Educational Activities: Basic Department of Technologies and Translation Automation

We combine business social responsibility with a proactive approach to personnel development, making the training of future translators a key focus of our work. When educating translators and editors, we believe technological and managerial skills should not be taught separately but integrated into every lesson, course, and subject. In every interaction with a future translator, we keep in mind their eventual professional role.

Our company collaborates with leading institutions such as the Linguistics University of Nizhny Novgorod, Siberian Federal University, Russian New University, Herzen State Pedagogical University, St. Petersburg State University, Higher School of Economics (HSE University), and the National University of Science and Technology MISIS. AKM Translations has also participated in the Summer and Winter Translation Schools organised by the Union of Translators of Russia.

In 2018, the company reached a new milestone by establishing Russia’s first—and so far only—Base Department of Translation.

On 24 September 2018, the Basic Department of Translation Technologies and Automation was launched at AKM-West Translation Agency. It is part of the Higher School of Social Sciences, Humanities and International Communication at the Northern (Arctic) Federal University named after M.V. Lomonosov. The first industrial placements for NArFU students began in October 2018, followed by lectures and practical classes a month later. Associate professors from the department, alongside their colleagues in Arkhangelsk, simultaneously took on directorship roles at AKM Translations, contributing over 350 academic hours annually.

This collaboration allows the university to stay informed about employer expectations and receive support in curriculum development. We provide access to technological insights and aspects of translation practice that university programmes do not fully cover.

For AKM-West, this partnership presents an opportunity to enhance educational quality, develop customised training programmes, and engage with talented young professionals.

NArFU’s linguistics educational standards—both bachelor’s and master’s programmes—established within the department, are based on the professional standard “Specialist in the Field of Translation.” In 2021, NArFU launched the master’s programme “Technologies of Computer-Aided and Machine Translation,” with participation from three of the university’s faculties.

Our cooperation with Northern Federal University is a priority project aimed at fostering a talent pipeline for AKM-West and the wider translation industry.

Currently, the Base Department supports student training in the following programmes:

• Bachelor’s degree, Linguistics, specialising in “Translation and Translation Studies” (code 45.03.02)
• Master’s degree, Linguistics, “Translation into Business Communications of the Euro-Arctic Area” (code 45.04.02) 
• Master’s degree, Linguistics, “Technologies of Computer-Aided and Machine Translation” (code 45.04.02)
• Master’s degree, Applied Informatics, “Computational Linguistics” (code 09.04.03)

The Base Department uses a free academic licence for the Phrase automated translation system (www.phrase.com). We are grateful to the developers for their long-standing cooperation and engagement in lectures, workshops, and related projects.