23.03.2021
From 15 to 19 March 2021, Rita Nikolaeva, an expert translator and interpreter of the General Directorate for Interpretation of the European Commission, held a series of master classes for students of the Program for the UN Language Skills Training Programme at MSLU.
As part of the Programme, MSLU hosts master classes of translators and interpreters of the European Commission. It is a great opportunity for the programme students to adapt to the requirements for professional mastery of translation. The master class was organized both for the students of the the UN Language Skills Training Programme at MSLU and for the students of the Caspian Higher School of Translation from the Astrakhan State University, a partner of Moscow State Linguistic University.
During the course, the students got acquainted with the assessment criteria at the EU qualification exam, one of the organizers being the Directorate General for Interpretation; expectations and requirements of examiners, colleagues and clients. The master class dealt with the nuances of language proficiency (in particular, while translating from a native language into a foreign one), processing sources of information, types and specifics of texts, adaptation to the peculiarities of the speaker's manner of speech and various "tricks" to facilitate the translator's work.
During the hands-on part of the lesson, participants simultaneously interpreted speeches from the European Commission's Speech Repository and the annual TED conference. The duration of the speeches was 8-10 minutes.
After each translation exercise, students received detailed feedback from Rita Nikolaeva, the expert of the European Commission, who advised on soft spots and how to work on them.
The expert highly appreciated the professional level of the Programme students and highlighted the mastery of simultaneous and consecutive interpretation of some students already meets the standards of the European Union institutions.
Feedback from a student of he Program for the UN Language Skills Training Programme at MSLU:
The third day of master classes with Rita Nikolaeva, a synchro-interpreter from the European Commission, is underway. The classes were devoted to simultaneous interpretation. We were able to improve the skills of working with the text during simultaneous translation and direct simultaneous translation from Russian into English and vice versa. Particular attention was paid to public speaking skills. The expert shared the secrets of the mastery, discussed in detail the advantages and disadvantages of the translation made by each of us, shared interesting cases from her own practice. "
MSLU highly appreciates the cooperation with the General Directorate of Interpretation of the European Commission and is grateful for the invaluable contribution to the development of translation and interpreting skills of the students of the Programme
MSLU
