What should fresh graduates of the Master's Interpreting programme by able to do? or, interpreting skills alone ar not enough
Abstract
At the end of their Master's programme in interpreting at the Institute of Translation Studies, Faculty of Arts, Charles University, students take the State Final Exam (Czech abbreviation SZZK) and defend their Master's thesis on a topic closely related to their field of study. In the 2010/2011 academic year, on the occasion of a new accreditation of this Master's programme, a number of radical innovations were made in the SZZK.
We now have ten years of experience since these innovations were made, so this is a good opportunity to take stock. During the SZZK, the examination board verifies not only the students' mastery of interpreting skills and competences during a practical test of consecutive interpreting, sight interpreting, simultaneous interpreting and simultaneous interpreting with text, but also their ability to reflect on an interpretation by combining their knowledge of interpreting theory and its practical application in a translation analysis of recordings and transcripts of an original speech and its interpreted version.
The exam also tests their knowledge of current world events and the broader historical, economic, cultural and geopolitical context. This article explores the individual parts of the SZZK exam and discusses the benefits of the concept, while also identifying shortcomings and drawbacks.