In Germany there are three universities where simultaneous and written translation are taught. These are the Universities of Heidelberg, Germersheim and Saarbrücken. One of the most famous is the Faculty of Oral and Written Translation in Heidelberg. Elizaveta Ptushko has just graduated from it. She studied here for six years, that is, she completed a full course of training in both written and oral translation. Before that, she studied in her homeland. Is there a difference in how translators are trained in Germany and in our country?
After our education, according to Elizaveta, the direct path is to secretary-referents, which are translators of the most general kind. In Heidelberg, they focus on teaching the technique of simultaneous interpreting - for example, the difficulties in translating from Russian into German, the specifics of languages, they explain what to pay attention to. They talk about the need to read the press in both languages and watch television.
"It should be noted that here, at the Faculty of Translators in Heidelberg, we encounter two categories of applicants," says Christoph Stoll. "The first category is well-prepared, educated people who really want to enroll with us and are genuinely interested in the profession of translator. Such people are, of course, always welcome! And they should come here. But it must be said that we have a strict selection process that not many pass. And there are also applicants who come to Germany only because life is economically better here. And they use the university simply as an opportunity to establish themselves. Therefore, our university was forced to adopt a number of rules against such 'migrants'. It is desirable that foreign applicants already have one higher education behind them, for example, a degree in economics, law, medicine, engineering or mathematics." (Other requirements can be found on the website www.iued.uni-heidelberg.de)
Where to go after graduating from the translation faculty in Germany? Elizaveta says: "I just recently spoke with a representative of our embassy in Berlin, who said that there are many specialists in our homeland who speak English, but there are not enough specialists with a high level of German proficiency. He very often hears this from businessmen, owners of large companies working with Germany. But, say, having trained in Heidelberg and returned home, you will even be, in a sense, overqualified, it seems to me. I don't think that for work in a company you need to master the technique of translation to the extent that they teach it in Germany. In German, this profession is called Konferenzdolmetscher, that is, an interpreter at large conferences, where you work with at least two languages."
At the University of Heidelberg, future simultaneous interpreters are also taught such a delicate matter as talking with the client about payment. By the way, professional translators earn quite well - 120-200 thousand euros per year. Of course, to reach such a level, you need to build up a regular clientele, establish a good reputation, make connections (where would you be without them!), and generally be lucky - but there are chances.