Many of the resources offered at UMass often go unnoticed, since they are so rarely discussed. It wasn’t until my junior year that I learned about the Career Center, the student run businesses, Disability services, and the UMass Genzler Translation Center. Perhaps these are the kinds of services that you only know about if you need them, but I do think that UMass should broadcast these resources more than they do.

My junior year I became very interested in translation and interpreting services. I had taken all the classes I could in both the Spanish and Comparative Literature departments. One of my favorite classes I took was Spanish 514: Practicing Literary Translation: Spanish, Portuguese, Catalan with Dr. Regina Galasso, the director of the Genzler Translation Center. In her class, we worked on our own translations, moving through the process of revision after revision, assisted by our peers, and eventually left with a final product, while also learning about translation theory. We had the opportunity to meet leaders in the field such as Daniel Hahn and Mary Ann Newman and discuss our projects with them as well. It was one of my favorite classes I’ve taken at UMass and it made me feel like a career in either translation or interpreting was possible for me. I think there should be more classes that offer this type of hands-on experience and interaction with professionals.