Diak, the University of Helsinki, the University of Tampere and HUMAK University of Applied Sciences launched a joint specialisation programme in court interpreting in 2018.
It became the first certification programme in court interpreting designed for higher education students in Finland. The programme responds to the growing need for high-quality court interpreting by qualified interpreters.
Specialisation broadens and advances your expertise
- The specialisation programme will give you confidence in your court interpreting practice.
- As a qualified court interpreter, you will be able to register as a certified legal interpreter and gain access to new job opportunities.
Read the article: The court interpreting qualification certifies your competence
Who is it for?
The programme is designed for interpreting professionals who hold a higher education degree. Applicants are required to have
- A Bachelor’s or Master’s degree from a university and/or
- A Bachelor’s or Master’s degree from a university of applied sciences, or
- a comparable educational qualification.
In addition, applicants must have
- work experience in interpreting or legal services
- proficiency in two languages required in court interpreting.
Languages
The preliminary language offering of the programme includes Finnish sign language, Russian, Swedish, Somali, Arabic and possibly English, Estonian and French. The final language offering will be determined based on the applicants’ working languages. Applications for English, Estonian and French can also be submitted during the application period. You can apply for one or several language pairs.
Demonstration of language proficiency
Language proficiency can be demonstrated by language certificates or other documents that demonstrate the required proficiency.
For the B language, we accept certificates at CEFR Level C1 or National Certificate of Language Proficiency Level 5.
For the A language, we accept e.g. a matriculation examination certificate or a degree certificate for a programme completed in the language in question.
If you are unable to provide certificates, please provide an assessment of your language proficiency in your application and details of how you acquired it. Language skills will be tested in the entrance examination.
Scope
The credit load is 40 ECTS. One ECTS corresponds to approximately 27 hours of study.
Implementation
The programme will be delivered in multimodal form and include both online learning and contact teaching. The programme can be completed alongside your work.
Content
The programme is divided into two modules: The work settings of court interpreters (courses O1 and O2) and Court interpreting (courses T1–T4):
- O1 The legal system (10 ECTS)
- O2 Public administration (5 ECTS)
- T1 Court interpreting theory and the work settings (5 ECTS)
- T2 Preparation and assignment management (5 ECTS)
- T3 Court interpreting 1 (5 ECTS)
- T4 Court interpreting 2 (10 ECTS)
Location
Contact sessions are organised in Helsinki.
Admissions
Applications to the programme have now closed. Details of the next implementation will be released at a later date.