Arabic Satellite TV Stations
• Translators and Habitus: An Integrative Approach to Investigating Film Dubbing in China from 1949 to the Present
• An Analysis of Translation Shifts in Thai Translations of English Novels
• A study into the ideological manipulation of translation and translation’s role in affecting the political and social fields: Translation’s function in advancing the war on terror
• An Influential Approach to Translating the Korean Implicit: from a relevance-theoretic perspective
• Contemporary Iranian Theatre in Translation: An Analysis of the Issues at Stake in the Translation of Foreign Plays from Conception to Performance

Academic Staff and Their Research Areas

Research Staff in Linguistics

Research Staff in Translation Studies