SCIT – News

28 February: All Welcome Day at SCIT

3 March 2020|

On 28 February SCIT opened its doors to potential students. The event took place in the Conference hall, and it was so full there were almost no free seats left. Following the tradition Director Irina Alexeeva opened the meeting by telling about the admission exams procedure, and then SCIT trainers and graduates (Yury Shashkov, Sergey Leonov, Elena Zheltova) spoke about the curriculum and the studying process. We were also happy to welcom Kirill Kazakov, SCIT graduate of 2014 and now a staff MFA interpreter, who told about interpreting at the high level and his experiences of interpreting for Russia’s political leaders. Certainly the guests asked questions, and we hope they found answers for them, and left with a better understanding of what SCIT is and how we teach here. We believe that many of them will come back to try their luck at the aptitude tests which start on 30 March.

EMCI holds ToT Seminar for SCIT trainers

2 March 2020|

From 27 to 29 February, SCIT hosted Ian Newton, lecturer at FTI-UNIGE and former ILO Chief Interpreter, who ran a series training sessions for SCIT teachers. These activities were organized within the framework of cooperation with the EMCI Consortium, of which SCIT is an active member.
The Training of Trainers sessions addressed many varied issues relating to the teaching of simultaneous interpreting at the intermediate level. SCIT trainers were active participants, contrinbuting their own experience and expertise to the discussions, and testing new approaches and techniques with SCIT’s current students. The logic of the discussions followed the students’ expected transition from simple well-structured narratives on familiar topics to more demanding speeches, with special attention paid to stress management and building up the interpreter’s stamina and resilience.
We express sincere gratitude to EMCI for organizing this event, and Ian Newton personally for making the discussions useful, lively and stimulating.

Master-classes of Ian Newton, FTI-UNIGE lecturer

2 March 2020|

From 25 to 26 February, SCIT hosted Ian Newton, lecturer at FTI-UNIGE and former ILO Chief Interpreter, who ran a series of master-classes for students.
SCIT students are at their initial stage of mastering retour into English, and Ian Newton’s master-classes were designed to foster their progress. The programme of master-classes was intensive, with three class sessions daily, and students practiced skills in both consecutive and simultaneous interpreting into English.
We express sincere gratitude to Ian Newton for generously sharing his experitise with SCIT students.

18 February 2020: third meeting of ‘Terra Translatologica’ seminar

19 February 2020|

On 18 February SCIT held the third meeting of the open seminar Terra Translatologica hosting Alena Malofeeva and Andrey Falaleyev, both AIIC members. They have vast experience in interpreting at international events, and have authored nine popular self-training books for simultaneous interpreters. The guests spoke about their professional paths, the benefits of the profession, and their work on the books. The seminar participants learned that a simultaneous interprter, even an experienced one, needs regular practice, and the best exercise is reading quality press and interpreting videos on any topic that seizes imagination.

«I am happy to have chosen this profession. It suits my character, I am not tied to the office desk, but instead can travel around the globe and get knowledge about different fields . What is more, this work expects you to grow personally throughout lifetime», — said Alena Malofeeva about her vocation.

«The seminar is organized within the project “Open Univesity”. We invite anyone interested in the interpreter’s profession to discuss relevant issues in the informal and friendly atmosphere. We certainly welcome students, including freshmen, because we are convinced such meetings are as useful as regular classes», — said Irina Alexeeva, SCIT Director.

12 February: VC with University of La Laguna

14 February 2020|

On 12 February SCIT held a virtual conference with the Master’s Conference Interpreting programme of the University of La Laguna, our partner in the EMCI Consortium. Both side were equally enthusiastic to organize the event as this year SCIT has 4 students with Spanish ‘C’ language, and La Laguna also has a student with Russian. This was an occasion for them to practice their interpreting skills with these languages, and get feedback from the native speakers. Human rights were chosen as a topic for the conference. The speeches addressed various aspects of the problem, such as homelessness, domestic violence, civil rights as mirrored in the national projects in Russia, and the rights of the indigenous populations. We sincerely thank our colleagues from La Laguna for initiating the conference, and look forward to continuing this cooperation in the future within the frame of the cooperation agreement existing between our schools.

