UMass Boston's Translation Certificate Program

On July 13th, 2022, our program graduate from Serbia, Sladjana Jakovac, met with the Program Director, Diego Mansilla, and visited UMass Boston’s campus. 

Sladjana was a distinguished student in the Translation Certificate Program during the 2019-2020 academic year. She is originally from Serbia, but for the past six years has lived with her family in Slovenia.

Sladjana Jakovac has worked as a professional translator and interpreter for more than 15 years, and is fluent in English, Spanish and Slovenian languages, as well as her native Serbian. In 2015 she started her own company, P&F Translations. She covers different topics, such as judiciary, environment, international trade, customs procedures, industrial policies, and non-performing loans. She is currently employed as a translator in a CNN news affiliate in Slovenia – N1 Slovenia, where she translates CNN content to Slovenian.

While a student in the UMass Boston’s  Translation Certificate Program, along with actively participating in the community of emerging and experienced translators that the students formed online, she also generously contributed to our TRADU-podcast series by participating in the conversation “On Interpreting with Francisco Bueso, Ines Fusco and Sladjana Jakovac.” 

At the end of the program, Sladjana participated in the professional panel “On Interpreting: An International Perspective” at the 2020 Online New England Translators Association Conference. The panel talked about interpreting as a complex process that requires a special set of skills. The three panelists shared first-hand advice on what it takes to be an interpreter, what this job looks like and what skills one needs to have or develop in order to be an interpreter. 

After Sladjana successfully finished our program and passed the Certificate Exam, she continued to support the program. For the past two years, Sladjana has been a guest speaker in our program invited to share her experience as a professional interpreter with our students. Sladjana has always been very generous and kind to patiently guide our students through their first steps into the profession by answering their questions. 

During the campus visit, Sladjana visited the University Hall, Campus Center where NETA Conference would take place in person, as well as the bookstore. “It was a great pleasure to be able to visit the campus that looks very nice and modern and to meet professor Mansilla in person. I really enjoyed the program and I learned so many new aspects of translation that helped me in my everyday job as a translator. I loved Boston and the fantastic location of the campus and with great honor and pleasure I will continue supporting the program by sharing my experience and participating at the NETA Conference,” says Sladjana.

We cherish such rare encounters and appreciate these precious connections with our program graduates. Although our Translation Certificate Program is a fully online program, having established such a strong link through many class activities and collaborations in and outside the program, seeing Sladjana in person was like meeting a former student from an in-person class.

We are pleased to announce a new publication in our Translators’ Corner: the English translation of a travel journal kept by Bishop Diego de Guzmán during his pilgrimage along the Camino de Santiago, as an emissary to King Philip III, in the year 1610. The translation has been done by George Greenia (William & Mary) and is presented here with the English title “Pilgrimage to Santiago”.

The Observatorio of the Instituto Cervantes at Harvard (FAS) invites both emerging and expert translators to submit their translations for possible inclusion in the Translators’ Corner, which welcomes English versions of short works originally written and published in Spanish from various genres, periods, and geographical origins. View information on how to submit a proposal, and other issues of the Translators’ Corner.

Querido/a amigo/a del Observatorio:

Nos complace anunciar una nueva publicación del Rincón de Traductores: la traducción al inglés del diario de viaje escrito por el obispo Diego de Guzmán a lo largo de su peregrinación por el Camino de Santiago, como emisario del rey Felipe III, en el año 1610. La traducción ha sido hecha por George Greenia (William & Mary) y se presenta aquí con el título inglés “Pilgrimage to Santiago”.

El Observatorio del Instituto Cervantes en Harvard (FAS) invita a traductores expertos o noveles a enviar traducciones para su posible inclusión en el Rincón Traductores, sección que acoge versiones en inglés de obras breves escritas y publicadas originalmente en español, de diversos géneros, épocas y procedencia geográfica. Para más información sobre el envío de propuestas y consultar otros números publicados en el Rincón de Traductores.