News

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

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.

UN Information Center in Moscow: translation quality at the forefront

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.

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

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.

I Siberian Philological Forum in Krasnoyarsk: More Attention to Translation

Throughout the whole week – from 24 to 28 October – I International Siberian Philological Forum took place in Krasnoyarsk. Above 100 participants from Russia and seven other countries presented their papers. The presentations and talks focused on old manuscripts, Old Believers’ literature, present day tendencies in the literary process in Russia and abroad, world literature in translations. The participants were unanimous that the quality of translations deserves a lot more attention.

The plenary presentation of Irina Alexeeva, SCIT director, devoted to The Dynamics of Perception of the Russian Classical Literature in Translations in XX-XXI cent. drew much attention.

17 October: Virtual Conference with the DG SCIC, European Commission

On 17 October SCIT hosted the first remote class with the Directorate General of Conference Interpreting of the European Commission. The class was devoted to interpreter self-training. On behalf of the DG SCIC the seminar was coordinated by Paolo Torrigiani, interpreter from the Italian section of DG SCIC, and Fernando Leitao, DG SCIC e-learning coordinator. After discussing the necessity of self-training and giving organizational tips, the coordinators held two self-training sessions in real time followed by an evaluation and final brainstorming. According to Vera Vinter, a SCIT student, the seminar on self-training was everything they expected it to be and even more. It was highly practical, well-structured, and effective. They had a chance to review from a different perspective some of the techniques end exercises they already used, as well as to learn new techniques. The students have already incorporated several tips into their self-training practice: interpreting for a pure customer, panel discussion (which was very helpful in preparing for the conference, setting clear and realistic objectives. Also, the students received advice on giving mutual feedback. All in all, the remote class encouraged the students to continue effective training.