CITS Discusses Topical Issues of T & I Training With Belarusian and Russian Colleagues

On April 6 and 7, the ASU Caspian Higher School of Interpreting and Translation took an active part in the 5th Republican scientific and applied forum for T & I teachers and practicing interpreters and translators “Multilingual and Multicultural Innovative Educational Environment in the Context of the Modern Paradigm of T & I Training”, organized by the departments of the theory and practice of translation and interpreting of the Minsk State Linguistic University.

The event brought together representatives of a number of translation and interpreting schools of Russia and Belarus, as well as translation agencies and practicing translators and interpreters. The forum focused on the issues of development and support of languages and cultures, language policies of countries and international organizations with regard to the new forms of training T & I students.

During the panel discussion Multilingual and Multicultural Innovative Educational Environment in the Context of the Modern Paradigm of T & I Training, which was held on April 6, CITS members presented the report Inclusive Linguistic Environment: Experience of the Caspian Higher School of Interpreting and Translation and told their Belarusian and Russian colleagues about their experience in developing projects to promote Russian Sign Language (RSL), creating a barrier-free linguistic environment in Astrakhan Region, training interpreters with the knowledge of RSL and implementing the audio description project. Special emphasis was placed on the need to introduce RSL in BA programmes in translation and interpretation, and the importance of working with students on the issues of inclusion, socialization of special-need people and the teaching of basic RSL skills. 

At the practical platform of the forum, CITS trainers held a master class Speechwriting as a Tool for Teaching Interpreting. The school experts told the students of Russian and Belarusian universities how to use speechwriting to improve their interpreting, explained the key points to consider when writing a training-purpose speech for interpretation, and organized a brief workshop on speechwriting.

The forum went on with a roundtable on April 7 which focused on the writing of final qualification paper. Teachers from both the ASU Faculty of Foreign Languages and CITS shared their practical experience and their vision of writing, evaluation criteria and defense of a master’s project as a final qualification paper. Recall this project was supported by the Vladimir Potanin Foundation in 2021.