News

4-8 July 2016: SCIT-UN seminar Russian for Interpreters of International Organizations

13 July 2016|

From 4 to 8 July 2016, St. Petersburg School of Conference Interpreting and Translation held a successful seminar Russian for Interpreters of International Organizations.  Eight interpreters from UNHQ, UNOG and UNOV spent five busy days at SCIT discussing with their Russian colleagues, SCIT trainers, lexical solutions and semantics of the Russian public policy discourse. Both SCIT trainers and UN interpreters considered this format useful and suggested organizing such seminars in the future.

4-8 July 2016: SCIT-UN seminar Russian for Interpreters of International Organizations

10 July 2016|

From 4 to 8 July 2016, St. Petersburg School of Conference Interpreting and Translation held a  seminar Russian for Interpreters of International Organizations.  Eight interpreters from UNHQ, UNOG and UNOV spent five days at SCIT discussing with their Russian colleagues, SCIT trainers, lexical solutions and semantics of the Russian public policy discourse. Both SCIT trainers and UN interpreters considered this format useful and suggested organizing such seminars in the future.

Congratulations! Recent Successes among SCIT Graduates

8 July 2016|

SCIT graduates continue to make the School proud with the news of their successful employment. Alina Kulikova is enjoying a professionally rich summer: upon finishing her contract with the Russian Interpretation Section at UNOG she will continue working at the Russian Translation Service at UNHQ. Olga Fomicheva was awarded a temporary contract with UNHQ. Vadim Ermolenko is currently working on a temporary contract at the Russian Interpretation Section at UNOG. Anastasia Gavrilina is on an internship program at the WHO Headquarters in Geneva; she will then continue in Geneva at the UNOG Russian Translation Section. Following the FAO internship program, Marina Tkacheva received an offer of a temporary contract, and Anna Vegera will hold a temporary contract with ICAO in Montreal. Congratulations graduates, we are proud of you!

29 June 2016: Diploma Awarding Ceremony at SCIT

1 July 2016|

On 29 June, SCIT awarded diplomas to its graduates at the Mariinsy Hall, Herzen University. The ceremony was attended by the University senior officials and distinguished guests: V. Rabosh, acting Rector, G. Bordovsky, President of Herzen university, I. Ganus, Deputy Chair of the Committee for Science and Higher Education in the Government of St. Petersburg, T. Ramishvili, Director of the Department of Linguistic Support at the Russian MFA. A special place at the presidium was reserved for the members of the SCIT Board of Guardians: V. Khodyrev, President of North-West Transport Union and Advisor to the Governor of St. Petersburg, and N. Muylle, Honorary Director General of the European Commission. The participants most warmly encouraged the graduates, stressing the value of their work for the country and wishing them professional and personal success.

The ceremony was marked by the signing of two important documents. Herzen University renewed its cooperation agreement with the Roid translation agency. This Moscow-based translation company has been a SCIT’s partner for several years, and even helped the most talented students to pay their tuition. The cooperation agreement between Roid and Herzen University is now open-ended. Moreover, the partnership with the translation agency Eclectic Translations has now been committed to paper, and starting this year SCIT graduates may have their internship programs at Eclectic Translations.

The action continued on board a pleasure boat in what was the traditional water promenade along the Neva River. Fair winds to all of you, graduates!

6-18 June 2016 г.: Kirill Kasyanov, UN interpreter and MoU coordinator visits SCIT

21 June 2016|

On 6-18 June SCIT was happy to welcome Kirill Kasyanov, UN interpreter and MoU coordinator. Mr. Kasyanov held a series of master-classes in simultaneous interpreting from English and Spanish into Russian. Intensive booth practice in interpreting UN speeches is exactly what the SCIT students need now, with the final exams starting 20 June and UN internship programs at UNHQ and UNOG approaching fast. Moreover, Mr. Kasyanov, together with Irina Alexeeva, SCIT Director, and Vladimir Khodyrev, member, SCIT Board of Guardians, took part in the meeting with Vassiliy Rabosh, Herzen Acting Rector, and Dmitry Boikov, Acting Vice-Rector. The participants discussed the SCIT policies under the Memorandum of Understanding with the UN. Our guest stressed that SCIT dedication to training language specialists for the UN is highly appreciated, and pointed that this cooperation broadens the international scope of Herzen University.

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Yulia Kantor’s Lecture on World War II inspired SCIT students

16 June 2016|

On 10 June Yulia Kantor gave two lectures at SCIT on Difficult Questions of World War II: What Historians  Argue About. The event attracted SCIT students as well as other guests. The lectures backed up the students’ translation project on the battle of Stalingrad, a project designed by the lecturer. Yulia Kantor is a professor at the Department of World History at the Herzen University and a well-known researcher with international credentials. Her lectures contributed to the content scope of the SCIT training program which traditionally benefits from cooperation with specialists from various professional fields.

1-3 June 2016: Master-classes of Dimitri Agratchev, Chief of the English Booth, Interpretation Section, UNOV

7 June 2016|

On 1 – 3 June SCIT hosted Dimitri Agratchev, Chief of the English Booth at UNOV. His master-classes were devoted to perfecting the simultaneous retour skills.  It is of paramount importance for the students to maximize the productive output in the booth before the final assessment, and they are grateful to our guest for the intensive drilling. Dimitri found time for the booth practice in small groups as well as for the individual consultations. He showed keen interest in the history of the school and  the SCIT methodology; he also appreciated the students’ motivation and diligence and praised the achieved level of progress.

