Mock conference with Professor Jonathan Titus

At the end of the last week  Professor Jonathan Titus, a  representative of New York State University at Fredonia,  arrived  at Astrakhan State University. During his visit, Professor Titus holds lectures for the students of the Department of Geology and Geography and the MA students of the Caspian Higher School of Interpretating and Translation provide their consecutive and simultaneous interpretation.

It is noteworthy, that on October 6, Professor Jonathan Titus visited the Caspian Higher School of Interpreting and Translation as well.  He made a presentation on “Critical thinking” for the first and second year MA students. That was a lesson in a format of a mock conference, where the MA students took  part and chose for themselves roles of interpreters, journalists and even psychologists. For example, the first year MA student Polina Sheluhina acted as a psychologist from Moscow State University and told us about the types of critical thinking, and the second year MA student  Tatyana Buzina acted as Natalia Vinogradova, a Doctor of Pedagogy. In her speech, Tatyana touched upon the practical aspects of critical thinking, and shared her view how to teach children mastering it. Simultaneous interpretation was provided into English, Russian and French, with the use of “relay” technique, when the interpreter works not with the source speech, but uses an intermediate text, i.e. a simultaneous interpretation of the source speech provided by his colleague in another booth. This technique allows using three (or more) languages at once and providing interpretation for all participants of the conference.

At the end of the class Olga Egorova, who watched the mock conference, made her comments on the interpretation, noting the progress of some MA students in simultaneous interpretation. Professor Titus advised the students to read more authentic materials, and spoke highly of the students’ performance.