This project was formulated in the course of the interpretation seminar, conducted by Mr.Andrey P. Chuzhakin in Kazan on November 13-14, 2009.
Interpreter/translator earns a living by satisfying societies' demand for cross-cultural communication services. Currently interpreter/translator is expected to have good linguistic skills (in used languages), good background and terminology knowledge of the subject area, promptness of rendering services and physical/technical mobility.
To generate as much added value as possible, best practices should be shared freely, discussed openly, passed on rapidly, adopted as standard widely and taught to youth immediately. More people should be attracted to join the process. For virtual Tatarstan interpreters forum, which is established as a platform for the purpose, to be a success more people should own it and the underlying values.
For interpreters, employers and students to start feeling the ownership of the metier, the forum will organize and host events (presentations, round table discussions) inviting interpreters and translation agencies of Kazan enter dialogue with interpretation students and educational institutions.
Future of interpreting profession and the place of Kazan
Previously most of intercultural communication (specialization of interpreters) was centered around:
a) political capitals of the world and
b) sites of intergovernmental bodies – UN, EU, ASEAN, OIC, etc., and their specialized agencies.
With the advent of computing technology, wider access to Internet (especially wireless) and appearance of blogosphere (individual users based mass media), this boundary is erased and many more players come into the domain.
Kazan has everything to be widely recognized as a place open for intercultural dialogue. The capital of Tatarstan has a limited political autonomy on both domestic and international issues and it has significantly lower population. However it has other advantages:
1) significant number of people already speaking at least two languages (Russian and Tatar are 2 state languages of the Republic, Russian being used as main medium of instruction in colleges),
2) wide-spread understanding among Tatar youth that they need to preserve active use of own language as their cultural identity of 7 million Tatars living around the world, and
3) clear understanding by all citizens that they need to master both Russian (widely used in ex-Soviet Union countries) and English (current lingua franca of the world) if they want to boost their chances for a successful career.
Further advances in computing technology hint us that with time people will be capable of getting by with only one language. Internet-based and mobile devices that will be able to recognize and translate written or spoken language are already available – capable of helping people out in different situations. There are some aspects that need improvement for this technology to get wide acceptance (increasing their vocabulary in different languages, and translation technology). But it's already foreseeable that one day human translation will not be required.
Our profession is being affected by the human progress. It's clear that the nature of cross-cultural communication specialty is likely to evolve away from rendering a message from one cultural code into another. What we are witnessing now is that the only well-paid demand on Kazan market is for highly qualified translators and interpreters that help building bridges of trust between people living in different cultural realities. As a result of political and economic activity of the regional and city authorities and core regional businesses, this segment is actually growing. To be able to enter this market and capitalize off existing opportunities, current interpretation/translation students need to work hard on honing their skills. And the forum is to provide plenty of opportunities for their self-study and consultations.
Interpretation market in Kazan: challenges and opportunities...
Shouldn't we simply get rid of the burden of keeping conditions for preserving a great variety of individual languages on the planet? Would you want to get rid of all wineyards simply because gathering, processing and packaging Orange juice seems easier than Grape? One of the short explanations as to why we might want to keep them can be found here. Having read it, you should have a basis for understanding why every person on the planet should make an effort to learn his/her mother-tongue well, speak it often and keep an overall good balance of own linguistic environment.
To name just a few large scale projects our city is engaged in - Kazan is getting ready to host 2013 Universiade and possibly 2018 or 2022 Soccer World Cup semifinals. There are no doubts that our region can conduct these and other events at the highest international level, showing the best of our country's hospitality to the guests from around the world and improving our recognition. The only question is how can we benefit most from all these investments? Within next 2-3 years we are likely to start seeing Tatarstan websites translation boom, logically followed by a next round of increase in international contacts and cooperation. It can be expected to start with English as the lingua-franca of the modern world, and other UN languages will follow suite...
How will we get ready? Foreign languages and interpretation training programs in Tatarstan colleges are part of the answer, just as RT government sponsored exchange programs. There are a number of projects underway: Need for Speak volunteer interpreters (Russian), this interpreters forum, various translation seminars (Russian), English-speaking radio and engaging translation students into public service (Russian) within their training programs curriculum requirements.
Keeping in mind that we can't reverse our expectations (which are only growing), the only possible solution is to increase generation of added value. Interpreters and translators (specialists in cross-cultural communication) contribute to this by bridging the gap of different cultures that have something valuable to exchange. Thus people in the field can create supplemental added value by creating conditions so that:
a) individual specialists are interested to continue introducing best practices into own work
b) sharing those best practices with the peers
c) contributing towards training more specialists capable to contribute in the field.
Email admins: tattolmach@narod.ru / tattolmach@gmail.com
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