It is finally here – the possibility of studying court interpreting on-line at the college level!!!

As indicated in my previous posting, I have been absent from this blog for several weeks. Here is why. Glendon College of York University (Toronto, Canada) is in the process of creating a Master’s program in interpreting, which includes courses in court, conference, and health care interpreting. 
My absence from this blog relates to the fact that I am developing two court interpreting courses on behalf of Glendon for the English <=> French language pair; an activity that has added to my regular work load. Eighteen other curriculum developers around the world are working on court, conference, and health care interpreting courses in language pairs including English<=> French, English <=> Portuguese, English <=> Spanish, and English <=> Mandarin. The program has already received funding to add courses in English <=> Cantonese, English <=> Arabic, and English <=> Russian. Funding for the development of these courses has been provided in part by the Government of Canada’s Canadian Language Sector Enhancement program.

This program, called Master’s in Conference Interpreting (MCI), is a two-year program, but students who do not wish to pursue conference interpreting can complete one year of studies and earn a graduate certificate in general interpreting. Year one of the MCI will be offered completely on line through an array of e-learning tools.This program, housed in Glendon’s School of Translation, is the first on-line degree program in interpreting in the Americas and provides an excellent opportunity to students in the US as well as Canada.

The program will start this fall, and Glendon will begin accepting on-line applications for admission in early May. It will run with English, French, Spanish, Portuguese, and Mandarin as working languages. A new video has just been released to promote the program.

I’ll post updates on this exciting program as it develops.