Associate Professor of Professional Practice, Spanish Translation
Professor Andreu is a literary and specialized translator with over 25 years of experience and more than 250 published translations from English and German into Spanish and Catalan. His 2024 translation of Blackwater, by Michael McDowell, is the best-selling translation of the decade in Spain, with over one million copies sold. Beyond literature, his portfolio includes work for clients such as the Council on Foreign Relations, FIFA, the Goethe Institut, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, and major public agencies in California.
His focus lays in the intersection of human expertise and technology, preparing students for careers in translation, localization, and interpreting. He designs curricula that integrates translation technologies—machine translation and post-editing, corpus linguistics, generative AI—with core “old-school” linguistic skills, creativity, and professional ethics, fostering teamwork, flexibility, and inclusive practices that empower graduates to serve diverse multilingual communities.
TIAG 8515
Foundations in TranslationCourse Description
Introduction to Translation
This course introduces students to the basic theories and practices of written and sight translation. Discussions and activities will explore the purposes of translation and decisions made when deciding how to best approach a translation assignment, including issues of text equivalency, source and target text intention, directionality, language pairs, translation speed, revision processes, and the use of translation tools and resources.
Terms Taught
TIAG 8607 Upcoming
Trnsltn Prac:Foundations in AICourse Description
The Translation Practicum at the Middlebury Institute of International Studies (MIIS) is a professional development course designed to provide students with hands-on experience in real-world translation environments. This practicum bridges the gap between academic training and industry practice by allowing students to apply their translation and editing skills to authentic projects. The practicum emphasizes client communication, adherence to deadlines, quality assurance, and use of industry-standard tools and fosters collaboration, attention to detail, and professionalism, preparing students for successful careers in the language services industry.
This course allows students to choose a translation project of at least 5000 words in their field of interest and it teaches students the foundations of AI in translation, such as:
Working with AI Translation Tools
• Hands-on with Google Translate, DeepL, ChatGPT
• Compare AI translations to human versions
• Common issues and how to spot them
Evaluating Translation Quality
• BLEU, METEOR, TER scores
• Human-centered evaluation methods
• Group project: rating and improving AI translations
Limitations and Challenges
• Language pairs with poor support
• Rare dialects, code-switching, idioms
• Longform and creative translation issues
Translation in Multimodal AI
• Speech-to-text, real-time voice translation
• Subtitles, dubbing, and accessibility
• Tools: Whisper, YouTube auto-captioning, Zoom’s live translation
Terms Taught
TIAG 8630
Literary TranslationCourse Description
This course introduces students to the theories and craft of literary translation into English (or Spanish) from a second language, which may be the students' A, B, or C language. During the semester we will read and discuss foundational texts in literary translation, touching on questions of translatability, fidelity, domestication and foreignization, genre, the relationship between original texts and their translations, and the notion of authorship. We will compare different translations of literary texts, in order to examine how each version works, and will discuss how translators make decisions on language, style, format, and cultural equivalency. We will also discuss the professional aspects of submission, publication, contracts, translation schedules, and ethics. Throughout the semester students will work on an individual translation project on a text of their choice that then will be workshopped in class. At the end of the term, each student will turn in a portfolio of their translation. Students will also submit (a portion of) their translation to a literary journal or publisher.
Terms Taught
TISP 8512 Upcoming
Intro Written Trans to SpanishCourse Description
Introduction to Written Translation into Spanish
Introduces students to the basic theory and practice of written translation. Students will learn to apply text analysis, text typology, and contrastive analysis of their working languages to identify, analyze, and resolve translation problems while independently developing an efficient and rational approach to the process of translation. The appropriate application of electronic translation tools will also be introduced. Fundamental translation theory will be emphasized at the beginning of the course and will be conveyed in the form of assigned readings, lectures, class discussions, and independent research. In addition, course assignments will include practice and graded exercises in written translation, utilizing authentic texts drawn from an extensive variety of text categories that include, but are not limited to, current events, general political economy, general legal documents, and scientific and technical topics for general audiences. As the term progresses, student time and effort will increasingly be spent on the preparation and evaluation of written translation assignments. Students will be expected to take at least one midterm exam and one final exam, to be assigned at the discretion of the instructor(s) of record.
