The Department of Translation and Languages at Al Maaref University (MU) aims to graduate experts in interlingual and intercultural communication capable of thriving in a very competitive market. More importantly, however, it seeks to give a new perspective on translation and the translator’s role by emphasizing the importance of social responsibility, activism and ethics.

The Translation and Languages Program at MU helps students achieve high proficiency in their mother tongue (A: Arabic) and two foreign languages (B: English; C: French). Furthermore, it promotes students’ multilingualism by offering the optional learning of a third foreign language at the beginner level (Persian, Spanish, etc.).

The program trains students to translate in the fields of: mass media and audiovisuals; economics, finance, politics, local and international law, theology, philosophy, and literature. It acquaints them with the commonly-used computer tools and applications and offers them a possible insight into the three main types of interpreting (sight; consecutive; simultaneous) through technical electives.

The program offers its core and major courses within a framework inspired from the latest theories in translation studies. Special attention is given, however, to translation ethics and to the role of the translator in cultural mediation.