MA students of the Caspian Higher School of Interpreting and Translation about their internship at the UN linguistic service
Internships for interpreters offered by European and Russian organizations are not only about training and practical experience, classroom attendance and simultaneous interpretation during meetings. More than that, internships are unforgettable emotions, outstanding impressions and recollections that will remain with you for many years. Daria Ledovskaya, a MA student of the Caspian Higher School of Interpreting and Translation, is sharing her impressions on the internship in Geneva that will remain an exciting and unforgettable event for her:
« It is 4 am. The sky. Our plane. And we are already on the way to Istanbul. Astrakhan with its dusty winds was left behind. It was the beginning of our travel to the pearl of Switzerland – Geneva. Many people associate this city with watches, mountain resorts and chocolate. Of course, one can find these things there easily. However, not everybody knows that Geneva is famous for one more peculiar thing which occupies about several hundreds hectares – headquarters of the United Nations. So I took an advantage of visiting the very heart of the organization and became acquainted with the workdays of the UN delegates and interpreters. It is amazing that when you first try to imagine what the employees of such a big organization look like, you may think of some demure and reserved people busy with their work. It is fabulous that instead, a security guard at the entrance welcomes you with a smile, an attendant is talking to you as if being your old friend of him and everybody is happy to help you. It inspires you and makes your spirit high. But you still do not know what expects you in the future… A conference hall, a booth, headphones. The delegates have gathered. There are a lot of them, more than one hundred. The meeting has began. Each delegate is restricted by the time – limit of 1.5 minutes. Each of them has something to declare whether to make his or her opinion public, to report of the work performed or to make statements on the goals set. You begin to applaud the interpreters in the booths because the speakers’ speech speed is much higher than the one Andrey Malahov, whom we know well.
You are trying to understand the process, writing down terminology, looking for abbreviations. It is difficult and unusual, but the game is worth the candle. Next day you try to interpret the beginning and the end of the speech, after two days you can interpret some of the speech body and only on the fourth day you begin to understand the core of the subject and interpret the idea of it. The most pleasant thing is that you see your own progress and realizes you’re capable for that.
After the working day is finished, you take a big comfortable bus. With a feeling of fulfillment you go home along green streets or to a lake or a cafe with hot sweet-scented fondue waiting. You are happy. You look forward to a new day. Again Geneva will welcome you with picturesque landscapes, fresh air and friendly people.»
