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All Doors Open at SCIT

10 February 2015|

On 5 February SCIT opened its doors to a large crowd of potential students. The guests were welcomed by SCIT administration, regular staff and visiting trainers Dmitry Bloshenko, Senior Reviser of the Russian Translation service at the UN Secretariat in New York and Jonathan Clements, FAO interpreter. Graduates with UN experience (among them Maria Zhurbina with 4 years work in the UN Russian Translation Service and Elizaveta Myshenkova with 3 freelance contracts in the UN Russian Interpretation Service in New York) gave valuable advice to the aspiring students. Olga Novikova and Mikhail Demidov, SCIT graduates and successful freelance interpreters in St. Petersburg, also shared their experience. Now the applicants face a challenging task: aptitude tests are scheduled for March, and those wishing to enroll have only a month left to prepare.

Master classes of Dmitry Bloshenko, UNHQ RTS Senior Reviser

6 February 2015|

From January 19 to February 6, 2015, Dmitri Bloshenko, a senior reviser in the Russian Translation Service of the UN Secretariat in New York, gave a series of master classes at the SCIT.  Using actual UN texts as learning material our guest explained the students how to avoid typical mistakes in the institutional translation with special emphasis on good command of the Russian language as the main challenge for novice translators. Also, Dmitri Bloshenko had a meeting with the Herzen university officials, took an active part in staff meetings at the School as well as in the All Doors Open event on February, 5.

Seminar in Interpreting and Note-taking by Andrey Chuzhakin

4 February 2015|

On 31 January Andrey Chuzhakin, a visiting Moscow trainer and interpreter, held an interactive multimedia seminar in interpreting and note-taking in the Vassilievsky Congress hall. SCIT Director Irina Alexeeva was a special guest at the event. She spoke to participants about the St. Petersburg School of Conference Interpreting and Translation, and the SCIT students interpreted her presentation into English. The students were also actively engaged in the master class, interpreting jokes and toasts while SCIT trainer Boris Pogodin assessed their performance. During the seminar Andrey Chuzhakin generously shared his experience of interpreting at the highest level and gave valuable advice to participants.

Introduction to retour: master classes of Kunteel Barua, SCIC interpreter

19 January 2015|

The new semester at SCIT started off with a series of master-classes by Kunteel Barua, an experienced SCIC interpreter. Traditionally it is European interpreters who help the students to face the challenge of retour. Mr. Barua held intensive classes where the students interpreted consecutively and simultaneously into English and French. He also met colleagues –  SCIT trainers and shared with them his recommendations as to improving the interpreting technique when working into “B”.  Mr. Barua paid attention to the idiomatic and pragmatic aspects of interpreting, and even left these interesting and useful  materials for the students’ further reference. We are grateful for the expertise!

Master classes of Mikhail Kuzmenko, UNOG RTS Reviser

25 December 2014|

On 2–23 December a series of master classes by Mikhail Kuzmenko, reviser at the Russian Translation Section, UN Office at Geneva, took place at the SCIT. Traditionally, our guest offered the students extensive practice in institutional translation with a special focus on UN competitive examination tasks. The students tried their hand in doing these assignments, analyzed typical mistakes, and learned to properly use the institutional terminology. Besides, under Mikhail’s supervision the students performed an actual translation of the document for the UN International Law Committee, thus contributing to the professional linguistic support of the UN bodies. Additionally, Mikhail Kuzmenko held a several classes for the students with Spanish as “C” language.
All the students heartily thanked the master for the apprenticeship, and expressed hope to meet again in Geneva during their internship period.

 

SCIT hosts Andrey Falaleyev

25 December 2014|

On 23 December SCIT hosted the famous interpreter Andrey Falaleyev who held a meeting with the SCIT students. The two hour talk raced by as A. Falaleyev, an outstanding virtuoso of interpretation, let the students understand what simultaneous interpretation and martial arts have in common. According to A. Falaleyev, to become a truly professional interpreter one needs to learn “to avoid frontal attacks”, to polish one’s “martial” techniques and to resist the hypnosis of the “opponent” (i. e. the hypnotic impact of the foreign language). For instance, a good interpreter must be cautious with Latinisms. During the meeting A. Falaleyev described the way he coaches his students and told a few anecdotes from his experience as an interpreter. All in all, the meeting was highly fruitful. The SCIT students thank Andrey Falaleyev for his talk and hope for another meeting soon!

SCIT welcomes Andrey Vavilov, legendary interpreter

17 December 2014|

On 8-9 December on the margins of III St. Petersburg International Cultural Forum, Herzen University welcomed Andrey Vavilov, a renowned MFA interpreter, diplomat and a witness of the Brezhznev-Nixon summit. The retired MFA counsel had a meeting with the students of SCIT and the Herzen School of Foreign Languages where he answered questions, shared his experiences (the audio recording is available at http://spbs.herzen.spb.ru). With his endowment of modesty, dignity and tact, as well as talent for finding effective linguistic solutions – our guest became a favorite role model for the students.

On 8 December Mr. Vavilov’s presentation at the round table “Living Word: Dialogue of Ages and Cultures in Translation” made a splash when he told the audience his personal story of interpreting for  Leonid Brezhnev, Richard Nixon and other decision makers of the period.

Mr. Vavilov’s visit contributed to strengthening the communion between the best of MFA’s interpreting corps and SCIT.

Oxana Yakimenko gets Pro Cultura Hungaro-Russica Award

16 December 2014|

On 5 December 2014 the Department of History and Letters of Budapest University hosted the Prize Award ceremony held by the Fund “For the Russian Language and Culture” and the Budapest University Russian Studies Centre. This year the Award went to Oxana Yakimenko, literary historian, translator of fiction and special literature, interpreter, lecturer at the St. Petersburg State University and trainer of the St. Petersburg School of Conference Interpreting and Translation. The Fund Board of Trustees awarded her the prize for “twenty years of service to the cause of study and popularization of contemporary Hungarian culture and literature (including XX cent.), teaching the Hungarian language at a Russian university and strengthening Hungarian-Russian ties and academic cooperation. Among the awardees of previous years were Lajos Vass, director of Budapest Opera (2007), Péter Gothár, a film director and screenwriter (2009), Géza Morscányi, a playwrite and translator (2010), the Russian Cultural Center in Budapest (2013).

http://oroszvilag.hu/?t1=kultura_programok&hid=5577

Master class of Irina Zubanova

16 December 2014|

On 9 December the SCIT hosted Irina Zubanova, an Associate Professor from the Moscow State Linguistic University (MSLU) and a practicing interpreter. The master-class was attended by all SCIT students, including the MFA of Kazakhstan trainees. Irina Zubanova also visited the class of Ekaterina Shutova, the SCIT trainer. The growing contacts between MSLU and SCIT were fortified during an informal session with the SCIT trainers, where Irina Zubanova presented a collection of jokes and sketches about interpreting and translation. The book’s title is “Metaphrasts Cracking Jokes”; it is a compilation by MSLU colleagues, proving that fellows translators keep their presence of mind and sense of humor in any situation.

Living word of culture

12 December 2014|

On 8 December 2014, the Mariinsky Hall of Herzen University hosted the round table Living Word: Dialogue of Ages and Cultures in Translation. The round table was dedicated to the cultural mission of language mediation and the “eastern dimension” in its today’s evolution. Nine presentations were made, and the discussions which followed brought together some 100 participants. The event was inspired by St. Petersburg School of Conference Interpreting and Translation. The round table proceedings were published in the almanac The World of Culture and Cultural Studies which came out of print on the eve of III St. Petersburg International Cultural Forum of which the round table was a part.