Astrakhan State University Students Improve Their Interpreting Skills at UN

Sara Nakolli, a 2nd-year Master’s degree student of the Caspian Higher School of Interpreting and Translation, and Polina Karabalaeva, a 2019 graduate of the School, undertook a traineeship at the United Nations Office at Vienna.

Under the guidance of Russian booth interpreter Nikolay Telnov, who regularly holds his master classes for School students at ASU, the trainees enhanced their skills of simultaneous interpretation and learned more about the principles work of the largest international organization during their 5-day intensive training course.

The trainees had a chance to work at two sessions on different issues. At the session of the working group “Investor-State Dispute Settlement” of the UN Commission on International Trade Law, participating delegates considered some issues of reforming the existing system: establishment of an international advisory centre, third — party funding, dispute prevention, etc. In the framework of the Commission on Narcotic Drugs, representatives of States discussed the narcotic substances demand and supply reduction, as well as measures to prevent drug use.

The students began their mornings with a warm-up — a sight translation to prepare for interpretation in the booths. The afternoon sessions were devoted to master classes by interpreters from the Russian, French and English booths. Despite the fact that UN interpreters usually work into their native language, they also have some know-how in retour — interpretation from one’s mother tongue into a foreign one — because, as a rule, these are the skills an interpreter must have to be competitive in the labour market. Besides, the School MA students had a chance to talk to Sergey Tyurin, a UN translation service expert, who told them about some features of the existing legal systems and their impact on the modern world of translation.