Advantages and Disadvantages of Social Media: Mock Conference in Caspian Higher School of Interpreting and Translation

From the very start of the semester, first year students of the Caspian Higher School of Interpreting and Translation’s classes embarked on a long journey of mastering simultaneous interpreting, the hardest, but the most interesting activity in their future occupation. On February, 6th Olga Egorova, the Director of the School, guided the real-life introduction to the simultaneous interpreting of the students within the framework of a mock conference. The MA students discussed advantages and disadvantages of using social media, the issue that never fades in popularity. They were free to choose their role and some of them participated in the mock conference as interpreters, while others – as speakers and journalists. The speeches, delivered in German, English and Russian, were interpreted simultaneously. Although the issue of social media is widely discussed nowadays, the MA students managed to make speeches shedding light on unexpected aspects. They were talking about the pros and cons of using Instagram, as well as a new Facebook application, designed especially for children. The interpreters, working on the speeches, did a good job. The second year MA students were also engaged in the mock conference. This sort of cooperation is a good opportunity to practice and share experience, useful for both the first and the second year MA students. Valuable comments of the Director of the Caspian Higher School of Interpreting and Translation and the second year MA students provided a good start in the world of simultaneous interpreting for the first year MA students. Mock conference format is very important for future interpreters because they do not only practise interpretation, but also broaden background knowledge and increase creativity.