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Май 2013: учебные видеоконференции с вузами-партнерами

Two videoconferences organized by St. Petersburg School of Conference Interpreting and Translation jointly with the MoU partner universities were a final chord to the 2012/2013 academic year.

On 27 May the telebridge brought together the students from St. Petersburg, ESIT (L’École Supérieure d’Interprèteset de Traducteurs) and the experts from SCIC, European Commission. The speeches were interpreted consecutively by the trainees from each school, and this allowed to compare the quality of interpreting as well as learn not only from experienced interpreters but also from the peers at ESIT. The topics varied from shale production to recreational hunting and races. The SCIC experts were satisfied with the quality of interpreting done by the School students.

On the following day another team of young interpreters from St Petersburg took part in the videoconference with the colleagues from the Faculty of Translation and Interpreting, Geneva University. The trainers from both universities prepared speeches which were interpreted consecutively at each school. At our side the students not engaged in the actual conference interpreting practiced the same speeches simultaneously in dummy booths. A speech in Spanish done by the Geneva trainer gave our student a rare opportunity to practice this language in the simulated conference setting. All reports came under the single topic “The changing paradigm of the family in politics and society”, and such thematic unity proved to be a productive principle to build a conference on.

Герценовский университет заявлен в качестве образца по сотрудничеству с ООН и принимает следующую сетевую конференцию университетов, подписавших МоД с ООН в 2015 году

On 22-23 April 2013, First Vice-Rector Sergey Goncharov, Deputy Director of the School of Conference Interpreting and Translation Angelique Antonova and Professor Liang Cuizhen took part in the Third Conference of the Universities that have signed with the United Nations Memorandums of Understanding on cooperation in preparing candidates for the United Nations Language Competitive Examinations (MoU-Universities). The conference New Technologies and Education in the Multilingual World was hosted by Shanghai International Studies University (SISU), China. The wide range of topics discussed at the conference included quality control in interpreter training, requirements for the UN competitive language examination and related evaluation criteria, the advantages of “blended education” which includes traditional teacher-led classes and innovative virtual classes with the linguistic services of international organizations and partner-universities, as well as opportunities for the UN External Studies Program offered by partner-universities. Good practices of cooperation with the UN was the focus of special attention, and the St. Petersburg School of Conference Interpreting and Translation, Herzen University, stood out as a good example of successful cooperation.

The School Deputy Director Angelique Antonova gave a presentation on quality control in training for the UN, which opened a lively discussion among the Heads of the UN linguistic services, directors and trainers of the translation and interpreting schools.

The MoU Universities Consortium Executive Committee held a meeting attended by Jean-Jacques Graisse, Acting Head of the UN Department for General Assembly and Conference Management (DGACM), Franz Baumann, the UN DGACM Assistant Secretary-General, Igor Shpinev, Special Advisor to the Acting Head the UN DGACM, and the representatives of the six MoU Consortium universities, one for each UN language. The Russian language was represented by HerzenUniversity and its First Vice-rector Sergey Goncharov. The meeting resulted in choosing HerzenUniversity as a venue for the next conference, considering its status as a leading institution for training interpreters with the Russian language, and the first Russian university which signed the Memorandum of Understanding with the UN.

At the conference, the School Deputy Director Angelique Antonova held a number of meetings with the Heads of UN linguistic services, resulting an agreement to broaden the School’s cooperation with the UN structures. Thus, starting next year, the School graduates will have a possibility to have their internship in the UN Office in Nairobi, in addition to the existing internship bases in the UN Headquarters in New York, and the UN Offices at Geneva and Vienna. Similarly, the School trainers now may have temporary contracts at the UN services in New-York, Geneva, Vienna and Nairobi.

12 апреля 2013 г.: учебная видеоконференция с Европейским парламентом

On 12 April 2013, the School held the first in a series of planned videoconferences with the Directorate General for Interpretation of the European Parliament. Our European partners prepared speeches, and the students interpreted them consecutively using note-taking techniques. This was the first VC when the students were provided with the opportunity to practice interpreting in all four languages trained at the School – English, German, French and Spanish. The topics ranged from the Great Train Robbery to historical relations between the USSR and Latin America. European experts and the School trainers jointly assessed the results. This virtual interaction with the interpretation services of major international organizations proved to be an important extension to the school curriculum. The students received external assessment of their performance from skilled interpreters which in itself carries an added learning value.

21 и 22 марта 2013 г.: Школа приняла участие в конференции Генерального директората устного перевода «Новые способы обучения»

On 21 and 22 March, School Deputy Director Angelique Antonova took part in the New Modes of Learning conference held by the Directorate General for Interpretation of the European Commission (SCIC) for the EMCI university network. The conference addressed the issues of a virtual learning environment, as well as virtual master-classes between the universities and SCIC, or the universities themselves. The participants agreed that virtual learning promotes integration and cooperation within the network, and is more relevant to younger generations, for whom virtual communication is an everyday reality. Additionally, it the gives linguistic services of the European Commission an opportunity to monitor the training process in member universities. Videoconferences with SCIC involvement allow students to receive expert feedback on their performance, and strengthen ties between universities and employers.

Meetings with the representatives of the Directorate General for Interpretation of the European Parliament, and School Vice President Noel Myulle, concerning introduction of the training module on congress management into the School curriculum took place during the visit.

В январе 2013 г. в Школе состоялись мастер-классы начальника английской кабины Генерального директората устного перевода Европейской комиссии Дэвида Смита

On 23-25 January 2013 Mr David Smith, Head of the English booth of the DG SCIC, European Commission, gave a series of master-classes. He focused exclusively on interpreting into English, and his professional advice on mastering the retour is hard to overestimate.