MA Students of the Caspian Higher School of Interpreting and Translation acting as Interpreters from German

While many students are enjoying their summer holidays, our MA students are participating in interesting projects, interpreting at the events of different levels!

The MA student of the Caspian Higher School of Interpreting and Translation Irina Matveeva accompanied Lothar Szych, the Authorized Representative of the Embassy of the Federal Republic of Germany to the Russian Federation, during his business visit to Astrakhan, which took place on 26-29 June 2015. Irina Matveeva tells about the varied programme, as well as about the guest himself:

“Lothar Szych is a very open-minded and positive person and, first of all, he is a versatile personality. It is pleasant to interpret such people and it is interesting to communicate with them. I was extremely happy to have the opportunity to interpret for him during several days. Of course, it was not so easy to interpret due to the high level of communication that touched upon urgent issues. Lothar Szych met with the administrative officials from the Ministry of Culture and Tourism of the Astrakhan region.

The meeting was devoted to the issues of the further development of cultural ties between Astrakhan and German regions. He also had the negotiations with O.A. Petelin, the newly appointed Vice-chairman of the Astrakhan Government and the Minister of Social Development and Labour of the Astrakhan region.

Lothar Szych was especially concerned about the issues related to the disabled people`s rights, as well as to the situation in special establishments for the elderly and orphaned children. The visit to the Regional Rehabilitation Center for children and teenagers with disabilities was very touching and emotional. Lothar Szych visited all the groups of students, classrooms and recreation spaces, and even had a chance to be present at one of the theatre group rehearsal. The embassy representative highly appreciated the positive experience of collaborative work of social and teaching staff and healthcare staff. Within the program the guest also visited the Caspian Higher School of Interpreting and Translation, talked with Olga Egorova, the Head of the School, and with the teachers of the German Philology Department of the Department of Foreign Languages. It was not his last visit to Astrakhan, and I hope for the continuation of the collaboration.”

Irina Matveeva had also a chance to interpret at the meeting of the heads of the special economic zone “Lotos” with German investors, which took place on October 4: “I would like to note that this zone has been one of the most interesting projects of the Astrakhan region government recently. And it is also one of the longest, because this zone exists on the territory of the Astrakhan region no less than 50 years! And nowadays many investors, including the foreign ones, are willing to participate in this project. For this purpose some of them come to meet the heads of the SEZ “Lotus” personally and discuss the details of obtaining resident status. I was interpreting at one of such meetings to help the investors to estimate the advantages of participation in the SEZ.”