Graduate Translation Exam

Fulfillment of the Foreign Languages Translation Requirement for Graduate Students in Other Departments. The translation requirement may be satisfied by either:

1. Passing a language course numbered 306, 308 or higher with a B or better; or
2. Passing the translation exam described in this document; or
3. Passing Span/For Lang 600 if approved by the student’s department

 

The School of Languages, Cultures, and Race offers graduate translation exams in the following languages:

• Chinese
• French
• German
• Italian
• Japanese
• Spanish

SLCR requires that graduate students take their translation exam the semester prior to their final semester of studies. Some exceptions may be made but taking the exam later may create complications for the student and the SLCR faculty member and jeopardize the integrity of the exam.

 

Translation Exam Instructions

 

• After consulting with your advisor, either contact the SLCR main office (slcr@wsu.edu) to be connected with a SLCR faculty member who can administer your exam or visit https://slcr.wsu.edu/faculty/ for a list of available faculty members and their corresponding languages. Contacting the faculty member ahead of time is strongly encouraged.
• Pay the exam fee of $120.00 by bringing cash or a check to Amanda Myron, CAS Fiscal Administrative Assistant for SLCR, in Avery 202B. She can be contacted at myron@wsu.edu if you have any questions.
• Fill out this application form. The completed application form and receipt showing that the fee has been paid are required before you take the exam.

 

• At least three weeks prior to the exam date, you will need to submit to the faculty member material for the exam. With the help of your advisor, you will select at least 250 pages of material in the target language. This material may be passages from significant scholarly texts in your general field of study, from research articles, or, possibly, from works of literature. There must be at least two excerpts from two different sources.
• The total number of words in the excerpts to be translated will not exceed 500. In the case of Chinese and Japanese, it will not exceed 500 characters. The faculty examiner will proceed to select a portion of the material for the exam and may suggest different material if the submitted texts are too technical, stylistically too challenging, or not adequate.
• You will complete the exam in an SLCR room in Thompson Hall. You will have 2 hours to translate the selected excerpt into English. SLCR will provide a laptop on the day of the exam for you to type your translation. You will be allowed to use blank scratch paper and pen/pencil as well.
• You will be able to use a paper dictionary during the exam. If you do not have one, the examiner might be able to lend you one. A verb conjugation resource, such as 100 Verbs in French will also be allowed. If deemed necessary by the examiner, a short vocabulary list may be supplied as well.

 

On the day of the exam

• Approximately 15 minutes before the scheduled time of the exam, report to Thompson 110. The exam lasts two hours and will be administered in an SLCR room. You will leave all personal belongings with the staff in Thompson 110 except for approved exam materials.
• The faculty examiner will take the student to the exam room and provide them with the text to be translated. The faculty examiner will be present to answer questions and will personally proctor the exam.
• Be sure to pace yourself, keep a close eye on the clock, and save your work often. Also remember that using a dictionary can be time-consuming and the exam is limited to 2 hours.
• After two hours, the examiner will collect all material used for the exam, and you will be able to leave.

 

Results

• Graduate translation exams receive a grade of Pass or Fail, where “Pass” signifies a grade of B (85%) or better. While it is not important to translate every single word, the substance and major points of the foreign-language text must be clearly understood.
• The faculty examiner in charge of your exam will grade your translation and will send you an email within two weeks to inform you of the results with the fully completed application form in attachment. Your advisor will be copied on that email, as will the SLCR office for record keeping.