News

Vladivostok: translation at the end of the earth

On 11–18 October the FarEasternFederalUniversity in Vladivostok hosted a number of translation-related events at its scenic campus on RusskyIsland, attended by SCIT Director Irina Alexeeva. The intensive programme included a lively and thought-provoking round-table discussion held on 13 October at the impressive Sopka Conference Hall (which has previously hosted the APEC Summit). The discussion, entitled ‘Training Highly Qualified Translators’ was attended by senior figures from the Shanghai International Studies University, including Chai Mingjiong, Xie Tianzhen and Lie Lejzhun, and attested to the ongoing strengthening of ties between SCIT and other member universities of the UN MoU network. Alexeeva gave a keynote speech entitled ‘Translation Didactics in Russia: The Eastern Vector’ which was followed by an open discussion which focused on the main factors affecting the translation industry in Russia. Alexeeva also met with Sergey Ivanets, Rector of the Far Eastern Federal University, and other academic staff to discuss the possibility of establishing a translation and interpreting school at the university.

In the days that followed, more than 100 teachers from the Far Eastern Federal University attended lectures and workshops given by Alexeeva on the subject of translation and interpreting teaching methodology, the highlight of which, entitled ‘Standing up for Russian’, focused on the mission of translators to safeguard and popularise the Russian language. A lively meeting between Alexeeva and final-year undergrad students also formed part of the programme.

SCIT assists in selecting interpreters for the President’s Administration and MFA of Kazakhstan

On 7 and 8 October SCIT Director Irina Alexeeva and Deputy Director Angelique Antonova visited Astana, Kazakhstan, with a mission to take part in selecting interpreters with English and German languages for the President Administration and MFA of Kazakhstan. The selection committee also included Chair Anarbek Karashev, MFA Executive Secretary, and Mr. Usen Suleimen, MFA Ambassador-at-Large. Five interpreters were selected out of 28 candidates. At the official meeting with Mr. Anarbek Krashev the issues of further cooperation between SCIT, Herzen University, and MFA of Kazakhstan in training conference interpreters were discussed. The visit was organized within the IFESCCO (the Intergovernmental Foundation for Educational, Scientific and Cultural Cooperation) grant activities.

Centenary of Givi Gachechiladze, famous translation theoretician

On 18 and 19 September 2014 SCIT Director Irina Alexeeva took part in the international conference “Translation of Literature as a Meeting Point of Peoples and Literatures” marking the 100th  anniversary of Givi Gachechiladze, a renowned 20th century translation theoretician. Tbilisi State University hosted the event. The participants focused on the contemporary trends in literary translation, their connection with the tradition, and looked retrospectively at the literary translation in the 20th century. Irina Alexeeva made a plenary report “Flight of the Butterfly: Givi Gachechiladze’s Ideas and Development of philological translation”. In her report Irina Alexeeva analyzed the connections between Georgian and Leningrad schools of literary translation, and in particular a close creative interaction with the concepts of Andrey Fedorov, founding father of translation theory in Russia.

UTR master classes

On Saturday 19 July, St. Petersburg School of Conference Interpreting and Translation hosted the multilingual master classes in simultaneous interpreting organized under the aegis of VII UTR International School. Above 50 participants from  Moscow, Nizhni Novgorod, Samara, Vladivostok, Ekaterinburg and other cities attended the master classes.  The UTR delegation was headed by President Leonid Gurevich.

The master classes were given by Boris Pogodin, SCIT trainer and an experienced UN interpreter, and Professor Irina Zubanova, MSLU.

SCIT Diploma Awarding Ceremony

On 2 July the Diploma Awarding Ceremony to the SCIT graduates took place at the Heraldic Hall, HerzenUniversity. The University congratulated the graduates of three training programs on their successful completion of the courses: SCIT interpreting and translation program (with English, French, Spanish, German, and Chinese languages), the interpreting and translation program for perspective language specialists from the MFA of Kazakhstan, and Conference Management training program. In the morning there took place a meeting dedicated to the results of the SCIT sixth year of work, and the School’s achievements were appreciated by Marco Benedetti, Director General of the DG SCIC, European Commission, Yuri Shishaev, Deputy Director of the UN Information Center in Moscow, Claude Durand, Head of Interinstitutional Relations and International Cooperation Unit, DG SCIC, European Commission, Josep Bonet Heras, Head of Professional and Organisational Development Unit, DG Translation, European Commission, and others. In her speech Irina Alexeeva, SCIT Director, outlined the challenges for the coming academic year. Alongside the traditional task of keeping up the standards of training, Director Alexeeva mentioned organizing the UN-MoU Universities Conference to be held in April 2015 as a priority for SCIT and HerzenUniversity. The ceremony itself took place in the Heraldic Hall, and was attended by numerous guests. In his word of welcome Rector Valery Solomin underlined the importance of language specialists with the Russian language in the modern world. The audience will surely remember the speech of Teimuraz Ramishvili, Head of the Linguistic Support Department at the Russian MFA, who spoke figuratively of interpreter training as of gem cutting. Vice Rector Sergei Goncharov and SCIT Director Irina Alexeeva greeted the graduates with warm welcoming words. The festivities ended with a traditional boat trip on the Neva river for the graduates, trainers and guests of the ceremony.