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IMF Exam in St. Petersburg

22 April 2014|

On 21 April 2014 HerzenUniversity and its St. Petersburg School of Conference Interpreting and Translation hosted an IMF examination for Russian interpreters. The IMF representatives – Susana Eri, Chief Interpreter, and Sergei Chernov, Deputy Chief Interpreter – arrived in St. Petersburg to hold a two-stage examination for interpreters to work under short-term contracts in Russia and Caucasus and Central Asia. 13 candidates, seven of who were SCIT trainers and graduates, were selected to take part in the translation stage of the examination at HerzenUniversity; now the interpretation stage will take the remaining time till the end of the week. Good luck to the SCIT trainers and graduates!

Master classes by Mikhail Smirnov, UNON interpreter

31 March 2014|

From 17 March to 5 April the school is hosting Mikhail Smirnov, an interpreter at the United Nations Office in Nairobi (UNON). This means an increased workload for the students, who currently have daily workshops run by the guest in addition to their regular classes. However, far from complaining about the extra demands on their time, they have demonstrated a real enthusiasm to learn from the experienced interpreter, to the point of requesting additional classes in French and Spanish. The workshops have been a new experience for Mikhail too, who has never previously acted as a trainer. We sincerely hope that he finds interacting with our young interpreters in the making to be enjoyable. In addition to the actual training, Mikhail’s visit also has a vocational component: the school administration is planning to expand internship opportunities, and is looking into the possibility of cooperating with UNON.

Mikhail Smirnov will also act as an observer in the aptitude tests scheduled for 31 March–4 April.

Virtual Class with SCIC, EC

31 March 2014|

On 21 March another virtual class with SCIC was held at the St. Petersburg School of Conference Interpreting and Translation. Over two hours of intensive work, the students performed four consecutive interpretations from English, German and French, and received feedback from their trainers and independent experts from Brussels. The topics ranged from the medical consequences of obesity to the use of digital technology in diplomacy. Participants of the videoconference from both sides expressed their satisfaction with the results.

25 марта: Заседание Попечительского совета Санкт-Петербургской высшей школы перевода

25 March 2014|

On 25 March 2014 г the first meeting of the SCIT Board of Guardians took place.

The Board of Guardians members are  Veniamin Yakovlev, Advisor to President of the Russian Federation, Dmitry Bak, Director, State Literary Museum, Vladimir Zapevalov, Russian MFA Representative in St. Petersburg, Vyacheslav Zarenkov, Chair, Board of Directors, Etalon Group, Noël Muylle, Honorary Director General, European Commission, Honorary Vice-president of the SCIT, Alexander Prokhorenko, Member of St. Petersburg Government,   Chair of the Committee for External Affairs, Vladimir Titov, First Deputy of the Minister for External Affairs, Russian MFA,  Vladimir Khodyrev,  Advisor to the Governor of St. Petersburg, president of the Transport Union, Igor Shpiniov, Assistant to the UN Secretary General.

On the agenda today is Director Irina Alexeeva’s presentation  «St. Petersburg School of Conference Interpreting and Translation: achievements, challenges, perspectives» and the discussion of the strategic planning issues, such as setting the agenda for the April 2015 Conference of the Universities which signed the MoU with the UN to be held at the Herzen University.

13 марта: День открытых дверей в Школе

20 March 2014|

On 13 March the School opened its doors to welcome potential applicants. The conference hall was full of guests, trainers, current students and graduates. As tradition goes, director Irina Alexeeva told the participants about the School curriculum and requirements for the aptitude tests. Trainers stressed the fact that applicants need to prepare not only for the aptitude tests, but also for the training process at the School as such, which in itself is a serious work demanding full dedication.  The potential applicants had a chance to watch an interpreter at work: the School guest Manuela Motta, FTI trainer, was present at this event, and SCIT trainers Yuri Shashkov and Maria Tolstaya helped her to follow. The informal talk after the official part was undoubtedly the liveliest part of the evening, and all interested could get the answers for their questions from the SCIT trainers, students or graduates. We shared the good news with the guests: 9 SCIT graduates successfully passed the 2013 UN translation exam, and we sincerely hope that it will become an additional stimulus for the applicants to choose their career. 

