News

Introduction into Simultaneous Interpreting

Two months of studies have flown past, and on 8 November SCIT students had a conference to introduce simultaneous interpreting. This kind of work is new to many of them; yet SCIT has tremendous experience in making intro into sim engaging and interesting. At the stage of conference preparation all trainers meticulously choose the visual support for the first sim speech – usually a painting by a famous master, – think over the details of description, prepare the speech itself.   At the conference the students are talked through the painting in all their working languages, and no time is spared for that, as it helps to eliminate the possible fears and difficulties and give students a taste of their first success in simultaneous interpreting early on.   For the trainers the conference is a wonderful opportunity to get together and discuss the training outcomes at this stage and discuss possible strategy adjustments. We hope that the students were also filled with enthusiasm and are ready to storm the peaks of simultaneous interpreting. Our congratulations to the initiated!

SCIT holds a conference to mark its 15th anniversary

On 11 October Herzen University’s Coat-of-Arms Hall opened its doors to welcome the participants of the international conference Quality Assurance in Training Interpreters and Translators in the Era of Globalization, Human-Centric Innovation and Artificial Intelligence. The conference was designed to mark the 15th anniversary of St. Petersburg School of Conference and Translation.

Rector Sergey Tarasov warmly welcomed the participants of the conference. He stressed the substantial contribution SCIT made to strengthening the positions of the Russian language  on the global arena. «What matters in interpreting is accuracy and professionalism, he said. Our interpreters work on the top level and facilitate the communication among the nations. The impressive results achieved by SCIT are guaranteed by the techniques, methods, approaches  adopted by the SCIT trainers».

Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation Sergey Lavrov sent a congratulatory address to the conference participants. He specifically wrote, “Over the years the SChool has strengthened its reputation as a centre of excellence for certified interpreter training”. The address  was delivered by Sergey Gritsay, Head of the Linguistic Support Department of the Russian MFA, who in his own person remarked that over the 15 years  of its existence SCIT has turned out above 170 language professionals, which makes a substantial contribution to the training of language specialists for the UN linguistic services.

Other guests of honor also addressed the audience with welcoming speeches. Among them were Vladimir Zapevalov, Representative of the Russian MFA in St. Petersburg, and Alexander Prokhorenko, deputy Director of the State Hermitage. Movses Abelian, UN Under-Secretary General for General Assembly and Conference Management, sent in a videoaddress to congratulate SCIT satff and faculty on the  occasion of SCIT’s 15th anniversary and to greet the conference participants.

Angelique Antonova, SCIT Deputy Director, moderated the conference’s first plenary. The key speakers were Igor Khovaev, Ambassador-at-large of the Russian MFA, (Perspectives of the Russia-Asia Relations) Tatiana Shlychkova, Deputy Director of the Department for Multilateral Humanitarian Cooperation and Cultural Relations of the Russian MFA, (The Status of the Russian Language in International and Regional Organizations), and Kirill Barsky, Head of the Department of Diplomacy at MGIMO (Perspectives on Russia – China relations).

During panel discussions the participants looked into the aspects of Russia-Asia relations, dwelt on the potential of the Russian language as a means of communication in international organizations, tackled the issues of T&I training and popularization of the Russian culture through foreign languages.  Moreover, the participants discussed the transformation of the linguistic profession under the conditions of rapidly changing environment and the changes it necessitates  in the training methodology.

SCIT Director Irina Alexeeva and Deputy Director Angelique Antonova gave their presentations on the role of the Russian language in T&I training and quality assurance in interpreter training respectively during the plenary session.

The first conference day was devoted to strengthening the position of the Russian language and culture in the age of global challenges, the second day – to the roadmaps for T&I training.

On the margins of the conference there was an exhibition organized for the universitites to present their T&I programmes. The exhibition also featured the books translated by the SCIT trainers and other participants from English, German, Spanish, French, and Hungarian languages.

SCIT takes part in the CIUTI Forum

SCIT took part in the annual CIUTI conference organized in Ghent (Belgium) on 18 and 19 September. The conference was devoted to the Multiplicity in the public service interpreting and translation. SCIT was represtented by Deputy Director Angelique Antonova. she gave a presentation about training T&I speciaists in the age of artificial intelligence. The presentation evoked a response and generated a lively discussion among the audience.

The conference participants covered a wide range of issues related to T&I services in health care, legal shpere, other humanitarian areas; a lot of attention was given to interpreting sign languages and the challenges of remote interpreting. A special panel was devoted to the challenges of trainig interpreter trainers. The conference programme was very rich: it included 5 parallel panel sessions  which addressed the most topical issues of the T&I industry, share the expertise in teaching methodology and research.  It was a pleasant surprise that one of the presentations was devoted to the work of Alexey Fiodorov, Soviet and Russian scholar.

On 20 and 21 Septemebr CIUTI held the General Assembly. Traditionally, the GA participants discussed the results of the 2022-2023 academic year and the plan for the year to come. A round table discussion was devoted to translation issues and the changes produced in the industry by the wide application of modern technologies. For the first time the CIUTI Asian Pacific Office presented a report of its ativities to the General Assembly.

We are pleased that CIUTI is a truely actively workng organization bringing together the experrts in T&I education and creating condition for a fruitful exchange of opinions, experience, good practices and useful contacts. Herzen University and SCIT find this cooperation very beneficial.

SCIT graduates’ internships commence

In accordance with the SCIT curriculum all graduates have internships in international organizations or translation aencies in Russia. We are pleased that this year four graduates have the opportunity to practice in person in the UN offices in Europe and the UN Headquarters in New York.  Viktor Balandin and Yelizaveta  Ilyina have started their internships in the Russian translation section in UNOG, Marina Novikova has made it to the Verbatim Reports Section in UNHQ, and the UN office in Vienna is expecting Anastasia Pokhodonko’s arrival next week.  We are happy that the mentors for our graduates are SCIT’s own alumni, now experiences staff translators and interpreters with the UN. Those graduates who stay in Russia have their internships either remotely with international organizations, or inperson with the AKM-West translation company.

Final conference for graduates 2023

Mock conferences are an inseparable part of the training process at SCIT. Starting October, students take part in weekly mock conferences. As a rule, these conferences are devoted to topical issues of international affairs  and are based on actual working scenarios. All in all,  there were 33 mock conferences in 2022/23. But among these there is one conference which stands out and requires special preparation on the part of the students. This is the conference for the Russian MFA representatives. This year Herzen university welcomes Sergey Gritsay, Head of the Linguistic Support department in the Russian MFA, and Vladimir Kuznetsov, Head of the UN Information Centre in Moscow.  The purpose of their visit is to assess the students’ level of preparation and estimate the potential candidates for the jobs with the Russian MFA or the UN. The topic for the conference was chosen carefully: Russian Foreign Policy as a set of mutually reinforcing engagements. Multiple vectors of the Russian foreign policy are high on the political agenda today, and the speeches at the conference touched upon various issues of the problem.  The students worked both consecutively and simultaneously showing their skill in all their lanuage combinations. Let us hope they keep the SCIT quality standards up high and will deserve the hard earned praise from the MFA official. A job offer will be even better!

The representatives of the translation agencies AKM-Vest and Roid also attended the conference. They also evaluated the graduates’ potential from the viewpoint of empoyability. Maksim Berendyaev, Director of AKM-Vest, remarked that the standards of quality in the free market are as high as in institutional translation and interpreting, and the aspirants have to meet the expected quality standards. After the conference the businessmen  had a separate meeting with the graduates to tell about the state of affairs in the industry which is meant to help the grads find their way around once they are out of School. Let us wish them luck!