From December 9th to 15th, 2018, at the invitation of the United Nations Office at Geneva, the Department of English and International Studies (DEIS) sent Tang Jie, undergraduate from the English major, Cheng Silu and Yang Ting, MA candidates from Master of Translation and Interpreting (MTI) program, to Geneva, Switzerland for a week-long interpretation internship, including simultaneous interpretation drill, dummy booth training and in-depth exchanges with full-time interpreters at the Interpretation Office of the UN. The event was organized by Beijing Spirit Translation Co., Ltd., teaching partner of DEIS, and the team was led by the United Nations contracted interpreter, Mr. Qin Xiaobin. The students successfully completed the interpreting internship and obtained the interpretation internship certificates issued by the United Nations Office at Geneva.

During the internship, the students observed conferences like the Working Party on Passive Safety in the Palais des Nations, the UNHCR Voluntary Pledging Conference and the "180 Seconds My Human Rights Story" Awarding Ceremony of the 70th anniversary of the UN Human Rights Council. In the dummy booth, the students took turns to simulate simultaneous interpreting. After the conference, Qin Xiaobin made detailed comments from the overall strategy of interpreting to the details of missed information. In addition to the real situation simulation, the three students also received face-to-face guidance from Mr. Li Zhengren, former director of the Department of Interpretation of the Conference Management Bureau of the UN, Mr. Zhu Xiaohua, Chief of the Chinese Section, senior interpreter Huang Xunyu, and full-time translator Qi Lin. They had in-depth discussions on hot topics such as interpreting training, simultaneous interpreting, career development planning, AI-assisted translation, etc.

By participating in this internship program, the three students have had a deeper understanding of simultaneous interpreting in the United Nations, and benefited a lot from it. They realized that they should not only further improve their English language and interpreting skills, but also be familiar with the language system of UN conferences, the professional knowledge of different topics, and the accents of representatives from different countries. More importantly, basic qualities such as diligence and calmness are required in interpreting at the UN. This internship gave the students an opportunity to boost their confidence and encouraged them to become advanced diplomatic interpreters in the future.