Interpreting “with gusto”: MA students of the Caspian Higher School of Interpreting and Translation at the international festival “Gastronomical Paths of the Silk Road”!

The international forum “Gastronomical Paths of the Silk Road. Travelling with gusto, Astrakhan 2017” being held on July 7-9 in Astrakhan, is finally over. The forum participants got the “tastiest” impressions from the programme events, and our MA students – the most useful experience in terms of practising consecutive and simultaneous interpretation. Being supported by the United Nations World Tourism Organization (UNWTO), the Ministry of Culture of the Russian Federation and other important federal and regional institutions, the festival could not but became a real “kitchen” of gastronomical and interpretation talents. The forum venues were, among others, embankments and streets of Astrakhan, Park Inn by Radisson, the Astrakhan Kremlin museum complex “Zeughaus” and even the area of the Selitrennoe village where they organized an excursion of the Saraj Batu ancient location. Imagine the MA students thoroughly preparing their glossaries with cooking, historical and excursion terms! Among the forum participants and speakers there was A.A. Zhilkin, the Governor of the Astrakhan Region, Zhu Shanzhong, the UNWTO Executive Director for Technical Cooperation and Services, Nikolaos Stamatis, an attaché of the Greek Embassy in Russia and many other foreign and Russian guests. The consecutive interpretation skills helped our MA students interpret during the round-table discussions, excursions and chefs’ master classes, while the simultaneous interpretation techniques were successfully applied during the interpretation of the plenary session speeches. Having interpreted all these culinary “delicacies”, the MA students note that at such festivals interpreters-to-be will always get experience and knowledge to “feast”, as everyone wants to be a real “chef” in his/her profession!

Photo: Ministry of Culture and Tourism of the Astrakhan Region