EDUCATING CONFERENCE INTERPRETERS IN JOINT MASTER PROGRAMME: A CASE-STUDY OF KAZAN FEDERAL UNIVERSITY

The paper introduces the Joint Master Programme Theory of Translation. Crosscultural and Interlingual communication and insight into on-line teaching and learning aspects of master degree education. This joint master programme is cooperatively held by Kazan Federal University and Astrakhan State University, Russia. The agreement includes collaborative teaching of the academic staff of both universities due to International Educational Standards. The authors analyse the unique features of the programme and present their findings on pros and cons of JMP educational technology as they have experienced the teaching methodology and learning paths themselves.

As Linguistics is accepted for the academic field of the programme, so, graduating the programme, JMP students are given a qualification of Master of Linguistics. JMP sets up a two-year full time mode of study whereas three terms of it stand for various translation and interpretation courses, interpretation praсtice as well as individual professionally-oriented projects and active involvement in research work in the field of study; all crowned by the defense of the Master’s thesis at the end of forth semester.

The authors highlight the value of the most important professional competences which are to be acquired and developed by the students within the framework of the 24-month joint master programme. They are as follows: skills and methods for pre-translation text analysis; translation preparation, including ability to use reference literature, professional and network resources; ability to achieve equivalence in translation and use adequate translation methods; ability to correctly convert an utterance into a target language; editing skills; skills for consecutive interpretation, and, of course, conference interpretation based on standards of lexical equivalence, grammatical, syntactical, and stylistical norms of the translated text and temporal characteristics of the original text.

The paper reveals that unlike traditional training programs the JMP provides for thorough academic education of the prospective conference interpreters. Here students learn shorthand skills for consecutive interpretation; organization and leadership skills for simultaneous interpretation in international organizations and at international conferences; interpretation ethics; international courtesy and interpreter’s code of behavior in different situations of interpretation (tourism, business talks, negotiations of official delegations); and ability to creatively develop and improve interpretation methods and techniques on the basis of thorough analysis of professional activity results. The research stresses the particular value of background professional courses, such as The UN; The EU, Crosscultural Communication, Protocol etc.

The authors conclude that the challenges of the JMP study lie in the field of on-line teaching and on-line learning whereas study assets deal with competence realization. They provide careful recommendations on meeting the challenges, which can be applied to enhance the system of educating conference interpreters in Russia and worldwide.