Presentation given by the President and Secretary General of CIUTI!

On June, 21 the MA students and graduates of the Caspian Higher School of Interpreting and Translation attended a presentation prepared by our guests from the International Standing Conference of University Institutes of Translators and Interpreters (CIUTI) – by CIUTI Honorary President Hannelore Lee-Jahnke and CIUTI Secretary General Martin Forstner. Hannelore Lee-Jahnke devoted her speech to the didactic aspect of translation and interpreting, i.e. proper training of future interpreters and translators; she spoke about some methods which are very useful for a teacher to awake student’s interest, to help him/her to restore self-confidence, overcome shyness and indecision, develop team-building skills. According to Hannelore, for a teacher it is very important to be interested in students’ hobbies, to give them an opportunity to prepare speeches on topics which are close to them; in this case a student will feel more informed than a teacher, he/she will be eager to prepare the most inspiring material, to help group mates choose information which will result in excellent study of a topic, its analysis, development of presentation skills and enrichment of background knowledge both by students and a teacher.

Martin Forstner presented an entirely different aspect: on the example of the Central Asia Martin explained to the MA students and teachers how economic development, regions specialization and peculiarities of international economic and sectoral relations influenced interpreting career and demand for interpreting and translation services. The presentation turned out to be very interesting and urgent because employment within interpreting specialization is one of the most important questions for our future graduates and Martin touched upon our region and those opportunities which may be offered to interpreters and translators quite soon.