International Translation Day is celebrated on September, 30 in the memory of the saint who translated the Bible into Latin and is considered to be the patron of all translators. This day Saint Hieronymus (Eugene Chebatkov, TSU student, performed him very expressively) came down to Tomsk AC and his young colleagues, who study translation at foreign languages departments of Tomsk universities, swore to maximize communication and minimize misunderstanding across language barriers.
Then the students and well-known Tomsk interpreters and translators talked about one of the oldest and most important professions nowadays. The speeches by Nina Nikolaenko, a secretary of Tomsk Translators Union department, and Irina Travina, a TSU foreign languages department teacher, were very interesting and emotional. Students prepared some funny presentations devoted to this holiday, and Vladimir Terentyev, a TSPU student, together with fulbrighter Madlen Weinstein presented their own translations of poems to the guests. Andrey Olear told about his work on English poetry translation, and then read his new translation of a well-known poem by Edgar Allan Poe “The Raven”. The program of celebrating the International Translation Day at Tomsk AC also included a contest of translation of political and fiction texts (the winners got certifications and prizes), funny competitions and language games. A presentation “My Friend, the Dictionary” was shown to Tomsk school pupils. All the participants appreciated AC very much for this program. The display of books and magazines was also prepared at Tomsk AC to this holiday.