10-14 марта: делегация Женевского университета помогает разрабатывать виртуальный портал Школы

17 March 2014|

From 10 to 14 March the School welcomed a delegation from the Faculty of Interpreting and Translation, GenevaUniversity. Our colleagues – Manuela Motta, FTI trainer, Magdalena Oliveira, FTI teaching assistant, Philipp Baudrillon, FTI technical engineer – arrived to help installing a School virtual portal and teach the trainers and students to make use of it. During five days our guests held several presentations and master-classes to demonstrate the portal and explain its potential in coordinating trainer-student interaction, organizing students’ self-study or facilitating communication between the School administration and staff. Many trainers have already tried their hand with the portal and appreciated a spectrum of uses it offers for organizing the School work, including a joint project with GenevaUniversity. We would like to express our sincere gratitude to the Geneva colleagues for the invaluable support they have given to the School further development.

Зачем конгресс-менеджеру Web 2.0.?

3 March 2014|

On 26 February 2014 Igor Pavlovsky, Chief Editor of St Petersburg branch of REGNUM Information Agency, gave a seminar in the use of PR technologies for event organization with a special emphasis on the Internet as a tool for event promotion.

The talk was held in an informal atmosphere, brightened up by jokes and cases from daily practice. The speaker talked about the effective ways to present information about oneself or upcoming events, or how to cover an event in such a way as to attract potential target audience and get their feedback, or how to motivate them to take part or pass around the information about the event.

Mr Pavlovsky’s professional life is rich in examples, and he amply relied on them to explain the Internet format Web 2.0, the nature of  information repost and how to properly use the technology Push, Pull & Pass. He also elaborated on how fast information spreads or goes out of date, what advertising and promotion channels are most popular today, and how to use them to one’s advantage. 

28 февраля и 1 марта: мастер-классы Владимира Факова

3 March 2014|

On 28 February and 1 March 2014 the School welcomed Vladimir Faekov, a famous simultaneous interpreter and head of the Russian MFA interpreter’s course. At the master-classes Vladimir Faekov shared his interpreting experience at the highest level for the MFA of Russia and other international organizations, answered the questions about difficulties of translating poetry, humour, proverbs and sayings. He also addressed the issues of etiquette, dress-code and safety in interpreter’s work. Vladimir Faekov, a reputed lexicographer, gave the students his dictionaries, both electronic and paper versions, and recommended a set of dictionaries necessary to have at hand when working. The students have undoubtedly benefited from this opportunity to learn from the leading experts in the profession straight from the horse’s mouth.

ВОЗВРАЩЕНИЕ ИЗ СКАЗКИ: СОЧИ 2014

28 February 2014|

Sochi Olympics – the world’s largest sport festival – are over, and so are the days of hard work for the interpreters – the School’s trainers and students. From dawn till dark they worked intensively moving from one Olympic venue to another providing linguistic support at numerous press conferences, briefings, team captains’ meetings, IOC consultations. 18 School trainers and graduates (20.5 % of the total number of interpreters assigned to the Sochi Olympics), together with their colleagues from other regions of Russia interpreted simultaneously from English, French, German, Chinese. This is the roll call: trainers Sergei Yakovlev, Alexei Pago, Boris Pogodin, Ekaterina Shutova, Oxana Yakimenko, Ekaterina Trefiliova, Irina Alexeeva, Genady Skvortsov, and graduates Karina Laktionova, Olga Krylova, Elizaveta Myshenkova, Anna Balashova, Grigory Khaustov, Olga Titova, Olga Novikova, Elena Zheltova, Olga Fomicheva. 
Slalom, ski-cross, half pipe, ice hockey, ski race, biathlon, figure skating, bobsleigh, skeleton – all these sports have their specific terminology, and the interpreters had to master it all. Some of the interpreters came as real experts: Ekaterina Shutova, a long-time fan of figure skating. Privy to all technicalities of this sport she was able to crack most challenging technical statements of trainers and sportsmen.  The School students were assigned to specific sport events as volunteer interpreters. They were also up to the challenge as one of them, Vadim Ermolenko, was offered a contract by the Vice President of Curling Federation to interpret for the Paralympic Games. One trainer, Boris Pogodin, even managed to find time slots to give training sessions and warm-ups to the students 
in venue press centers. Overall, the Olympic organizing committee expressed satisfaction at the interpreters’ work.
Now that we have received valuable experience and an energy boost we can get back to routine studies!

15 февраля: учебное занятие слушателей на олимпийском объекте

17 February 2014|

On 15 February the SCIT students had a very busy day: apart from their volunteer activities they had a training session about skeleton with the SCIT trainers Irina Alexeeva and Boris Pogodin. The students practiced in the interpreting booths at the Olympic venue “Sanki”, where a bit later their trainers interpreted the press-conference with the skeleton Olympic champions.