Dutch-Russian interpreting: techniques and methological issues of teaching undergraduate students

Abstract

The Dutch-Russian language pair in terms of interpretation and its teaching to undergraduate students shows a typical picture not only for Germanic, but also for most European languages. Nevertheless, there are a number of problematic issues, both objective and subjective, typical of the language pair and also, probably, of other “small” Germanic languages, which include the Scandinavian ones. Objective difficulties — not dependent on the translator — include: 1) the geography of the language region and its dialect specificity; 2) the widest possible range of potential topics for interpreter and, as a result, the inability to specialize; 3) “torn” work schedule of the translator; 4) insufficient quantity and quality of dictionaries and parallel texts on narrow topics; 5) a limited number of hours at the university for the development of interpretation skills. The subjective — the so-called translator problems — include: 1) poor language skills (both foreign and native); 2) lack of oral interpreting skills (both consecutive and simultaneous); 3) lack of general communication skills; 4) limited opportunities for practice. A detailed consideration of each of the above aspects is aimed at developing a common strategy for optimally overcoming the objective difficulties of interpretation, on the one hand, and, on the other hand, creating a plan to optimize the process of learning interpretation in a specialized university, in order to eliminate the limitations of subjective nature.