International Translation Model UN MSLU

On May 24-25, MSLU hosted the 1st International Translation Model UN MSLU, which simulated a meeting of the UN General Assembly on "Getting back on track after the COVID-19 pandemic: global efforts to make the Sustainable Development Goals attainable by 2030".

At the opening ceremony, Irina Kraeva, MSLU rector; Vladimir Pavinsky, Deputy Director of the UN Information Center; Ekaterina Pokholkova, Dean of the Faculty of Interpreting and Translation delivered welcoming speeches, as well as Marianna Matakova, Director of the Interpretation Service of the UN Office in Vienna with a video message.

The Translation Model UN MSLU is unique. Along with the traditional principles of the model, the work of the General Assembly was accompanied by roundtrip simultaneous interpretation in the official languages of the UN (English, Spanish, French, Russian) and Italian. The idea of creating a unique translation Model UN originated in 2019 at the Office for International Cooperation and Internationalization as part of the Programme for the Training of Interpreters for International Organizations. As a test run, the students of the Faculty of Interpreting and Translation, the Programme students, took part in the Ural University Model UN in 2020, taking 8 out of 10 prizes in the competition.

At the beginning of the game, in accordance with the Rules of Procedure, the Chairperson (Victoria Tuchina) announced the agenda and held a roll call of the representatives of the countries. The time allotted for the presentation of the country's position was limited to 5 minutes. The positions of the following countries and international organizations were voiced: World Health Organization (Christina Mukimova), International Labor Organization (Maria Beretskaya), USA (Natalia Shchepina), Mexico (Elizaveta Zakharova), France (Maria Dolgaleva), Iran (Olesya Golubeva), Argentina ( Nikolay Digalev), Cuba (Elina Lelyukaeva), Great Britain (Maxim Kalimulin), Switzerland (Ekaterina Nikitina), Indonesia (Valeria Platonova), Spain (Egor Grinev), China (Marina Pugacheva), RF (Andrey Slutsky), India (Yaroslava Matveeva ), Belgium (Maria Bogoyavlenskaya), Israel (Sofia Khazeeva), Senegal (Maria Oganezova), South Africa (Anastasia Anferova) (ASU). Then the chairman opened a formal debate, which was attended by: Vatican (Alberto Macchi), EU (Anastasia Esipova), CIS (Arsen Osokin). At the end of the day, representatives of the coalitions presented draft resolutions.

Students of the Programme Elizaveta Volobueva, Sofya Rulkova, Maksim Zubov, Salima Valieva, Mariam Tagaymurodova, Anna Ivolgina worked in synchronized cabins on full shifts for two days. They were supported by Tatiana Arzamasova and Valentina Alekseenko, students of the MSLU partner, the Caspian Higher School of Translation, Astrakhan State University. At the end of the first day, draft resolutions of two coalitions of countries were presented - the first, led by Great Britain and the United States, and the second, led by Russia. The final resolution was based on the position of the second coalition, but after a heated debate that lasted about five hours, it underwent a number of changes. “You tried to find common ways to solve the problem and, despite disagreements on many issues, the participating countries were able to adopt a resolution expressing the opinion of the majority,” said Irina Shokina, head of the Program for Training Interpreting for International Organizations, in her closing remarks.

The Model managed to create the atmosphere of an authentic meeting of the UN General Assembly, and the participants plunged into the game, forgetting about time.