A UN Interpreter Teaches ASU Master’s Students To Be Curious

MA students of the Caspian Higher School of Interpreting and Translation are being taught by Sarah Irene, a staff interpreter of the English booth of the UN Office at Vienna. She’s come to our university to give a 5-day study course, based on her personal experience and best practices.

It’s the guest’s first visit to Astrakhan, though she’s already been to Russia several times. She’s heard a lot about our university from Nikolay Telnov, her colleague from the UNOV Russian booth and a long-time friend of our university, who strongly recommended her to pay a visit to ASU. Sarah mainly works with consecutive interpretation and, as she stressed, at her classes with our MA students she is going to apply the UN interpretation approach, dwell on note-taking principles and her own system of taking notes. The trainer uses UN materials at the lessons; however, the information provided can be applied in interpretation activities at many other international organizations.

Sarah commended the Caspian School students’ interest and their aspiration for gaining knowledge and personal growth. It is very important for her that our interpreters-to-be examine any information attentively and aim at dialogue.

The classes were also attended by foreign students and teachers of the ASU Faculty of Foreign Languages who got a perfect chance to advance their professional competences.

During her stay in Astrakhan, Sarah Irene met with Konstantin Markelov, the ASU Acting Rector. It turned out that the parties had common topics to discuss, and the guest said she was very happy with her trip and felt comfortable in Astrakhan. At the meeting with Konstantin Markelov, Sarah expressed her gratitude for well-established cooperation which allows the Caspian School MA students to gain knowledge from practising interpreters.

The UN interpreter is determined to visit Astrakhan State University more than once and is going to work methodically with ASU students through a cycle of her study courses.