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Russian in a Global Context and International Organizations

27 April 2016|

28 September – 3 October 2016, Rome, Italy

Organizers:

  • Graduate School of Interpreting and Translation, Lomonosov State University of Moscow, Russia
  • Graduate School of Interpreters and Translators ESIT28 September – 3 October 2016 New Sorbonne University Paris 3, France
  • Università degli Studi Internazionali di Roma UNINT
  • Russian Studies Center, Italy

 

The forum is held with the support of:

  • Permanent Mission of the Russian Federation to the Rome-based UN Agencies
  • Department of Linguistic Support of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation Pushkin State Russian Language Institute
  • St Petersburg School of Conference Interpreting and Translation, Herzen State Pedagogical University of Russia, Russia
  • International Association of Conference Interpreters (AIIC), Switzerland
  • European Institute of Political, Economic and Social Studies EURISPES, Italy

 

And hosted by:

  • Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations FAO
  • International University of Rome UNINT

Dear colleagues,
You are invited to take part in the 1st International Forum, Russian in a Global Context and International Organizations. The forum will include presentations and discussions on the following topics:

1. Russian as a vehicle for international communication
  • • International status of Russian
  • • Russian as a language of international organizations
  • • Multilingualism and information exchange in international communication
  • • Russian as a lingua franca of the Eurasian cultural area
  • • Russian as the language of diplomacy and “soft power” in a global context
  • • Culture of Russia’s peoples in the global humanist community and the polylogue of cultures

 

2. Translation in professional communications
  • • Role of translation in the multilingual and multicultural context of international organizations
  • • Problems of translation in a multilingual environment and the principle of equality among languages
  • • Translation and the polylogue of cultures
  • • Translation in professional communication
  • • Interpretation and translation
  • • Creation and functioning of multilingual terminology portals (glossaries and databases)
  • • Traditional and electronic dictionaries and search engines
  • • Translation of specialist publications
  • • Russian-language versions of portals and websites in international organizations
  • • Russian information products in an international context
3. Profile of the language professional
  • • Interpreter and translator professional competency model
  • • Professional profile of the interpreter and translator
  • • Developing competency in language professionals
  • • Translation subjects: characteristics of specialist text translation
  • • Written translation, consecutive and simultaneous interpretation
  • • Information technology tools for language professionals
  • • Modern approaches, principles and methods for teaching professional interpretation and translation
  • • Methodology in training interpretation and translation teachers
  • • Continuing education seminars for interpretation and translation teachers

 

4. Russian language teaching in global professional communication
  • • New approaches to teaching Russian as a foreign language: methods and technologies, textbooks and teaching aids, programmes and planning, monitoring and testing
  • • Enhancing motivation for Russian acquisition in international communication
  • • Developing professional communicative competence in a multilingual and multicultural context
  • • Experiences of creating specialist textbooks and teaching aids
  • • Continuing education for teachers of Russian as a foreign language in international organizations
  • • Interaction between languages and cultures in cross-language communication
  • • Cross-language communication issues in international professional communication

 

Participants will be issued with a certificate of attendance at the conclusion of the forum.

The working languages of the forum are Russian and English (simultaneous interpretation will be provided for the plenary session).

 

Information on the forum can be found on the official website of the Graduate School of Interpreting and Translation, Lomonosov State University of Moscow at the following link http://esti.msu.ru/pages/science/conf/.

Contact in Moscow: Maria Esakova PhD rimforum2016@mail.ru tel. + 7 916 605 97 65 or (495) 939 44 82

Contact in Rome: Natalia Fefelova PhD rimforum2016@mail.ru tel. +39 349 668 6803

 

Letter of information

Master classes with the author of Die Scanner

22 April 2016|

On April 15, the SCIT Conference Room was the venue for a creative workshop on literary translation. It was attended by SCIT students and participants of the Goethe Institute translation seminar led by Marina Koreneva. The event was a great success. It was moderated jointly by Martin Schaeuble, author of the sensational novel Die Scanner, his translator Tatiana Zborovskaya (Moscow), and SCIT Director Irina Alexeeva. The participants discussed issues related to translating newly coined words, youth slang, and the reasons for public liking for dystopia in literature and on stage. The event was planned jointly by SCIT and Goethe Institute for the Week of Germany in St. Petersburg.

Applied research workshop Teaching I&T Effectively

14 April 2016|

On 4 – 8 April 2016, SCIT held a Teaching I&T Effectively workshop for the university teachers of translation and interpretation from different regions of Russia, from Belgorod to Vladivostok. Over the five days of the seminar the participants learned about the SCIT approach to teaching translation and interpreting, attended interpreting classes with SCIT students, took part in the Q&A round table where Director Irina Alexeeva and other SCIT trainers took questions. According to the feedback from the workshop participants, what they appreciated most was a direct engagement with the SCIT trainers, who are also practicing interpreters, and a focus on practical issues of I&T training. The participants also valued highly the trainers’ professionalism and commitment to sharing experience and good practices. They expressed their desire to come again for more specialized events in a I&T trainings for trainers format.