Students’ club of linguistic and cultural studies “Travel Office”  does not stop surprising us with interesting and useful meetings. On April 28, the next online-meeting of a series of webinars devoted to the profession of translator and the role of foreign languages in the modern globalized world was held under the leadership of Vice Dean for Education Olena Medvid, with the participation of lecturers of the Department of Germanic Philology  Olena Nazarenko, Kateryna Vashyst and Associate Professor Galyna Chulanova.

This time, students majoring in Philology  had the opportunity to speak with a talented translator Olha Shaban, who has a great deal of experience in this field.
Olha started gaining her first experience while studying for a master's degree, working as a translator in the Bank's Secretariat. After graduating in 2015 from Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv with a master's degree, she occupied a position in the Prosecutor General's Office of Ukraine. Also, she received an education abroad after graduating from the College of Europe (Belgium). Since 2019 she works as the only staff translator at the NATO Representation to Ukraine.
Beginning with the topic of education, Olha immediately emphasized the importance of getting a diploma — “The Diploma in Translation is the license for notarial certification of one’s translations”. All the attention was focused specifically on different areas of work, Olha was happy to talk about the pros and cons of corporate sphere, civil service and work in International Organizations. Excessive bureaucratization in translations was highlighted as the main disadvantage of some areas, however, she certainly noted a generous salary as the main advantage. The translator did not ignore her career, too, warning #SumDU_translators that it consists in horizontal growth, not vertical. Naturally, throughout the meeting, Olha was giving the audience plenty of useful tips, one of which concerned the need to master the notation technique for simultaneous interpretation.

At the end of the meeting, students had a chance to ask questions to our guest in order to supplement their knowledge with information specific to them, and we have pointed out the most interesting:

Please tell us about the algorithm for applying for a master's degree abroad. What is the difference in learning?
The admission algorithm depends on the country, your specialty and the specialization you are going to choose. In the college, where I entered, the scheme itself is quite clear, because every year scholarships are awarded to entrants from Ukraine. The documents are submitted electronically before the new year, before the first academic year of study, and in March the commission will come to Ukraine for an interview.
The style of learning differs radically in its methods — they are very flexible, as well as the approach to writing a scientific paper. There were a lot of new subjects, and a 20-point grading system.

Have you participated in volunteering or other projects during your student years? Where is it the best to gain translation experience?
A lot of our initial work is already a volunteer project, because students, without experience, often take a job with a minimum wage, or without at all, and that is why they work to gain experience. For me, the volunteer project was working in the patronage service of the President of Ukraine. Also, I participated annually in the exhibition Education Abroad, where I translated from French. Now there are many more such volunteer opportunities. If we talk about Kyiv, especially in the public sector, it is an internship in the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine and in the Office of the President of Ukraine. These are non-governmental public organizations. They take place every year and there is even a scholarship.

Do translators use MT when for translating large texts? That is to say, do they throw a few paragraphs through the service and then edit?
There are different thoughts on such matter, but I think that if you do artistic translation, you never use it, and you don’t even think about it. Artistic translation is done only by hand, that is why it is called artistic translation. If we are talking about translation of technical text or medical, and it has to be done quickly, but time is running out, then you can use it, but the text must be edited, because it is still machine translation, which requires significant changes. In such cases, it is your editing skill that comes to help.

Video of the meeting is by the link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C90MGZol9Ao

Denys Yarmak, student of the group PR-92