On 5 – 8 November Brian Gentle, an interpreter from the European Commission held a series of master-classes for the SCIT students. The trainees looked forward to this meeting: the expert interpreter explained the step-by-step process of mastering the skills of simultaneous interpreting, gave a series of intensive classes and shared his experience of interpreting for major international organization.
On 29 October, members of the European Parliament and the European Commission who arrived at the Herzen university to sign the Memorandum of Understanding gave a lecture and a master class for the School students. In her lecture Olga Cosmidou, Director-General, DG INTE, European Parliament, spoke about the structure and operations of the interpretation service at the EP stressing the importance of multilingualism for this organization. The lecture was followed by a master class by Juan Carlos Jimenez Marin, Director, Directorate for Organisation and Planning, Susanne Altenberg, Head of Unit, Unit Support to Multilingualism, and Christine Bahr, Advisor to the Director General who gave speeches interpreted by the School trainees from English, German, French and Spanish. This was the first experience for the students in this academic year to practice interpreting into English and French while our distinguished guests acted as a review board.
On 6 December 2013, the School and DG SCIC organized a joint videoconference. The videoconference lasted for two hours, and all School trainees were involved with 4 students doing consecutive interpretation from English and Spanish. The topics ranged from the activities of international organizations to contemporary achievements in medicine. Students not involved in the actual conference worked independently in the silent booths. The students’ work was assessed by both DG SCIC experts and School trainers. The conference was moderated by Claude Durand, Head of Multilingualism and Interpreter Training Support Unit, DG SCIC. The students received recommendations concerning memory training and improving analysis and synthesis skills in interpreting. Mr Durand underlined the importance of working on delivery and register accuracy while interpreting.
On 17-19 December well-known Moscow G/R interpreters Roman Matveev and Alexey Schtemberg gave a series of master classes at the School. On 18 December, they took part in the German- Russian mock conference as speakers and experts. The conference topic was “The Olympic movement in the global world”.
St. Petersburg School of Conference Interpreting and Translation was among the organizers of the conference “Language Mediation as a Means of Spreading the Russian Language and Culture to the Global Space” held on the margins of the II St. Petersburg Cultural Forum. The conference took place in Herzen University’s Heraldic Hall on 2 December. Rector Valery Solomin welcomed the participants. Other distinguished guests, among whom there were Alexander Prokhorenko, Chair of the Committee for External Affairs in St. Petersburg government, Vladimir Khodyrev, Advisor to the Governor of St. Petersburg, and others greeted the participants in their welcoming speeches. Alexander Sokurov, a renowned Russian film director, stressed the importance of educational traditions in Russian culture and underlined the key role of translation in launching literary works into the global space. Alexander Sokurov’s speech set the tone for the following discussions at the conference: every presentation generated enthusiastic response from the audience. As a final chord, the conference adopted a resolution which said: «Today Russia’s policy in the sphere of culture and education requires active participation of a language mediator in broadcasting the Russian language into the global space. A translator’s painstaking work needs coherence and consolidation, and all the more so that translation has always been central to building a cultural space. Conceptual discussion related to broadcasting the Russian language and culture through translation should be followed by an inclusive discussion of these issues in mass media. Culture is a nation’s common heritage, and it is capable of uniting people over many barriers. These conclusions were a contribution of the Herzen University to the strategy of promoting the Russian language and culture in the world”. On 3 December, the Herzen University delegation headed by Rector Valery Solomin took part in the Forum plenary session. Noël Muylle, the School’s Honorary Vice-president and Honorary Director General of the European Commission, made a speech at the plenary session stressing the key role of such educational institutions as Herzen University and its School of Conference Interpreting and Translation in training professional interpreters and translators – par excellence advocates and champions of the Russian language and culture.
The proceedings the conference were interpreted by the School trainers and freelance interpreters Ekaterina Shutova and Sergey Yakovlev.
School graduates Anna Balashova and Irina Khasanova were among the translators of the popular book published by the NLO Publishing House “Les Francais peints par eux-mêmes. Les Parisiennes”. The presentation of the book took place at the Non-fiction Book Fair in Moscow on December 1. Anna Balashova talked about the subtleties of translating the literature of the Silver Age. Vera Milchina nad Irina Prokhorova monitored the discussions at the presentation. To read more from Irina Khasanova’s translation follow the link:http://novostiliteratury.ru/excerpts/vera-milchina-francuzy-narisovannye-imi-samimi-parizhanki/
On 22-30 November, the annual seminar “Translating a Book” for young translators of literature was held by the School director Irina Alexeeva in Goethe Institute in Moscow. In rigorous competition (10 candidates per place) only the best were selected to take part in this seminar. The participants came from different parts of Russia: Izhevsk, Krasnoyarsk, Saransk, Saratov, Penza, etc. They came prepared bringing their draft translations of “13 True Stories” by a Swiss author Alex Capus. The presentation of the book and translation readings took place at the Non-Fiction Book Fair on 1 December 2013. Both the seminar and the publication were sponsored by the Swiss Fund “Pro Helvetia”
On 31 October – 4 November a series of important translation events and activities took place on the margins of the VII Krasnoyarsk Book Fair. One of them was a meeting of young translators of literature with publishers which was coordinated by the School Director Irina Alexeeva and Chief editor of the NLO Publishing house Irina Prokhorova. The meeting discussed issues of cultivating local translation traditions, drawing on the resources of the St. Petersburg School of Conference Interpreting and Translation for the benefit of the local translation community, overcoming challenges of the growing translation industry in Russia, as well as publishing houses’ demands in this sphere.
On 26 November – 2 December a week-long seminar for young translators of literature from the Krasnoyarsk region was held by the School Director Irina Alexeeva and an authority of German translator Rosemarie Tietze. At the seminar special time was reserved for a presentation about St. Petersburg School of Conference Interpreting and Translation which drew a large audience. The seminar was organized by Goethe Institute-Moscow and the Siberian Federal University. Director Irina Alexeeva also gave three master-classes to the local faculty.
On 29 October, Herzen University and European Parliament signed a MoU on the training of conference interpreters on the base of the St Petersburg School of Interpretation and Translation. The University received this offer for a good reason. Professional excellence of the SPB SCIT’s graduates was appreciated by such organizations as the MFA, the United Nations, the European commission, and the signing of the MoU is another sign of this appreciation. To quote the Rector of the RSPU Valery Solomin, the European parliament is one of University’s and SCIT’s major partners to set the standard for professional training of interpreters. In turn, Director General of the DG of Interpretation and Conferenceы of the European Parliament Olga Cosmidou noted that SPB SCIT has made a real breakthrough into the top rankings of educational programs and won acclaim of main employers. There is no doubt that an agreement with the European Parliament will be instrumental in promoting SPB SCIT’s profile in the international professional community and in coordinating the education process with the requirements of the European market.
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