You will need to provide proof of B1-level proficiency to study English and French, and B2-level proficiency in German (if these are not your native languages). There are no requirements for any other languages. If you choose two foreign languages of study, you must provide proof of B1 proficiency in at least one of them (if you choose German, a B2 level is required).

An interest in intercultural communication is a basic requirement. You should enjoy doing precise work with languages – both your native language and additional languages – and seek to employ your skills to make a difference in the world. The intersection with machine translation and the opportunities this provides within the professional field makes this program of study suitable for those interested in the technology behind language, language processing, and language mediation.

In the Translation degree program, you can choose one or two languages of study from among the following options:

• Arabic
• German
• English
• French
• Italian
• Modern Greek
• Dutch
• Polish
• Portuguese
• Russian
• Spanish
• Turkish

You will further develop and expand your skills in the languages you choose, and you will discuss translation challenges and theories in courses focused on translation and translation studies. Practice-oriented projects offer plenty of opportunities to use your new skills right away.

Further key content of the degree program includes:

• Multilingual communication, media, and target audience-oriented text production
• Orientation in the professional field of translation and multilingualism
• Academic foundations
• Translation technologies and processes
• Theories, methods, and topics pertaining to linguistics and cultural studies

The program structure also includes a required elective module where you can choose from specializations including:

• Introduction to interpreting
• Intercultural communication
• Regional competence
• Enhancement of translation competence
• A basic English module

A stay abroad or an internship may also be used to fulfill the required elective module.

Stay abroad

Would you like to live abroad for a semester or a year? Do you want to learn another language and get to know a new culture? Or gain a different perspective on your particular subject? A stay abroad provides you with the perfect opportunity to achieve this and is possible with every degree program – either self-organized or by taking advantage of one of the popular exchange programs. This is made possible by various cooperation agreements and partnerships with foreign universities.

For more information on this topic, please visit our websites on studying abroad. Visit our student exchange platform for an overview of cooperating universities in your field.

This program of study does not require you to spend time abroad, but you nevertheless have the opportunity to do so.

We highly recommend a stay abroad. The faculty partners with over 100 universities worldwide. The International Office on the Germersheim campus will help you connect with the right partner university for you.

You should avoid taking a semester abroad too early on during your program of study, as your stay abroad should not only help you better your language skills, but also allow you to understand and participate in subject-specific courses in the foreign language.

Internships

This program of study does not include a mandatory internship. However, voluntary internships are a great way to gain insight into a professional field.

An internship allows you to discover whether everyday life in a particular occupation suits your career expectations and interests. You can gain qualifications for a professional field and acquire important professional and personal skills to start a career. An internship helps you both shape your career path, and mold the remainder of your course sequence – in particular by selecting specializations that suit your practical experience.

You can find further information and relevant internships on the Career Service website.

Internships can also count towards the required elective module if they are full-time and are carried out over the course of at least eight weeks in a typical field of work. The faculty offers support in finding and connecting with internship providers via an online internal faculty internship and career board.

An internship is primarily recommended towards the end of your program of study in order for you to be able to apply what you have learned during your studies.

In the Translation degree course, you will have expanded your knowledge on the languages and cultures that you have studied and have learned to translate. Perhaps you will have even tried out interpreting.

Depending on the languages studied, you will already be specialized and prepared for language and culture mediation (especially if you studied English). If you studied languages not typically taught in school, you will have acquired solid linguistic and translation skills.

Typical subject-related professional fields include:

• Translation (including post-editing machine translations)
• Certain types of interpreting, such as liaison interpreting or community interpreting
• Project management in the field of translation
• Software localization, film subtitling, and other areas of audiovisual translation
• International commercial fields such as distribution, export, marketing, tourism

In addition to the typical professional fields, you can also find work in the following areas:

• Language/translation technology – as an advisor for software providers or in language/translation services
• Terminology – maintenance of multilingual subject-specific term bases in language services at companies or government authorities

Further specializations open up other professional fields relating to languages:

• Editing of technical texts – creating technical texts alongside with technical experts
• Language teaching, especially in adult education
• Copywriting – translating or customizing advertisements for international markets
• Online editing in an international context

Not sure what to do after graduation? Don’t worry!

A university degree generally does not prepare you for a single profession but qualifies you for a wide range of career paths – for example, in research, in a typical profession related to your field of study, or in one of many other academic fields.

This is why career orientation is also part of your studies. Gaining practical experience is key, and you can do so through internships, working student positions, part-time jobs or voluntary work, for example.

JGU’s Career Service will support you throughout the entire process with information, advice, workshops and numerous events – from career orientation and working on your profile and skills to finding your dream job and successfully applying for it.