English Translation and Interpretation in Turkey

English Translation and Interpreting in Turkey is a four-year bachelor’s that trains professional translators and interpreters between English and Turkish. Courses are taught mainly in English, but the working language pair is English–Turkish, so you need strong Turkish as well. For 2026–27, dated international fees on this page start at $4 400 a year (Üsküdar) and rise to $8 500 (Bahçeşehir).

• Length: four years, plus a preparatory year if your English or Turkish is below entry level.
• Two skills tracks: written translation (literary, legal, technical, audiovisual) and interpreting (consecutive and simultaneous).
• Language pair: English↔Turkish. Okan also offers Russian and Chinese translation and interpreting, each paired with Turkish, which is worth knowing if Russian is your first language.
• Tools: computer-assisted translation (CAT) tools and terminology management are part of modern curricula.

The first year sharpens both languages; the second introduces translation theory and text types; the last two years specialise and simulate professional work. The sequence below is typical for Turkish programmes; the university’s course catalogue gives the exact courses.

Ask whether the department has interpreting booths and whether students practise with real recordings of conferences and speeches. Interpreting is learned by doing, and the equipment shows how seriously the programme treats it.

• School certificate with transcripts; universities set their own minimum average. Holders of an 11-year certificate from Russia or other CIS countries should confirm that it is accepted.
• Exams. Private universities accept school grades, SAT or YÖS results in different combinations. The 2026 TR-YÖS/1 sitting was on 12 April 2026.
• English, at a high level. Translation departments often set higher English thresholds than other programmes. Bahçeşehir, for example, requires TOEFL iBT 96 or PTE Academic 78 for Translation and Interpreting, compared with 72 and 55 for most of its programmes, and does not accept IELTS or Duolingo.
• Turkish. Even where the medium of instruction is English, you translate into and out of Turkish. Ask how the department assesses Turkish and whether a Turkish preparatory year is available.
• After admission: the diploma equivalence certificate from the Ministry of National Education and a student residence permit.

1. Medium of instruction. Üsküdar, İstinye and Bahçeşehir list their programmes as English; Okan and Yeni Yüzyıl as English and Turkish; Haliç lists separate Turkish and English tracks. Pick the balance that matches your stronger language.
2. Interpreting facilities. Booths, recording equipment and trained interpreting staff.
3. Technology. Licences for CAT tools such as Trados or memoQ, and courses in machine-translation post-editing, which is now a large part of the market.
4. Internships. Links with translation agencies, publishers, media and international organisations in Istanbul.
5. Accreditation. Language-education and humanities programmes in Turkey can be accredited by DEDAK, STAR or FEDEK, all registered with YÖKAK; ask for the department’s status.

Graduates work as freelance or in-house translators, localisation and subtitling specialists, conference and liaison interpreters, editors, and language specialists in trade, tourism, media and international organisations. Post-editing of machine translation and terminology work are growing parts of the job.

There is no single licence to translate in Turkey. Certified (“sworn”) translations of official documents are done through notaries, each with its own conditions for registering translators. Conference interpreters build their standing through experience and professional associations. If you plan to work outside Turkey, check whether your country has a state-certified translator exam, as many do.

Dated 2026–27 fees on this page: Üsküdar $4 400 a year, with a 10% discount for full payment in advance and a $1 000 deposit; Yeni Yüzyıl $5 000 (its list also shows a 50% scholarship column of $2 500); Okan $5 000, with 5% off for advance payment; İstinye $8 000; and Bahçeşehir $8 500. Atlas, Haliç, Topkapı, Nişantaşı, Yaşar and Gelişim publish no fee labelled for 2026–27.

Budget also for a laptop that runs CAT software, a good headset for interpreting practice, housing, health insurance and the residence permit.