A series of webinars on the evolution of translation

On the basis of the Resource Center for Modern Methods of Teaching Foreign Languages ​​of PetrSU, a series of webinars devoted to the development of modern technologies of machine translation and the evolution of translation activities are being held, under the guidance of the head of the department. Department of Foreign Languages ​​of Humanities, Doctor of Philosophy I.E. Abramova and Art. Lecturer of the Department of Foreign Languages ​​of Humanities A.V. Ananyina.
The first webinar was held for undergraduates of the Institute of Physical Culture, Sports and Tourism, studying in the direction of “Tourism”.

For specialists in the field of tourism, the topic of the webinar is of particular interest. Recently, the development of neural network technologies has led to the fact that machine translation systems in their capabilities very quickly “caught up” with professional translators. And if 10 years ago few people seriously believed that in the future a computer could replace a person in the translation process, now we hear more and more often that the future of the translation profession is under threat. This means that guides-translators working with foreign tourists will also be in the “risk zone”.

How to adapt to the ongoing changes with minimal losses, maintain competitiveness in the context of the rapid development of technologies and put these technologies at the service of man? The listeners received answers to these and many other questions during the webinar.

The feedback from the event participants showed that they perfectly mastered the basic requirements for modern translation activities (excellent knowledge of the language and the professional industry, developed communication skills, broad erudition, a high level of general culture, excellent memory, flexibility, mobility, etc.) and determined for themselves the reasons why translation is considered as a specific and especially difficult type of speech activity. Organizers webinar note that they have managed to achieve the main goal – to convey to students the idea that modern technology already “compete” with the man, but it is the development and nformatsionno and communication technologies opens new horizons of specialists.