I’m a student of English-Spanish translation and interpreting in Bratislava. Sadly, my university doesn’t give students of translation and interpretation a chance to study for some time in the UK as it doesn’t have any agreements with UK universities.
Since I’m in my last year of study I wanted to make the most of my last summer holiday and perfect my pronunciation and interpreting skills. We don’t have such summer schools in Slovakia and therefore taking part in the Heriot-Watt summer school presented a great opportunity for me to learn something new.
The Heriot-Watt Advanced English and Interpreting summer school is focused on translators and interpreters who want to strengthen their English in a content-driven course and learn more about contemporary UK society and cultural life.
The course took 3 weeks and during these three weeks I learned a lot not
only as to English language, but I also got better insight into British politics,
economics and law. The lectures were delivered by specialists in these fields.
We visited the Scottish Parliament and the Scottish Law Court. There was a
range of afternoon options including Advanced Speaking Skills, Britain Through
Film, Presentation Skills and Introduction to Interpreting.
The third week of the course was focused on interpreting and we had a chance
to practice both consecutive and simultaneous interpreting in booths.
I highly appreciate the sponsorship awarded to me by The Scottish Czech and
Slovak Summer Scholarship Fund to help me cover the tuition fee and so be
able to participate in the summer school. All the above mentioned activities
were very useful for me as a future interpreter and translator, since good
interpreters need to have wide general knowledge and need to know the culture
of the source language well. After having participated in this summer course,
I feel well prepared for the last year of my study and writing my thesis.