News

A Series of Virtual Conferences in May

6 June 2014|

On 12 May a trilateral virtual conference among DG SCIC, ESIT and SCIT was held. The VC lasted two hours and involved three speeches each of which was interpreted by a SCIT student and a ESIT student in turns. The topics varied from oil industry to the North Sea Route. The working languages were English, French and Russian. The students not engaged in the conference interpreting were practicing in “dumb booths”. The students’ performance was evaluated by the SCIT and ESIT trainers and DG SCIC interpreters. All participants were satisfied with the results of their work.

On 15 May another virtual class involving SCIT and DG INTE, European parliament took place. For two hours the SCIT students interpreted four speeches consecutively, received feedback from their trainers and the Brussels experts. The working languages were English, Spanish, German and Russian. The topics embraced various issues from choosing the clothes colour to using rats for demining. Such conferences enable students to better understand the professional requirements on the European market and receive valuable feedback from more experienced colleagues.

On 22 May another virtual conference between SCIT and DG INTE crowned the 2013/2014 SCIT virtual learning program. The working languages were Russian, English, German, Spanish. The range of the topics included the attitudes to Holy cows in India, fair trade electronic devices, antiviral vaccination, the results of the elections to the European parliament.  At the end of the conference the SCIT trainers and students expressed their sincere gratitude to the DG INTE interpreters for the time and effort they invested in the virtual conferences of 2013-2014.

UN Language Competitive Examination for Russian Language Translators/Editors

6 June 2014|

The final part of the UN Language Competitive Examination for Russian Language Translators/Editors was held in May 2014. This challenging test comprised two stages where the candidates’ performance was evaluated by a demanding board of examiners.

The written part of the examination took place in New York, Geneva and Vienna in August 2013. The two-day test was given to prospective translators and editors. The tasks included translation of a general text from English into Russian, translation of an optional economic, technical, legal or humanitarian text from English into Russian, and translation of a Spanish or French text into Russian. The tasks for editors included stylistic and grammatical editing of a Russian text and editing of a Russian translation of an English text against the original version.

The second stageinvolved a competency-based interview that took place in May 2014 in New York and Geneva. it was conducted by the heads of Russian translation services and representatives of HR departments. The interview was based on the UN system of the office of Human Resources Management. The competency-based interview was designed to evaluate candidates’ knowledge and experience against the competencies required for the vacancies. In addition, the candidates had to do sight translation.

We are happy to announce that nine SCIT graduates have passed this challenging test. They are Natalia Akulenko, Karina Laktionova, Maria Lyakhovskaya, Olga Novikova, Dmitri Osadchuk, Svetlana Sidorova, Inga Khramkova, Igor Shapovalov, Evgenia Shvedchikova.

Our heartiest congratulations!

IMF Exam in St. Petersburg

22 April 2014|

On 21 April 2014 HerzenUniversity and its St. Petersburg School of Conference Interpreting and Translation hosted an IMF examination for Russian interpreters. The IMF representatives – Susana Eri, Chief Interpreter, and Sergei Chernov, Deputy Chief Interpreter – arrived in St. Petersburg to hold a two-stage examination for interpreters to work under short-term contracts in Russia and Caucasus and Central Asia. 13 candidates, seven of who were SCIT trainers and graduates, were selected to take part in the translation stage of the examination at HerzenUniversity; now the interpretation stage will take the remaining time till the end of the week. Good luck to the SCIT trainers and graduates!

Master classes by Mikhail Smirnov, UNON interpreter

31 March 2014|

From 17 March to 5 April the school is hosting Mikhail Smirnov, an interpreter at the United Nations Office in Nairobi (UNON). This means an increased workload for the students, who currently have daily workshops run by the guest in addition to their regular classes. However, far from complaining about the extra demands on their time, they have demonstrated a real enthusiasm to learn from the experienced interpreter, to the point of requesting additional classes in French and Spanish. The workshops have been a new experience for Mikhail too, who has never previously acted as a trainer. We sincerely hope that he finds interacting with our young interpreters in the making to be enjoyable. In addition to the actual training, Mikhail’s visit also has a vocational component: the school administration is planning to expand internship opportunities, and is looking into the possibility of cooperating with UNON.

Mikhail Smirnov will also act as an observer in the aptitude tests scheduled for 31 March–4 April.

Virtual Class with SCIC, EC

31 March 2014|

On 21 March another virtual class with SCIC was held at the St. Petersburg School of Conference Interpreting and Translation. Over two hours of intensive work, the students performed four consecutive interpretations from English, German and French, and received feedback from their trainers and independent experts from Brussels. The topics ranged from the medical consequences of obesity to the use of digital technology in diplomacy. Participants of the videoconference from both sides expressed their satisfaction with the results.

