Overview
Objectives
- Understanding the structure and decision-making processes in different international organisations
- Acquiring the specific terminology and phraseology used in multilateral diplomacy
- Further developing simultaneous interpreting skills in particular when working with manuscripts
- Improving language proficiency in English and French for the purpose of providing a so-called retour
Audience
Chinese interpreters
Learning outcomes
Upon completion of the course, successful participants will:
- Be familiar with the main international organisations in Geneva working in Chinese
- Understand their structure, decision-making processes and procedures
- Appreciate the political implications of the topics discussed in these organisations
- Have acquired their respective technical terminology and phraseology
- Have improved their overall language proficiency in English and/or French
- Be able to provide simultaneous interpretation of content delivered at high speed
- Be equipped to effectively and efficiently prepare manuscripts for the purpose of SimText
- Know how to critically assess their own performance and identify room for improvement
Programme
- International Organizations (IO)
- Parliamentary Procedure and Conference Terminology (PPCT)
- Simultaneous Interpreting Strategies (SIS)
- Simultaneous Interpreting Coaching (SIC)
- Language Enhancement (LEEnglish, LEFrench)
- Training Portfolio (TP)
MAS Dissertation
Diploma awarded
Participants who pass the assessment requirements and successfully complete all modules will be awarded a Master of Advanced Studies (MAS) in Conference Interpreting for Multilateral Diplomacy by the University of Geneva’s Faculty of Translation and Interpreting.
Registration
Registration deadline
30 June 2026
Fees
CHF 18,000.-
Admission criteria
Cancellation Policy
Withdrawals prior to the start of the training programme will be subject to a handling fee of CHF 400. The full amount is due by the first day of the course.
Curriculum
Period
September 2026 - July 2027
Credits
60 ECTS credits
Teaching hours
200 teaching hours
100 distance teaching hours
Planning
Contact hours: 30 (20 online)
Self study hours: 30
Description
- Identify the different Geneva-based international organizations working with Chinese
- Gather an overview of the structure and decision-making processes in these organizations
- Analyze the principal instruments used in these organizations
- Discuss the remit and principal objectives of these organizations
Planning
Contact hours: 50 (20 online)
Self study hours: 150
Description
- Explore the fundamentals of parliamentary rules of procedure
- Compare and contrast organization-specific procedures
- Discuss recurring decision-making procedures
- Analyze intra- and interlingual terminological and phraseological nuances
Planning
Contact hours: 100 (25 online)
Self study hours: 200
Description
- Explore the principal challenges when working at international organizations
- Discuss the strategies available to interpreters to overcome those challenges
- Implement and compare the suitability of different strategies
- Introduce technological components in the simultaneous interpreting workflow
Planning
Contact hours: 200
Self study hours: 400
Description
- Implement the declarative knowledge acquired in M1 and M2
- Implement the procedural knowledge acquired in M3
- Explore the principal challenges when working at international organizations
- Discuss the strategies available to interpreters to overcome those challenges
- Implement and compare the suitability of different strategies
- Introduce technological components in the simultaneous interpreting workflow
Planning
Contact hours: 100 (25 online)
Self study hours: 200
Description
- Compare and contrast conceptual challenges between L1 and L2
- Address recurring structural challenges between L1 and L2
- Practice simultaneous-interpreting-specific strategies to overcome these challenges
- Discuss terminological and phraseological solutions in L2
- Explore ways to increase verbal fluency in L2
- Explore ways to increase grammatical fluency in L2
Planning
Contact hours: 25 (10 online)
Self study hours: 275
Description
- Discuss the methodological approaches suited for the compilation of a training portfolio
- Analyze real-file materials collected during M4 activities
- Identify interpreting-relevant challenges occurring in multilateral multilingual meetings
- Select one particular challenge to thoroughly explore both conceptually and empirically
- Explore ways to overcome those challenges based on M3 activities
Director(s)
Prof. Kilian SEEBER and Prof. Pierrette BOUILLON, Faculty of Translation and Interpreting, University of Geneva, and Prof. Ailing ZHANG, Graduate Institute for Interpretation and Translation - GIIT (SISU)
Coordinator(s)
Pan, DONGPENG, University of Geneva
Steering committee
President
- Kilian Seeber, Professor, FTI (UNIGE)
Vice President
- Ailing Zhang, Professor, GIIT (SISU)
Academic Members
- Pierrette Bouillon, Professor, FTI (UNIGE)
Experts
- Pan, Dongpeng, FTI (UNIGE)
- Zhengren Li, SISU, Executive Dean GIIT (SISU)
Scientific committee
- Lucia Ruiz Rosendo, Professor, FTI (UNIGE)
- Ian Newton, Professor, GIIT (SISU)
- Françoise Landgraf, Experte, FTI (UNIGE)
- Kate Dong, Experte, GIIT (SISU)
- Monica Varela Garcia, Chief interpreter, United Nations at Geneva
- Kiersten Weeks, Chief interpreter, International Labour Organization
- Christina Fertis, Chief interpreter, World Intellectual Property Organization
