Russian
On December 14, 2019, the meeting of the President of the International Federation of Translators (IFT) Kevin Quirk with the board of the Union of Translators of Russia (UTR) and teachers of the Institute of Humanitarian Technologies of RosNOU was held at the Russian New University (RosNOU).
Through the videoconferencing system, the meeting was attended by representatives of the regional branches of the UTR of St. Petersburg, Kazan, Orenburg, Arkhangelsk, Vladivostok, Omsk, Krasnodar and Murmansk.
The meeting was opened by Olga Ivanova, Scientific Director of the Institute for Humanitarian Technologies, President of the UTR:
“We are pleased that the meeting is attended not only by the Moscow branch of the Union of Translators, but also by representatives of other regions, as well as teachers of the Russian New University. We are grateful to everyone who is with us today, and we are confident that our meeting will be fruitful.”
Rector of RosNOU Vladimir Zernov delivered a welcoming speech:
“Our university has many advantages: active students, wonderful teachers, scientific developments in the field of medicine and so on. Recently, we spoke with the British ambassador to Russia, and he expressed an idea that I fully share: the tenser the relationship in politics, the better the relationship should be between universities in different countries. I really hope that Kevin will have a good impression of Russia and our university.”
Kevin Quirk expressed his position on maintaining the relevance of the profession:
“In order to remain in demand in the modern world, a specialist in translation needs to be an intermediary in communication between people in the non-verbal sphere. You need to be able to convey emotions, intonations, semantic shades – all that no program or computer can do. I am sure that our meeting will help strengthen the significance of the profession of translator.”
The meeting participants discussed the salaries of specialists, the work of a translator in the field of machine translation, the possibility of supporting and developing regional branches of the Russian language, and the translation of national languages of the peoples of Russia into European. The meeting also set goals and outlined plans for further development of cooperation between the International Federation of Translators and the Union of Translators of Russia.