English-Spanish Translation Among UC’s Online Offerings

Edgar Moros, Ph.D. in Translation Studies from SUNY Binghamton, hails from Venezuela and lives full time in Brookline, Massachusetts. But he works for Adelphi University as program coordinator for the Online Noncredit Certificate in English Translation Studies, offering classes through University College’s Online Learning program.

“It was a novel idea of having an online program in translation and not many programs were around at the time,” Dr. Moros said. He said he likes Adelphi’s program for its flexibility. “I can live anywhere in the world, and I’m teaching online.”

Students in the program can expect to learn about translating written material in contexts like medicine, law diplomacy, news, science, and industry. There are six modules with Dr. Moros and Javier Labrador each teaching three modules, and the program takes approximately eight months to complete. Then students can use their completion from the Adelphi program to meet eligibility requirements to sit for an exam to become certified translators through the American Translators Association.

“Those who are truly bilingual and put a lot of effort into this can find a very good career path with government agencies, translation agencies or as a freelance translator running their own business,” Dr. Moros said.

Translating refers to written material and interpreting refers to spoken language. The Adelphi translation program is offered online, which is compatible with a subject entirely about written material.

Olga Carreño-Castro holds an M.S. in Education from Queens College and has been an elementary-level teacher for Westbury Public Schools for 16 years. She completed the translation program in 2011 and said the instructors were tough in their requirements and expectations, but that she likes to work with such capable teachers.

“The professors were amazing and my experience with the Adelphi program really reinstated my love for translation and the languages,” she said.

Like Dr. Moros, Carreño-Castro was born and raised in Venezuela and spent her young adult years in the United States. Dr. Moros came to the United States for the first time at age 10, and he learned both languages simultaneously, because his mother was from Niagara Falls, New York. Carreño-Castro arrived in the United States at age 18 speaking very little English, but she took English immersion courses while studying music at Queens College.

“Being bilingual is the basic condition to be a translator or interpreter. [The candidate] must know both languages very well—and not every person who knows both well can be a translator,” Dr. Moros said.

Dr. Moros earned his Bachelor of Science and Master of Arts in Translation Studies from Kent State University in Ohio and subsequently taught Spanish at the University of Akron in Ohio before returning to Venezuela where he taught at the University of Los Andes for 15 years. He estimates he has spent half his life in the United States and half in Venezuela.

“Anybody who is interested in taking the program shouldn’t hesitate about the quality of it. It is a high-quality program,” Carreño-Castro said.