News

13-24 января: мастер-классы переводчика ФАО Джонатана Клеменса

The outset of the semester at the School was marked by a two-week series of master classes with Jonathan Clements, FAO staff interpreter. As in previous years, the master-classes targeted a set of skills: the students interpreted consecutively and simultaneously, to and from English and practiced sight translation. The complexity of the approach and the difficulty of the FAO materials multiplied by Jonathan’s perfectionist attitude proved to be an additional stimulus for the trainees to work hard. In turn, as a part of his Russian language enhancement program, Jonathan attended the lectures given by the School’s teachers and Russian language classes. He expressed gratitude to School student Vadim Ermolenko for his help in mastering Russian. We sincerely hope that Jonathan’s latest visit is another step on the way to sign the Memorandum of Understanding between the Herzen University and FAO.

4-5 ноября: мастер-классы Почетного Генерального директора Европейской комиссии Ноэля Мюлля.

On 4-5 November 2013 Noël Muylle, Honorary Director General of the European Commission, gave a series of master classes for the School students.  Despite his tight agenda at II St. Petersburg International Cultural Forum, Mr Muylle found time to hold several master classes. With impressive agility of mind our guest switched from one language to another, offering the students not only a lesson in interpreting, but also in European multilingualism. Multiplied by the charisma of Noël Muylle’s personality it was truly a lesson to remember! 

5-8 ноября 2013: Мастер-классы переводчика Европейской комиссии Брайана Джентла

On 5 – 8 November Brian Gentle, an interpreter from the European Commission held a series of master-classes for the SCIT students. The trainees looked forward to this meeting: the expert interpreter explained the step-by-step process of mastering the skills of simultaneous interpreting, gave a series of intensive classes and shared his experience of interpreting for major international organization. 

6 декабря 2013 г.: видеоконференция с Генеральным директоратом устного перевода Европейской комиссии

On 6 December 2013, the School and DG SCIC organized a joint videoconference. The videoconference lasted for two hours, and all School trainees were involved with 4 students doing consecutive interpretation from English and Spanish. The topics ranged from the activities of international organizations to contemporary achievements in medicine. Students not involved in the actual conference worked independently in the silent booths. The students’ work was assessed by both DG SCIC experts and School trainers. The conference was moderated by Claude Durand, Head of Multilingualism and Interpreter Training Support Unit, DG SCIC. The students received recommendations concerning memory training and improving analysis and synthesis skills in interpreting. Mr Durand underlined the importance of working on delivery and register accuracy while interpreting.

культурное пространство перевода на ii санкт-петербургском международном культурном форуме 2-4 декабря 2013 г.

St. Petersburg School of Conference Interpreting and Translation was among the organizers of the conference “Language Mediation as a Means of Spreading the Russian Language and Culture to the Global Space” held on the margins of the II St. Petersburg Cultural Forum. The conference took place in Herzen University’s Heraldic Hall on 2 December. Rector Valery Solomin welcomed the participants. Other distinguished guests, among whom there were Alexander Prokhorenko, Chair of the Committee for External Affairs in St. Petersburg government, Vladimir Khodyrev, Advisor to the Governor of St. Petersburg, and others greeted the participants in their welcoming speeches. Alexander Sokurov, a renowned Russian film director, stressed the importance of educational traditions in Russian culture and underlined the key role of translation in launching literary works into the global space. Alexander Sokurov’s speech set the tone for the following discussions at the conference: every presentation generated enthusiastic response from the audience. As a final chord, the conference adopted a resolution which said: «Today Russia’s policy in the sphere of culture and education requires active participation of a language mediator in broadcasting the Russian language into the global space. A translator’s painstaking work needs coherence and consolidation, and all the more so that translation has always been central to building a cultural space. Conceptual discussion related to broadcasting the Russian language and culture through translation should be followed by an inclusive discussion of these issues in mass media. Culture is a nation’s common heritage, and it is capable of uniting people over many barriers. These conclusions were a contribution of the Herzen University to the strategy of promoting the Russian language and culture in the world”. On 3 December, the Herzen University delegation headed by Rector Valery Solomin took part in the Forum plenary session. Noël Muylle, the School’s Honorary Vice-president and Honorary Director General of the European Commission, made a speech at the plenary session stressing the key role of such educational institutions as Herzen University and its School of Conference Interpreting and Translation in training professional interpreters and translators – par excellence advocates and champions of the Russian language and culture.

The proceedings the conference were interpreted by the School trainers and freelance interpreters Ekaterina Shutova and Sergey Yakovlev.