Jadavpur University in Kolkata, West Bengal, has recently started offering a professional translation course. This course hopes to fulfil the current need for skilled translators within India.

In announcing the course, the Centre for Translation of Indian Literature coordinator at the university, Sayantan Dasgupta, stated:

“The translation industry is going through a boom but there is a dearth of responsible and trained translators in India. We aim to bridge the gap with this course.”

The course comprises 300 hours of study and will address basic translation theory as well as introducing students to industries which require translation services. Dasgupta mentions services such as literary translation as well as translation for films, media and textbooks.

Students will also work on a number of the projects that are undertaken within the centre. This professional translation experience can subsequently be added to their CVs, along with other individual projects which constitute a substantial part of the course.

In addition to this, the centre is planning to put on a series of related workshops, the first of which will be on subtitling.