SCIT – News

Aptitude tests over

21 March 2017|

Last week at SCIT was dedicated to the aptitude tests. The international experts from partner-organizations acted as observers, among them were Mikhail Kuzmenko, RTS Senior Reviser at UNOG, Noel Muylle, Honorary Director General of the European Commission, and Liam Long, Senior Interpreter at DG SCIC, EC. The tests were also attended by heads of partner translation agencies, William Hackett Jones (Eclectic Translations, St. Petersburg) and Vladimir Shebanov (Roid, Moscow).

The best candidates were recommended for enrollment. Additional aptitude tests are possible in June.

SCIT Opens Doors on First Spring Day

2 March 2017|

On 1 March SCIT opened its doors to the potential applicants or anyone interested in its activities. Director Irina Alexeeva and Deputy director Angelique Antonova gave advice regarding the pending aptitude tests. SCIT trainers Ekaterina Shutova, Sergey Afonin and Anastasia Gvrilina also attended the event and spoke to the participants. Tatiana Shikhmatova, a recent graduate, shared her impressions of working in the Russian Verbatim Reports Section in UNHQ in New York. Another graduate Anastasia Zausskaya told about her experience on the domestic T&I market. Today’s students commented on their SCIT studies, too.

Master classes on the Volga

22 February 2017|

On 16-18 February SCIT Director Irina Alexeeva visited the city of Saratov with a series of master classes for the students of Saratov universities. The master classes touched upon a variety of subjects, such as law, economics, ecology, advertising and others. She also held a master class for the teachers The race is got by running: the translation is done by translating where the participants discussed the specificity of interpreter training for international and sport organizations. The classes were hosted by the German Center in Saratov Regional Library.

20 February: Virtual Class with DG SCIC, European Commission

21 February 2017|

On 20 February SCIT held a virtual class with the DG SCIC, European Commission. The working mode was consecutive interpreting with Russian and English in both directions. The speeches were of different topics: Birds in a big city, Agriculture in Ukraine, Protests in Romania. The retour was assessed by Kevin McCarthy, a SCIC interpreter. He spoke favourably about the performances of Fiodor Makhlayuk and Ekaterina Ageeva, and they certainly deserved the praise. SCIT Director Irina Alexeeva was equally satisfied with the English-to-Russian interpretation of other students and appreciated their Russian. The students themselves pointed to the problem areas: it is coping with fast-paced speeches or deciphering one’s own notes. The EC experts gave valuable advice concerning the language of note-taking when working into retour. The virtual class proved to be a success and a very useful exercise. We thank our European partners and hope for the continuing practice of virtual classes with DG SCIC.

January Theses

31 January 2017|

Master-classes of Andrey Falaleyev, a renowned interpreter, has become a tradition at SCIT, and the latest event took place on 26 January, 2017. Our guest spoke about the priorities in the work of a simultaneous interpreter, and with the experience of working at the Rio Olympics and conducting a series of smash seminars in Ekaterinburg, Moscow and other cities of Russia behind him, Andrey’s ideas sounded especially well thought-over, dense and pointed. The students also learned about the sixth book for practicing simultaneous interpreters made by Andrey Falaleyev and Alena Malofeeva – Exercises for Simultaneous Interpreters. Cameo.

12-13 January: SCIT participation in the 2017 CIUTI Forum

20 January 2017|

Almost 250 participants attended the 2017 CIUTI Forum, devoted this year to the impact of artificial intelligence on language professions. During 7 sessions speakers from the language industry, academia and IT sector addressed the topic from different perspectives, highlighting the needs and priorities of all actors of the language world. Director General of the United Nations Geneva Michael Moller and Director, Conference Management, UN Geneva Corinne Momal-Vanian, CIUTI President Maurizio Viezzi set the tone for the discussions, inspiring and motivating participants to embrace technologies in order to thrive in the profession. Special attention was given to closer cooperation among employers, government and educational institutions, in the tradition of the CIUTI. SCIT was represented by its Deputy Director Angelique Antonova.

New Equipment for SCIT

20 January 2017|

Thanks to a subsidy from the Committee for Science and Higher Education of the Government of St. Petersburg, SCIT will now be able to re-equip its simultaneous interpreting classrooms. Herzen University continues its cooperation with Televic, an interpreting equipment company, and has placed an order for its top of the range interpreter training equipment. Two classrooms are now fully furnished with TELEVIC AVIDANET LIVE equipment, and each booth with a Televic Lingua Interpreter Desk. New overhead projectors in each classroom also allow for parallel videoconferencing opportunities.

The new equipment has extended SCIT’s functionality: class time is maximised, students can be given individual tasks and have their performance monitored, as well as benefit from better self-study opportunities.

UN Information Center in Moscow: translation quality at the forefront

22 December 2016|

On 30 November the UN Information Center in Moscow hosted the annual seminar for the higher education institutions from Russia and Belarus – members of the MoU network. The seminar was focused on the issues arising in cooperation between the universities and international organizations in training T&I specialists with the Russian language. The SCIT achievements in preparing its graduates for careers in international organizations were marked by many speakers. At the meeting Alexander Gorelik, ex-director of the UN Center, gave a presentation Russia and the UN. Vladimir Parshikov, head of the RTS at UNOG, and Alexander Vorobiev, acting head of the Conference Management division at UNOV, spoke about the importance of delivering quality in translation and interpreting at international organizations. The universities shared their experiences of T&I training; the discussion was very interesting. SCIT was represented by Director Irina Alexeeva and Deputy Director Angelique Antonova.

Daria Sinitsyna, SCIT trainer, received the IsLa-HISPÁNICA literary award for the best translation from Spanish into Russian

12 December 2016|

On 2 December 2016 the concert hall of the New Tretiakov Gallery hosted an award ceremony for the winners of the IsLa-HISPÁNICA literary translation competition. The award was established by the Embassy of Spain in Russia, embassies of Latin American countries, the Inostrannaya Literatura magazine and the Institute of Servantes in Moscow. The prize is awarded annually for the best translation from Spanish into Russian regardless of the genre, be it prose, poetry, drama or essay. We are happy to announce that Daria Sinitsyna, SCIT trainer, received this honorary award for the translation of Reinaldo Arenas’ novel El Mundo Alucinante. Presentation of the book took place in the New Library of the Loft-project Etagi on 7 December. Congratulations!

2 December 2016: virtual class with UN interpreters Anna Uspenskaya and Yuri Gariev

3 December 2016|

On 2 December SCIT held a tele-class with UN interpreters Anna Uspenskaya and Yuri Gariev. The students practiced sight reading as preparation for simultaneous interpreting. The organizers offered speeches from the UN Security Council on recent humanitarian situation in South Sudan. From the SCIT side the class was coordinated by Mr. Boris Pogodin, a UN interpreter with 30 years of experience. All participants were satisfied with the results of the class and expressed hope to continue the practice.