MSLU at Translation Forum Russia

From 30 July to 1 August, 2021 one of the biggest European translation forums “Translation Forum Russia” was held in Nizhniy Novgorod. In the Russian translation industry the forum became one of the most anticipated events of 2021, especially due to the fact that it was held offline.

Moscow State Linguistic University was the Forum’s partner and fully undertook the preparation and moderating of the educational part of the forum by coming up with the topics for discussion and bringing together all the main experts, who represented universities as well as business, international organizations, freelance translators, foundations, translation associations, communities and unions.

The rector of MSLU Irina Kraeva delivered an official video message to the participants and organizers of the Forum.

On the first day of the forum special attention was paid to educational process. A 5-hour section was held within which the main topical issues connected with the future of the education in the field of translation and interpretation were analyzed, e.g: what type of translator and interpreter is needed in the post-pandemic world; how universities and employers should cooperate and incorporate professional associations; what qualities are necessary for the interpreter in 2022 and onwards; what a modern professor of translation and interpretation should be capable of and how universities should face new challenges.

The moderators of the section were professor Olga Egorova, Director of the Project Office for International Cooperation of Moscow State Linguistic University, and Ekaterina Pokholkova, Dean of the Faculty of Translation of MSLU.

The work was held in the form of an interactive panel discussion with participation of employers’ representatives, representatives of the leading universities and translation schools in Russia and abroad, representatives of professional associations and unions. It is important to mention that besides traditional questions of preparing interpreters, special attention was paid to such issues as the role of technologies, digital transformation of the interpreter’s job, the social role of the interpreter, their contribution to the development of society - as well as the development of an understanding of what the profession of a translator will be in its various guises in the near and distant future. Leading Russian and foreign translators and terminologists, translation teachers with international experience and experience shared their vision of the further development of the translation profession and training of translation personnel in the era of a pandemic and post-pandemic.

Moscow State Linguistic University has traditionally been an active participant in the Translation Forum Russia since the very first years of its holding. Back in 2011, Andrey Chuzhakin, a lecturer of the Department of Translation Studies and Practice of English Language Translation at the MSLU Faculty of Translation, spoke at the forum. In subsequent years, MSLU was represented by the Faculty of Translation, headed by the dean Ekaterina Pokholkova and our leading professors with different language combinations. Last year Olga Yegorova, professor, translator and director of the Project Office for International Cooperation of Moscow State Linguistic University, was a plenary speaker at Translation Forum Russia 2020.