Between 25 and 26 October, Voronezh State University held a workshop “Didactics of translation” organised by Olga Boriskina, Dean of the Faculty of Romance and Germanic Philology, Natalia Karavaeva, Associate Professor at the Department of Translation and Professional Communication, and Larisa Kuzmina, Head of the Department of Translation and Professional Communication. The keynote speaker was Pavel Palazhchenko, head of the International Department of the International Non-governmental Foundation for Socio-Economic and Political Studies (the Gorbachev Foundation) and a high-level conference interpreter. The workshop was attended by over 300 students and staff members from the Faculty of Romance and Germanic Philology, representatives of the business community, as well as employees of various translation agencies and language schools.
On the first day, Pavel Palazhchenko gave a lecture “Translator: past, present, and future of the profession” and held a master-class in simultaneous interpreting for students of the Department of Translation and Professional Communication. During the master-class he shared his own experience and gave students recommendations on how they can improve their professional skills. He also pointed out that on today’s market a translator should know at least two foreign languages. In his opinion, the best options are English and French or English and Chinese.
On the second day, Pavel Palazhchenko held a workshop for lecturers from the Faculty of Romance and Germanic Philology on teaching the probability-prediction method for simultaneous interpreting. The workshop was followed by a round table discussion concerning the major issues in translator training.
All the participants found the workshop very interesting and useful, since the opportunity to meet a high-level specialist is vital for the professional growth of both students and teachers.