Terms Taught
TISP 8522
Intrm Translation into SpanishCourse Description
Builds on the theoretical and practical foundation laid in Introduction to Translation and introduces the translation of specialized subject matter. Depending upon the language program in which they are enrolled, students will be expected to acquire and demonstrate basic proficiency in the sight and written translation of either commercial and economic texts, legal texts, or scientific and technical texts. The amount of emphasis accorded to a particular topic will depend on the specific professional requirements of each language program. Course assignments will include readings, research, presentations, practice and graded exercises in sight translation, and practice and graded written translation assignments, including exercises in speed translation. Students will also be expected to take at least one midterm and one final exam. The frequency, nature, and structure of course assignments and examinations are largely at the discretion of the instructor(s) of record.
Prerequisite: Introduction to Translation or equivalent background.
Terms Taught
TISP 8560 Upcoming
Adv Spanish Grammar for T&ICourse Description
Advanced Spanish Grammar for T&I (TISP 8560) offers a comprehensive review of the grammatical structures that are most problematic for Spanish B translation and interpreting students, with particular attention paid to Spanish pronominal and verbal systems. Students will analyze grammar on the sentence level and develop strategies for translating/interpreting problematic structures.
Terms Taught
TISP 8632 Upcoming
Adv Translation I into SpanishCourse Description
Advanced Translation I into Spanish
This is the first of two complementary courses designed to bring translation knowledge and skills up to the level that would be required of someone working in a professional translation environment. Students will be expected to apply the knowledge and skills acquired during the first-year translation courses to produce translations that meet high standards for content, form, and presentation. A great deal of attention is given to subject matter knowledge and research, precision in text analysis and writing, and the appropriate application of translation technology. Some programs emphasize scientific and technical topics in this course, but others give considerable attention to commercial, economic, legal, and political texts, many of which have a technical component. The frequency, nature, and structure of course assignments and examinations are at the discretion of the instructor(s) of record. Students will, however, be expected to take at least one midterm exam and one final exam.
Prerequisite: 2nd-year student in good standing or equivalent background.
Terms Taught
TISP 8642
Advanced Trans II to SpanishCourse Description
This course is the counterpart to Advanced Translation I. Students are expected to translate texts of considerable difficulty and complexity and to cope with the types of operational challenges that are likely to be encountered in professional translation settings, such as working in teams or coping with multiple technologies. Emphasis is on particular text categories and subject-matter knowledge that are pertinent to current market demand for the specific language combination and direction in which the course is being taught. The frequency, nature, and structure of course assignments are at the discretion of the instructor(s) of record, but will include projects that simulate, as closely as possible, the professional translation environment, as well as at least one midterm and one final exam.
Prerequisite: Advanced Translation I or similar background.
Terms Taught
Professor Andreu holds an BA in Translation and Interpretation from Universitat Pompeu Fabra and an MA in Literary Theory and Comparative Literature from Universitat de Barcelona, with a specialization in exophonic writers—that is, authors who at some point produce their fiction in a language other than their mother tongue (think Vladimir Nabokov, Samuel Beckett, Joseph Conrad, Ha Jin, Agota Kristof, Jhumpa Lahiri or Milan Kundera).
Languages: Spanish, Catalan, English, German
Notable translations include:
Martir! (Martyr!) by Kaveh Akbar (Blackie Books, 2025) — National Book Award 2024 Finalist
Blackwater, by Michael Mcdowell. (Blackie Books, 2024) — Over 1 million copies sold
El Tao of Wu (The Tao of Wu) by the RZA (Blackie Books, 2024)
A la vora de la mar (By the Sea) by Abdulrazak Gurnah (La Magrana, 2022) — Nobel Prize in Literature 2021
El cielo de medianoche (Good Morning, Midnight) by Lily Brooks-Dalton (Blackie Books, 2020) — Now a major Netflix movie with George Clooney, “The Midnight Sky”.
La maldición de Hill House (The Haunting of Hill House) by Shirley Jackson (Editorial Minúscula, 2019) — 1960 National Book Award Finalist
George Orwell fue mi amigo (Fortune Smiles) by Adam Johnson (Seix Barral, 2017) — National Book Award for Fiction 2015
El huérfano (The Orphan’s Master Son) by Adam Johnson (Seix Barral, 2014) — Pulitzer Prize for Fiction 2013
El tiempo es un canalla (A Visit from the Goon Squad) by Jennifer Egan (Minúscula, 2012) — Pulitzer Prize for Fiction 2011
Other literary work includes translations of works by Dana Spiotta, Doris Lessing, John Grisham, Jonathan Safran Foer, Shalom Auslander, James Patterson, Gerald Murnane, Ingo Schulze, Uwe Timm, Erika Mann, and John Green among many others.
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