Specialists from Independent Agency For Accreditation and Rating visiting SCIT

30 January 2020|

On 30 Januray two specialists from Independent Agency for Accrediatation and Rating visited SCIT. Dr. Olga Yanovskaya and Dr. Alina Zhumagulova arrived at Herzen university to discuss the cooperation prospects in the field of international accrediatation. The guests showed genuine interest in SCIT. Deputy Director Angelique Antonova showed them around the School and made a presentation covering the program content and quality assurance system implemented at SCIT.

Secondary School Children at SCIT

28 January 2020|

27 January was a remarkable day for SCIT. The school children from St. Petersburg’s secondary school №574 came to visit the School . The children were accompanied by their class master Grigoriy Gavrilov, teacher of Russian and Literature. Director Irina Alexeeva held a master-class in interpretation for them. She focused on the memory training exercises and speech cohesion exercisers, and used for them the materials connected with the date of 27 January – Memorial Day of Leningrad Siege Break, International Holocaust Remembrance Day, and Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s birthday. The crowning exercises tested the children’s erudition and knowledge of Russian. Also irina Alexeeva told the guests about SCIT and Herzen University’s trainig program for scholl children “ABC of Translation”.

SCIT Trainer Diana Voronina holds a training session for language specialists in French Embassy in Kazakhstan

27 January 2020|

On 13-24 January 2020 SCIT trainer Diana Voronina held a series of master-classes in the Embassy of France in Nur-Sultan, Kazakhstan. The language specialists employed by the Embassy had an intensive memory training, activated the background knowledge of France’s geography, history and culture. Another, no less important, outcome of the visit was the coming together of the Kazakh colleagues into a close interpreting community!

SCIT takes part in Global Dialogue Forum

24 January 2020|

Moscow, hosted by RUDN University. The Forum program was intensive and various (https://ic4ci.com/ru/programme-main). The organizers also offered a wide program of master-classes on the margins, where SCIT also participated. The SCIT training on introduction into consecutive interpreting was very popular with the participants: Angelique Antonova, SCIT deputy director, held a highly successful class incorporating memory exercises and sample practice speeches. Director Irina Alexeeva and Angelique Antonova took part the main program as well. The key-note speakers of the plenary session Interpreter of the Future: UPGRADE discussed the changes that took place in the industry over the last year and the ways to meet these challenges. Thus, Irina Alexeeva stressed the necessity for the interpreter to be versatile and able to quickly learn the skills demanded by the market as well as meet the high professional standards set by international organizations. Vladimir Kuznetsov, Director of UN Information Centre in Moscow, and Alexey Fedorov, Deputy Director of MFA Linguistic Support Department, confirmed that quality translation is indispensable in building bridges between peoples on the international arena. An interesting discussion took place in the section How to train interpreters for the international career, where SCIT showcased its scenario method in teaching institutional interpretation. Other participants, such as Marklen Konurbaev, COSINES Pi founding father, Ekaterina Pokholkova, Dean of Translation Department at MSLU, and Julia Poger, professional interpreter, AIIC member and author of Know Your Worth training course, also took part in the discussions.

22 January: VC with Warsaw University

24 January 2020|

On 22 January SCIT held another virtual conference with Warsaw university, SCIT’s partner in the EMCI Consortium. The topic for the conference was How to be closer to nature in a big city. The students were offered three speeches in English, Polish and Russian, which were interpreted consecutively in several language pairs (EN-PL, EN-RU, PL-EN, RU-PL). Despite some technical hitches, the conference was a success, and the students received useful feedback from their colleagues and trainers. We hope for the continuation of the fruitful cooperation with our Polish colleagues.