Astrakhan State University Trains Interpreters of United Nations Level

The Caspian Higher School of Interpreting & Translation (CHSIT) operating at Astrakhan State University provides unique programs in fifteen languages. It is regarded as a Russian leader in education of highly qualified interpreters and translators.

The CHSIT has been delivering master programs in interpreting and translation since 2010. To help establish the School, a delegation of the European Commission and the European Parliament came to ASU then. After that, EU specialists visited our University several times and advised our people throughout the entire process of the joint project initiation and development. Thanks to our EU partners’ support, ASU started cooperation with Europe’s top schools of interpreting and translation: Sorbonne, the University of Geneva, the University of Vienna, the University of Ljubljana, and Istanbul University.

Already in September 2011, the first group of future masters started covering a course of interpretation; in 2015, another master program was added to train future translators. Astrakhan is the second Russian site after Saint Petersburg where such an advanced school of interpreting and translation operates. Quality of education corresponds to that of the world’s best language schools; the equipment installed in our unique conference interpreting class is the same as in the European Parliament.

For a number of years ASU has been providing our future interpreters and translators with real opportunities of practical training outside Russia. Our students go to Brussels, Geneva, and Paris; they study at conference interpreting units of the EU and UN organizations and institutions; they also get practical training at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation in Moscow.

Top-level specialists regularly visit Astrakhan to give lectures and seminars. In particular, Mr. Nikolai Telnov, staff interpreter of the Russian booth at the UN Office in Vienna, supervises our educational process and often comes to Astrakhan. Not long ago he gave a series of master classes to our students.

The CHSIT welcomes not only those who are going to be an interpreter or translator. Its syllabus is intended for people of various professions. Nowadays a specialist planning to advance to the international labor market and work with foreign companies ought to speak foreign languages. Our School teaches our neighbors’ languages; we are in regular contact with universities of the countries located at the Caspian Sea.

As for translation, special attention is paid to texts related to the key industries of Astrakhan Region: oil-and-gas recovery, fishery, shipbuilding, etc. Thus, our graduates shall be demanded at a number of enterprises of Astrakhan Region and outside it, whereas a technical specialist proficient in foreign languages shall be a unique professional who is welcome to take part in international projects.

According to Professor Olga Egorova, Director of the Caspian Higher School of Interpreting & Translation, the schemes of education are quite flexible and variable. The main thing is willingness to study and achieve the set goals. Over the past year, interpreting and translation have been studied by both young students and experienced specialists who decided to enlarge the sphere of their professional activities. As a result, each of them advanced to a new professional level and acquired unique knowledge and hands-on skills. A whole load of positive feedback, as well as our alumni’s successful careers, proves it well.