A year in a day: student interpreting competitions as a tool to train and educate professional interpreters

The article discusses the role of interpreting competitions in interpreter training programmes at a university level. Based on their experience of organizing student interpreting competitions at Peter the Great Polytechnic University of Saint Petersburg in 2017 and 2018, the authors analyze the results of the survey with the participants and judges (translator and interpreter trainers from various universities and representatives of translation companies) of the Second International Student Consecutive Interpreting Competition Tri-D-Int held on 22-23 March 2018. The survey was intended to solicit opinions of the participants on the competition in general and its preliminary and final stages, on the composition and objectivity of the jury. Specifically, they were asked to evaluate the usefulness of the special training course designed and piloted by the authors prior to the competition. All participants underline the importance and value of the feedback session with the panel of judges. The judges were asked to describe reasons for participation in student interpreting competitions, evaluate the overall organization of the competition and give recommendations for improvement. The results of the survey support the assumption that student interpreting competitions are an efficient tool in developing consecutive interpreting skills and provide valuable information for further improvement of the competition format and procedures.