Where are you now?

Hi, i have been offered a conditional place at aston to do translation studies: german. I was just wondering if you could tell me a little bit about it? giood points bad points etc. Was it a big jump from Alevel German to university standard and if you don't mind, how did you get on in your a levels? thanks you

Congrats! Sure I can.

Good points:
- With translation studies you start from scratch by looking at theory first and then how to translate later which I think is the best way to do it. The tutors are all really knowledgeable and friendly too.
- There aren't usually many people doing TS:G so classes are quite small and you can get better help and support.
- All of the German classes are taught in German which can be a huge shock at first (so there is quite a big jump) but it really does help improve your language skills.
- There's a good range of modules- I've done modules on topics like history, film, linguistics, interpreting and I'm about to take one on the Yiddish dialect.
- The year abroad is one of the best things the uni offers and Aston has a placement office to help with it, unlike some other uni's. The year abroad was the best year I've ever had

Bad points:
- I've never had any choice in the modules I can take over the past 4 years. They do change the structure of courses/modules every year though so that might change.
- The library is quite small and now I've been looking at German topics more "outside of the box" I've found that they don't always have what I'm looking for. You can borrow from other libraries though.

My A-Levels were messed up cos I was suffering from severe depression at the time and I had to apply for extenuating circumstances. I got an A in German, B in Media Studies and B in Theatre Studies.

Hope this helps

thanks soo much for all your help etc, really helpful!! I have Aston as my firm choice and you've made me more certain now. just wondering what did you spend your year abroad doing? i am scared about that!! xx