Preparing for the UN Internship

It is an open secret that any international organization sets up its own requirements to interpretation, uses its own terminology database and works out its own system of clichés and acronyms. The MA students of the Caspian Higher School of Interpreting and Translation have a chance to undertake different internships, to get acquainted with a real working environment and to understand which organization he or she likes more. In 2016, the second-year MA students who have already undertaken internships in the Directorate General for Translation of the European Commission, DG Interpretation of the European Commission, DG Interpretation and Conferences of the European Parliament, Brussels (Belgium), and OECD, Paris (France), will have probably the most exciting internship in the holy of holies – in the UN Office at Vienna, Austria.
As any soldier dreams of being a general, any interpreter is eager to interpret the UN meetings. However, to reach these stretch targets it is necessary to make great efforts and to work hard, what our MA students do before the internship that is planned to be in summer.
Within the framework of a special course called “Conference Interpreting at the UN”, students get acquainted with the functioning of different UN departments; they practice in interpreting speeches and go through the maze of complex terminology. They interpret broadcasting of different events from extraordinary meetings in the UN Security Council to the UPR planned meetings with States representatives and the IAEA reports to the UN General Assembly. By the way, the latter bears real difficulties, because these reports address the issues on nuclear power plants, reactors, development of nuclear energy, promotion of its peaceful use, and others. The IAEA was established within the United Nations family through a special agreement.
The IAEA holds intergovernmental forums for scientific and technical cooperation in the peaceful use of nuclear technology and nuclear power worldwide. It provides international safeguards against misuse of nuclear technology and nuclear materials and promote nuclear safety and nuclear security standards and their implementation. Just imagine how difficult and challenging it is to interpret the information like that! As one hardly ever discusses such issues, much less one interprets them.
Maria Avdaseva, as an experienced teacher, helps students to deal with such high-speed performance. Having graduated from the Caspian Higher School of Interpreting and Translation, she undertook a unique two-month traineeship in the UN Office at Geneva besides traditional introductory internships in the UN. Maria Avdaseva represented our School and Astrakhan on an equal basis with the students from MSU and MGIMO. The uniqueness of this traineeship is not only in a long-term improvement of your skills in the Russian Interpretation Service but in the fact that during this period of time you can really become a part of the international communication in such a prestigious international organization as the UN. May our MA students reap the fruits from this promising internship!