News

Internship module with Russian section of VRS, UNHQ in New York

Strarting July, SCIT graduates embarked on their internship program. The first module was held in colloboration with the Russian section of the Verbatim Reports Service, UN Secretariat. From 1 to 3 of July the graduates had intensive distant classes with Alexander Pankov, VRS reviser . The graduates sincerely regretted the short term assigned for these classes as they proved very useful. According to the graduates’ feedback,  the classes were all practically oriented, together with Alexander they analyzed possible mistakes and discussed better options for the texts under study.  We are very grateful to Alexander Pankov for sharing his expertise and hope that one day SCIT graduates of 2024 will join the ranks of UN staff language specialists.

Final exams are over!

From 17 to 21 June SCIT students had to take final examinations. The examination board traditionally included observes from international organizations: this year Mikhail Kuzmenko, Senior Reviser from the RTS at UNOG, assisted the SCIT trainers in passing the final verict. Over 5 days strict but fair examiners evaluated the performance of the graduates in translation and interpreting. This year’s topic for simultaneous interpretation was Water Resources.

Now the exams are over, the academic year is drawing to a close. Heartiest congratulations to the new crop!

SCIT holds seminar for UN interpreters with Russian at UNESCO Headquarters

The first week of June ushers in a series of events organized by the Permanent Delegation of Russian Federation at UNESCO to celebrate the Russian Language Day. SCIT was an active participant in the events. On 6 June we organized a seminar for interpreters of international organizations working with Russian to discuss the specific features of the contemporary Russian political discourse. The seminar continues the well-established SCIT tradition  according to which “professionals teach profefssionals”. The seminar proved to be all the more useful that interpreters from international organizations working with Russian today have to deal with a huge number of unfamiliar thematic areas reflecting the changing life in Russia. Interpreters just do not have time to follow the up-to-date stylistic, idiomatic, lexical and other changes taking place in the Russian language, nor can they boast enough opportunities for professional exchange with their colleagues – native speakers of Russian who could explain certain sociopolitical, economic or cultural trends within Russia. IO interpreters feel the gaps in their abilities to cope with interpeting Russian texts and speakers. The seminar afforded them just this opportunity – to update their knowledge and understanding of certain areas, make necessary adjustments in their work tactics and map out the way for professional growth.  The training was conducted by SCIT deputy director A. Antonova and SCIT trainer Zh. Shuklina.

https://russianunesco.mid.ru/ru/press_service/news/den_russkogo_yazyka_2024/

SCIT takes part in the CIUTI annual events in Shanghai

From 28 to 31 May Shanghai International Studies University (SISU) hosted a series of annual CIUTI events. This representative forum brings together the representatives of universities with T&I programs from around the world with a view to share the best world practices in teaching T&I and develop better cooperation strategies.

On 28 and 29 May SISU held a conference Reshaping the T&I Paradigm: Openness and Integration. This conference aimed to provide a platform for educators, professionals and industry representatives, to share innovative ideas on strengthening the inclusiveness and interdisciplinary integration in the fields of translation and interpreting studies. The conference participants discussed a wide range of topics such as employability issues for T&I graduates, the use of AI and online format in training T&I specialists, the interdisciplinary connections between T&I studies and human cognition, sociology and cross-cultural communication. SCIT was represented by Deputy Director Angelique Antonova who gave a presentation about the specific features of a foreign culture oriented languag, semantic relativity and semantic aberration.

Following the conference, on 30-31 May SISU hosted the CIUTI General Assembly. The agenda was various: presentation of the new CIUTI members, report of the Asia-Pacific ocean, meetings with institutional representatives, signing of Memorandum of Cooperation between CIUTI and Center for Language Education and Cooperation of China (CLEC), and other issues. The CIUTI GA introdiced an important initiative – the CIUTI Lectures series. The series will consist of lectures delivered via online by the faculty of the CIUTI members to be available to the students of partner universities- CIUTI members.  Also CIUTI members introduced their projects devoted to various aspects of T&I training, such as Networking for Community-building (Università di Bologna), Working with Interpreters in Refugee Transit Zones. Capacity building and awareness raising for higher-education contexts (Universität Wien),  Innovative practices in inclusive translation/interpreting: integration of new digital instruments and tools to increase accessibility (Moscow State Linguistic University) and others.

We are sure that SCIT’s participation in these interesting events will raise the SCIT profile in the international academic environment and will strengthen the ties with partner universities from CIUTI.

(Русский) ВШП принимает участие во встрече членов международной группы IAMLADP

On 13 and 14 March a virtual meeting of the IAMLADP members took place. IAMLADP is an international group of representatives of universities with T&I programs and international organizations, of which SCIT is an active member. The group serves to implement closer cooperation between educational institutions and employers represented by international organizations. The participants discussed the issues related to translator training, taking into account the increasingly wide use of AI systems in the professional practices. The participants also discussed the social “soft” skills that a translator should possess, while particularly highlighting the need to train young translators to colloborate, develop the ability to prioritize workload distribution and meet tight deadlines. It is interesting that the participants from the universities agreed that today it is impossible to train translators only to work in international organizations, let alone work in only one international organization – now the demand is for translators-generalists, able to quickly adapt to the customer and explore new thematic fields. SCIT was represented by Deputy Director Angelique Antonova.