25 марта: Заседание Попечительского совета Санкт-Петербургской высшей школы перевода

25 March 2014|

On 25 March 2014 г the first meeting of the SCIT Board of Guardians took place.

The Board of Guardians members are  Veniamin Yakovlev, Advisor to President of the Russian Federation, Dmitry Bak, Director, State Literary Museum, Vladimir Zapevalov, Russian MFA Representative in St. Petersburg, Vyacheslav Zarenkov, Chair, Board of Directors, Etalon Group, Noël Muylle, Honorary Director General, European Commission, Honorary Vice-president of the SCIT, Alexander Prokhorenko, Member of St. Petersburg Government,   Chair of the Committee for External Affairs, Vladimir Titov, First Deputy of the Minister for External Affairs, Russian MFA,  Vladimir Khodyrev,  Advisor to the Governor of St. Petersburg, president of the Transport Union, Igor Shpiniov, Assistant to the UN Secretary General.

On the agenda today is Director Irina Alexeeva’s presentation  «St. Petersburg School of Conference Interpreting and Translation: achievements, challenges, perspectives» and the discussion of the strategic planning issues, such as setting the agenda for the April 2015 Conference of the Universities which signed the MoU with the UN to be held at the Herzen University.

13 марта: День открытых дверей в Школе

20 March 2014|

On 13 March the School opened its doors to welcome potential applicants. The conference hall was full of guests, trainers, current students and graduates. As tradition goes, director Irina Alexeeva told the participants about the School curriculum and requirements for the aptitude tests. Trainers stressed the fact that applicants need to prepare not only for the aptitude tests, but also for the training process at the School as such, which in itself is a serious work demanding full dedication.  The potential applicants had a chance to watch an interpreter at work: the School guest Manuela Motta, FTI trainer, was present at this event, and SCIT trainers Yuri Shashkov and Maria Tolstaya helped her to follow. The informal talk after the official part was undoubtedly the liveliest part of the evening, and all interested could get the answers for their questions from the SCIT trainers, students or graduates. We shared the good news with the guests: 9 SCIT graduates successfully passed the 2013 UN translation exam, and we sincerely hope that it will become an additional stimulus for the applicants to choose their career. 

10-14 марта: делегация Женевского университета помогает разрабатывать виртуальный портал Школы

17 March 2014|

From 10 to 14 March the School welcomed a delegation from the Faculty of Interpreting and Translation, GenevaUniversity. Our colleagues – Manuela Motta, FTI trainer, Magdalena Oliveira, FTI teaching assistant, Philipp Baudrillon, FTI technical engineer – arrived to help installing a School virtual portal and teach the trainers and students to make use of it. During five days our guests held several presentations and master-classes to demonstrate the portal and explain its potential in coordinating trainer-student interaction, organizing students’ self-study or facilitating communication between the School administration and staff. Many trainers have already tried their hand with the portal and appreciated a spectrum of uses it offers for organizing the School work, including a joint project with GenevaUniversity. We would like to express our sincere gratitude to the Geneva colleagues for the invaluable support they have given to the School further development.

Зачем конгресс-менеджеру Web 2.0.?

3 March 2014|

On 26 February 2014 Igor Pavlovsky, Chief Editor of St Petersburg branch of REGNUM Information Agency, gave a seminar in the use of PR technologies for event organization with a special emphasis on the Internet as a tool for event promotion.

The talk was held in an informal atmosphere, brightened up by jokes and cases from daily practice. The speaker talked about the effective ways to present information about oneself or upcoming events, or how to cover an event in such a way as to attract potential target audience and get their feedback, or how to motivate them to take part or pass around the information about the event.

Mr Pavlovsky’s professional life is rich in examples, and he amply relied on them to explain the Internet format Web 2.0, the nature of  information repost and how to properly use the technology Push, Pull & Pass. He also elaborated on how fast information spreads or goes out of date, what advertising and promotion channels are most popular today, and how to use them to one’s advantage. 

28 февраля и 1 марта: мастер-классы Владимира Факова

3 March 2014|

On 28 February and 1 March 2014 the School welcomed Vladimir Faekov, a famous simultaneous interpreter and head of the Russian MFA interpreter’s course. At the master-classes Vladimir Faekov shared his interpreting experience at the highest level for the MFA of Russia and other international organizations, answered the questions about difficulties of translating poetry, humour, proverbs and sayings. He also addressed the issues of etiquette, dress-code and safety in interpreter’s work. Vladimir Faekov, a reputed lexicographer, gave the students his dictionaries, both electronic and paper versions, and recommended a set of dictionaries necessary to have at hand when working. The students have undoubtedly benefited from this opportunity to learn from the leading experts in the profession straight from the horse’s mouth.