Spring Master Classes with the Russian MFA Interpreters Started in CITS

For many people spring is all about nature blooming, long sunny days and romantic feelings. But it is more than that for the students of the Caspian Higher School of Interpreting and Translation – they undergo the traditional training in the Department of Linguistic Support the MFA of Russia. This year it’s held in the form of online master classes.

A series of online classes on interpretation began with a meeting of our students with Sergey Chudinov, 2nd secretary of Department of Linguistic Support of the MFA of Russia. It is the very interpreter who worked at Vladimir Putin and Donald Trump’s negotiations in Helsinki! The negotiations were of key importance for the entire world. For our students it’s of paramount importance to adopt the experience of the expert. The work was so prompt, that all the questions (which, by the way, were numerous) were put away for later. The expert began to work on the text together with the students. Sight translation would seem to be a simple task. However, only those utterly unfamiliar with translation and interpretation would say so. The completeness and fidelity of interpretation is perfected while performing this task. The expert selected for training Mr. Putin’s speech at the World Economic Forum in Davos. Despite the seeming simplicity of the text (such as the lack of complex terms and concepts), there were enough pitfalls.

“Everyone had a chance to interpret a part of the text at sight. It is important to follow sentence structure which you started with. However, when other – better – variants start to pop up in your head, the task becomes more complicated. We were impressed by the number of synonyms and options for each phrase offered by the experienced interpreter of the MFA. “I want to do the same!” – that’s what I thought and this idea haunts me”, – the 1st year student Polina Tulyakova shares.

Sergey Maksimovich recommended to work properly on texts both aurally, and then at sight. To enrich the stock of synonyms, the expert advised to address dictionaries, to read more and by all means to practice using them.

Then the CITS students met the 3rd secretary of DLS MFA of Russia Kirill Kazakov. Mr. Kazakov also interprets the Russian President at various forums and events. In particular, he worked at a meeting with Evo Morales, the President of Bolivia, and Theresa May, the Prime Minister of the UK, in 2019.

The 2nd year student Tatyana Arzamasova said:

“The master class with Kirill Alekseyevich Kazakov is the impulse we needed. Usually, we are engaged in simultaneous and consecutive interpretation, we drill various techniques, for example, cutting, and we pay great attention to interpretation quality in general. Today’s master class has proved again that this is not always enough. It is extremely important to know idioms in both target and original languages. It’s important to be able to find analogues quickly without losing or distorting the meaning. The master class was very intense and insightful. There are numerous phrases and expressions I noted for myself that I could use in future. Once again, I’m conviced that there is no limit to the interpreter’s memory and the ability to find a way out of difficult situations in interpreting”.