News

SCIT takes part in DG SCIC conference Re-Making Connections

23 March 2015|

On 21-22 March, Angelique Antonova, SCIT Deputy Director, took part in the conference Re-Making Connections held by the Directorate General for Interpretation of the European Commission for partner-universities. The presentations focused on training young interpreters for language proficiency examinations at the European linguistic services and the need to align training programs with potential employers’ requirements.  All presentations were followed by lively discussions. Special attention was given to the latest trends in interpreting.

Lecture by Tatiana Boborykina «Translating words, meaning or hidden meaning?»

20 March 2015|

On 18 March Tatiana Boborykina, a famous literary critic and translator, gave a lecture on literary translation at SCIT. As literary translation is not on the SCIT curriculum, the students found the presentation particularly enlightening. Taking Pushkin’s “The Queen of Spades” as an example Tatiana Boborykina explained how important accuracy of detail is, even in creative work such as the translation of literature: if details are missed a translator distorts the underlying meaning of the literary work. A translator of literature should be a writer and a critic him/herself, and have a feeling for words: not an easy task.

The students not only appreciated the lecture content but equally the artistic manner of presentation for whic h Tatiana Boborykina is so famous.

Boris Naimushin visits SCIT

13 March 2015|

On 12 March SCIT hosted Boris Naimushin, a simultaneous interpreter and Head of the English Chair at New Bulgarian University, Sofia. He spoke about the subtleties of the interpreting profession. Meetings with the legends of the profession have become a tradition at SCIT. They are also attended by the students of the Institute of Foreign Languages, Herzen university.

Master classes of Jonathan Clements, FAO interpreter

25 February 2015|

In February 2015 the St. Petersburg School of Conference Interpreting and Translation hosted Jonathan Clements, FAO interpreter, whose training visit took place within the framework of the Herzen-FAO Agreement of Cooperation signed in 2014. Over three weeks, from 2 to 20 February, SCIT students benefited from the opportunity to attend the master classes of the experienced interpreter. At the classes they did various tasks: prepared speeches in Russian, interpreted consecutively and simultaneously into English, did sight translation of the actual speeches delivered at FAO meetings and interpreted simultaneously with the text. Jonathan was an active participant of the SCIT events concurrent with his visit. He took part in an Open Day,  attended lectures given by SCIT professors and actively practiced his Russian with the SCIT students.  We sincerely hope that Jonathan’s traditional winter visits pave the way for long and fruitful cooperation with FAO.

Herzen Representatives at the Russian Diplomacy Day

13 February 2015|

Herzen University delegation headed by Rector Valery Solomin took part in the ceremony dedicated to Russian Diplomacy Day held in the MarblePalace on 10 February. The ceremony was hosted by Vladimir Zapevalov, Head of the MFA Office in St. Petersburg, who praised the work of the consular offices in St. Petersburg at a difficult time in international relations. A telegram of congratulations from Sergey Lavrov, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Russia, was read out. Participants were welcomed by Georgiy Poltavchenko, Governor of St. Petersburg, Alexander Drozdenko, Governor of Leningrad region, Lubov Sovershaeva, Deputy Presidential Plenipotentiary for Northwest Russia.

All Doors Open at SCIT

10 February 2015|

On 5 February SCIT opened its doors to a large crowd of potential students. The guests were welcomed by SCIT administration, regular staff and visiting trainers Dmitry Bloshenko, Senior Reviser of the Russian Translation service at the UN Secretariat in New York and Jonathan Clements, FAO interpreter. Graduates with UN experience (among them Maria Zhurbina with 4 years work in the UN Russian Translation Service and Elizaveta Myshenkova with 3 freelance contracts in the UN Russian Interpretation Service in New York) gave valuable advice to the aspiring students. Olga Novikova and Mikhail Demidov, SCIT graduates and successful freelance interpreters in St. Petersburg, also shared their experience. Now the applicants face a challenging task: aptitude tests are scheduled for March, and those wishing to enroll have only a month left to prepare.

Master classes of Dmitry Bloshenko, UNHQ RTS Senior Reviser

6 February 2015|

From January 19 to February 6, 2015, Dmitri Bloshenko, a senior reviser in the Russian Translation Service of the UN Secretariat in New York, gave a series of master classes at the SCIT.  Using actual UN texts as learning material our guest explained the students how to avoid typical mistakes in the institutional translation with special emphasis on good command of the Russian language as the main challenge for novice translators. Also, Dmitri Bloshenko had a meeting with the Herzen university officials, took an active part in staff meetings at the School as well as in the All Doors Open event on February, 5.

Seminar in Interpreting and Note-taking by Andrey Chuzhakin

4 February 2015|

On 31 January Andrey Chuzhakin, a visiting Moscow trainer and interpreter, held an interactive multimedia seminar in interpreting and note-taking in the Vassilievsky Congress hall. SCIT Director Irina Alexeeva was a special guest at the event. She spoke to participants about the St. Petersburg School of Conference Interpreting and Translation, and the SCIT students interpreted her presentation into English. The students were also actively engaged in the master class, interpreting jokes and toasts while SCIT trainer Boris Pogodin assessed their performance. During the seminar Andrey Chuzhakin generously shared his experience of interpreting at the highest level and gave valuable advice to participants.

Introduction to retour: master classes of Kunteel Barua, SCIC interpreter

19 January 2015|

The new semester at SCIT started off with a series of master-classes by Kunteel Barua, an experienced SCIC interpreter. Traditionally it is European interpreters who help the students to face the challenge of retour. Mr. Barua held intensive classes where the students interpreted consecutively and simultaneously into English and French. He also met colleagues –  SCIT trainers and shared with them his recommendations as to improving the interpreting technique when working into “B”.  Mr. Barua paid attention to the idiomatic and pragmatic aspects of interpreting, and even left these interesting and useful  materials for the students’ further reference. We are grateful for the expertise!

Master classes of Mikhail Kuzmenko, UNOG RTS Reviser

25 December 2014|

On 2–23 December a series of master classes by Mikhail Kuzmenko, reviser at the Russian Translation Section, UN Office at Geneva, took place at the SCIT. Traditionally, our guest offered the students extensive practice in institutional translation with a special focus on UN competitive examination tasks. The students tried their hand in doing these assignments, analyzed typical mistakes, and learned to properly use the institutional terminology. Besides, under Mikhail’s supervision the students performed an actual translation of the document for the UN International Law Committee, thus contributing to the professional linguistic support of the UN bodies. Additionally, Mikhail Kuzmenko held a several classes for the students with Spanish as “C” language.
All the students heartily thanked the master for the apprenticeship, and expressed hope to meet again in Geneva during their internship period.