St. Petersburg School of Conference Interpreting and Translation was among the organizers of the conference “Language Mediation as a Means of Spreading the Russian Language and Culture to the Global Space” held on the margins of the II St. Petersburg Cultural Forum. The conference took place in Herzen University’s Heraldic Hall on 2 December. Rector Valery Solomin welcomed the participants. Other distinguished guests, among whom there were Alexander Prokhorenko, Chair of the Committee for External Affairs in St. Petersburg government, Vladimir Khodyrev, Advisor to the Governor of St. Petersburg, and others greeted the participants in their welcoming speeches. Alexander Sokurov, a renowned Russian film director, stressed the importance of educational traditions in Russian culture and underlined the key role of translation in launching literary works into the global space. Alexander Sokurov’s speech set the tone for the following discussions at the conference: every presentation generated enthusiastic response from the audience. As a final chord, the conference adopted a resolution which said: «Today Russia’s policy in the sphere of culture and education requires active participation of a language mediator in broadcasting the Russian language into the global space. A translator’s painstaking work needs coherence and consolidation, and all the more so that translation has always been central to building a cultural space. Conceptual discussion related to broadcasting the Russian language and culture through translation should be followed by an inclusive discussion of these issues in mass media. Culture is a nation’s common heritage, and it is capable of uniting people over many barriers. These conclusions were a contribution of the Herzen University to the strategy of promoting the Russian language and culture in the world”. On 3 December, the Herzen University delegation headed by Rector Valery Solomin took part in the Forum plenary session. Noël Muylle, the School’s Honorary Vice-president and Honorary Director General of the European Commission, made a speech at the plenary session stressing the key role of such educational institutions as Herzen University and its School of Conference Interpreting and Translation in training professional interpreters and translators – par excellence advocates and champions of the Russian language and culture.

The proceedings the conference were interpreted by the School trainers and freelance interpreters Ekaterina Shutova and Sergey Yakovlev.