DG LINC and UN Experts Assess CITS MA Students’ Level of Training

On May 21, MA students and trainers of the Caspian Higher School of Interpreting and Translation took part in a virtual class with experts of the Directorate-General for Logistics and Interpretation for Conferences of the European Parliament and interpreters of the UN Office in Vienna. A wide range of topics, covered in the speeches, a variety of languages, and valuable comments and advice from professionals of their craft – this is how the interesting 2-hour lesson, which is traditionally organized by our European colleagues at the end of the academic year, passed for our students.

This time, the working languages of the virtual class were English, French and Russian; as for the speech topics, the speakers of the event (CITS trainers and DG LINC interpreters), of course, talked about the COVID-19 consequences, touched on the topic of social prejudice against No Mothers, and went a little deeper into marketing, considering the phenomenon of Apple in terms of its marketing strategies.

Second-year MA students became “active” interpreters at the virtual class; for them, it was the final class of this format in their two-year study course. Having received detailed comments from the DG LINC and UN experts, the MA students drew a conclusion on the work to be done further on before the final exams and the aspects of interpretation they should pay special attention to when preparing for the finals. Besides, Sarah Irene, a staff interpreter of the UN Interpretation Service in Vienna and a long-standing partner of our school, also participated in the virtual class. Throughout the academic year, Sarah has been giving our MA students virtual classes, and at the final online class, she could evaluate the progress made by the students during this period and give final recommendations on developing interpretation skills.