On 26–27 April 2021, Master students of the Department of Translation and Interpretation of Vilnius University Gabija Vyšniauskaitė and Ugnė Steiblytė, together with their interpretation teachers Alina Dailidėnaitė and Diana Guogienė, took part in a virtual visit to Brussels hosted by the European Commission’s Directorate General for Interpretation (DG SCIC).
During the visit, the students and the lecturers learnt about the latest innovations in organising interpreting at the European Union institutions during the pandemic, which were presented in detail by Ramūnas Česonis, Head of the Lithuanian Language Unit at DG SCIC, staff interpreters Laura Blaževičiūtė, Rasa Galkytė and Skirmantė Marijauskienė, and Catherine Pearson, Deputy Head of the English Language Unit at DG SCIC. The students, accompanied by staff interpreters Aušra Reklaitytė and Eglė Urbonaitė, underwent half a day of dummy booth training at the European Commission.
On yet another positive note, the students and the teachers were pleased to learn that the European Union institutions had chosen the solutions for remote simultaneous interpretation developed by the Lithuanian company Interactio as meeting the needs of the EU institutions in organising remote simultaneous interpretation best. We hereby extend our gratitude to the European Union institutions and all the Lithuanian representatives at the EU for the excellent experience and their warm welcome.