New perspectives and opportunities: Master Students about their expectations from studying in the Caspian Higher School of Interpreting and Translation

A new academic year is just getting started and for new MA students studying in the Caspian Higher School of Interpreting and Translation means that for the next couple of years they will definitely have no time to be bored. Judging on the amount of tasks given at the first classes, the new MA students should be ready to work intensively on several languages, acquire dozens of translation and interpreting techniques, write and interpret hundreds of speeches, learn thousands of new words and get lots of important information from the trainers of the Caspian Higher School of Interpreting and Translation. However, all this is just going to happen, but now first year MA students have overcome only a small but very important part of this way.
As it turned out, to be an interpreter is not only to have a good knowledge of English or any other language, but also to have a great deal of background knowledge in what is happening in the world. Moreover, being an interpreter means to be persevering (even stubborn!) in the attempts to get to the causes and consequences of this or that event. To be an interpreter means to have an ability to find the right words in stressful situations, meet all deadlines and constantly search for new information and then process it, as the world is changing, and the customer (and therefore interpreting ) is changing along with it.
For some students enrolling in our School has become a really important decision. Dmitry Tarnovsky, a first year MA student (Master Program Theory of Interpretation and Intercultural Communication ), arrived in Astrakhan from Volzhsky, Volgograd region: “When Studying at Volzhsky Humanitarian Institute, I realized that bachelor degree was not enough to find a well-paid job. That’s why I decided it would be a good idea to get an additional specialty besides linguistics. Having analyzed all relevant types of professional activities at that period of time, I chose programming and entered Volzhskiy Polytechnic Institute (course Information technology and computer engineering). It was difficult to combine studying at two institutions, but I coped with it. Later after a year of hard and intensive studying I learned from Alexey Zadubovsky, a graduate of the Caspian Higher School of Interpreting and Translation and Volzhsky Humanitarian Institute, about the Master’s program for training interpreters in Astrakhan. This training program was very attractive to me because since childhood I’d wanted to dedicate my life to foreign languages studying and interpreting. The Caspian Higher School of Interpreting and Translation provides all opportunities for this. However, it was necessary to have strong background and succeed in the entrance exam for being admitted to the School.
That’s why I had to make one of the hardest decision in my life – to discontinue my studying at Volzhsky Polytechnic Institute and do my utmost to write my diploma thesis and prepare for the entrance examinations in the Caspian Higher School of Interpreting and Translation”.
What is the secret of successful enrollment at the Caspian Higher School of Interpreting and Translation? Actually, there are no secrets. Some say, they decided to prepare several months in advance as diligent students yet really started their work a couple of weeks before applying; some recap well-known textbooks on the translation theory which became their “bed-side books” for some period of time. Altyn Arupova decided to tell prospective students how to use the resources for preparation which helped her to pass the exam: “I had an unusual way to train myself for the entrance examinations. First of all, I listened to the 30 minute podcast of the Voice of America (program As It Is) and tried to interpret the audios as well. I would like to notice a wide range of the reports: a daily training of interpreting and translation skills by using this resource helped me to raise awareness of the situation in the world and enhance my background knowledge. I have subscribed to the daily newsletters of the News Republic app, looked through the news at https://news.yandex.ru/ and https://tass.ru/ to keep up with the news, especially reports related to Russia. The Espresso app from the Economist Magazine and its newsletters The Economist News Desk kept me currently informed of the situation in the world.
But the entrance examinations are passed, and the master students are ready to further hone their interpreting skills. They have many expectations, and weather they satisfy them or not depends both on the students and the Caspian Higher School of Interpreting and Translation. It is great to see that people who are enrolled at the Caspian Higher School of Interpreting and Translation turn their expectations into goals and pursue their ambitions. “Master course is the next level of my education path”, says Alina Kireeva, first-year master student studying interpreting. “I say the next, and not the last, as education is like the horizon: the endpoint withdraws as you go towards it, and the longer you go, the more you realize how much distance has to be covered. I expect new horizons and opportunities from the master course I am taking and I hope my expectations will be met”.