Milan Damjanoski

Cultural differences between generations and the resulting issues and challenges in conference interpreting training  

During the training of young interpreters, one of the biggest challenges for us as trainers are the culturological differences between the generations. The development of the internet and other smart technologies has resulted in major changes in the perception, acquisition and expression of information and knowledge by the new generation. Knowledge is conveyed less through classical forms of media such as books, television and newspapers and more through the new multimedia platforms such as the internet, social networks and smart telephones. Young people today are swamped by a tidal wave of information which is not adequately filtered, valued and categorized, thus resulting in superficial and uncritical reception of information. Combined with the decreased impact and success of classical education, this has led to an influx of new generations of students with inadequate and insufficient knowledge in many key fields. This is especially evident in the lack of knowledge of events, ideas, concepts and persons from Macedonian and world history, as well as the lack of awareness about current issues and events in the EU and the world.

In my paper, I would like to discuss the implications of this trend for the curriculum and training in conference interpreting studies. Furthermore, I would like to illustrate this with practical examples from our courses, as well as analyze the issues and obstacles that arise in the work with students. This shall encompass preparing and analyzing speeches, the issues of their adequate and effective interpretation, as well as the problems with understanding the topics and finding appropriate translation solutions. As a conclusion, I shall present and discuss specific strategies, methods and practices that have proven useful in overcoming this problem, as well as ways of motivating the students to work on improving their capacities and general knowledge.  

Keywords: conference interpreting, training, cultural differences, new generations, challenges