EXPERIENCE OF INTERPRETER TRAINING IN SITUATIONS OF CROSS-CULTURAL INTERACTION: SITUATIONAL-CONTEXTUAL APPROACH
The paper examines one of the most important problems of didactics of translation activity: the ways to optimize interpreter training based on the situational-contextual approach. Recent reforms in the Russian higher education system, including the transition to a two-level structure (bachelor-master), involve the revision of interpreter training according to the changes in the educational model and new requirements of the Federal State Educational Standard. Modern contradictions in the didactics system, caused, on the one hand, by the social order, and, on the other hand, by the system of organization of interpreter training at universities, call for some improvements of the known methods in teaching interpreting. The situational-contextual approach can be used for this purpose. The situational-contextual approach is developed on the basis of the provisions of the psychology of translation activity by T.S. Serova. It implies simulation of communicative situations in professional activity of future interpreter and treats a profession-oriented situation as a basic structural and functional unit of the process of student's professional competence development. In this context, teaching interpreting activity should be based on real situations of cross-cultural interaction. The authors introduce the concept of “situation” in linguodidactics and translation studies and analyze the multilevel structure of the situation of cross-cultural interaction. There are three types of situations that differ in relation to the interpreter's purpose and professional tasks. Also, three stages of the situation organization are analyzed: macro-, mini- and micro situations. The article sums up the experience of simulating cross-cultural interaction situations in interpretation classes. A detailed review is given of the structure of the class as illustrated by work with a specific situation of cross-cultural interaction. The authors provide a scheme for conducting an interpreting session and a complex of pre-translation and translation exercises based on the real situation of cross-cultural interaction. These exercises are aimed at developing translation skills and improving translation strategies. The article presents an algorithm for the formation of professional competencies of an interpreter in the context of a situational contextual approach.