The Hermitage Director on why Google Translate cannot replace a graduate of Saint Petersburg State University and in which countries his students gain practical experience
Фото: Дмитрий Фуфаев / «Петербургский дневник»
Hermitage Director Mikhail Piotrovsky became head of the Oriental Faculty at Saint Petersburg State University more than a decade ago. In the run-up to the tercentenary of his alma mater he gave a major interview to Petersburgsky Dnevnik [Petersburg Diary] in which he told how a national strategy for oriental studies is being developed, why Google Translate cannot replace a graduate of Saint Petersburg State University and in which countries his students gain practical experience.
– Mikhail Borisovich, you became head of the Oriental Faculty at Saint Petersburg State University more than a decade ago. What projects have you managed to implement over that time?
– I think that we have managed to realize all the permanently running tasks. Frankly, every fresh dean engages once more in reinforcing the reputation not only of the faculty, but also of oriental studies as a branch of learning. I have been no exception.
Firstly, we have advanced our programme of Islamic studies very well. For example, our programme for the study of Islam combines, as was intended and accomplished, secular and spiritual education; they do not contradict one another. We have created several courses that have been completed both by people with secular aims and people working in theological education. You might think, “How is that possible without abandoning any principles?” We have written almost a dozen textbooks connected with the history of Islam, Islamic culture and the Arabic language. So, I consider that we have produced a good example for the world of how secular and spiritual education combine without interfering with each other.
The second part is bound up with the strong turn towards the East, which happened even before we started to talk about it. A great need for oriental languages arose, not only in a theoretical regard, but also in a practical one. For example, we are teaching Chinese in very many of the university’s faculties. We are also teaching rare languages, such as Sumerian. Altogether, some 60 languages and 10 dialects are being taught with us. Our professors and lecturers are doing a lot towards translations of oriental literature. For example, almost all the masterpieces of Chinese literature have been or are being translated by staff of our faculty, from the Nobel Prize-winner Mo Yan to classic works.
– Do you remember when you first found yourself in the famous building of the Twelve Collegia?
– Yes, of course. A long corridor led to the Gorky Library… It was notable because there you could read and unearth a great deal of the literature that was banned in Soviet times. That was the literature of the Silver Age, magical stuff.
You know, I always remembered that it was intended that the building of the Twelve Collegia would be placed along the embankment, but Alexander Menshikov, who wanted to build his own palace there, supposedly “turned” what would become the university inland. I don’t know if the legend is true, but it was the right decision. I think that stretched out along the Neva the Twelve Collegia building would look a bit boring.
– What kind of spirit reigned at the university in your student years?
– A university like many another. There were all kinds of people there who not only studied, but also constantly socialized, partied, went to the “Akademichka” [canteen of the Academy of Science – Ed.] to drink beer… The faculty itself lived differently. It ought to be said that in our time the Oriental Faculty was almost entirely male. After all, it was oriented on the one hand towards serious scholarship and on the other towards ideologically military work. That is why there were people liable to military service studying there who could always be taken into the army as military interpreters. And many did go through that school – to their own great benefit, incidentally. They came out as splendid specialists in a whole range of fields.
– What draws school-leavers to the Oriental Faculty today?
– That’s very hard to say. We deans of the Oriental Faculty were always faced with the task of explaining to our superiors why oriental studies were needed. There is a tendency to assign oriental studies to the category of regional geography, which is unjust, because oriental studies is a marvellous field of learning that has passed from the 16th and 17th centuries, when it was encyclopaedic, into the 21st century, where it has become a field that combines the most diverse spheres of learning, mainly in the humanities. It not only tells us about the East: it tells us how to understand other civilizations. It is a discipline about the images different cultures have of one another. We orientalists study the interaction of different cultures and how the worldwide process is constructed from that. I believe that is what attracts school-leavers. To some degree it was the interaction of East and West, but nowadays oriental studies and African studies are the investigation of a huge continent with its own peculiarities. There is Europe, which we can picture well. And then there is the East.
The Oriental Faculty was founded by special decree of Emperor Nicholas I at the time of the Crimean War, when it became clear how important the study of the East was. It must be said that a similar thing happened with Afghanistan, when it became evident that there were problems in Afghanistan because we have a poor understanding of that culture, that civilization. That was the time when greater research and funding connected with Islam began. A new school of Islamic studies grew up with us in Saint Petersburg and in Moscow thanks to that political process. You know, Islamic studies are always linked to politics. On the one hand, orientalist knowledge is in demand with politicians, who have to orientate themselves in the world; on the other hand, orientalists exploit the political situation to stimulate and develop their branch of learning. Right now, a period has arrived with us, when we have created a special programme of development for oriental and African studies.
– In your public statements, you have repeatedly touched upon the subject of a national strategy for the development of oriental studies. Why is that needed?
– It should bolster our role and the prestige of oriental studies. We are seeking a greater number of students and the recognition of oriental studies as a distinct specialist field of learning.
– What does the strategy consist of?
– The strategy asserts that oriental studies are a special branch of knowledge, a special field of learning that is founded upon the combination of several cultures. It is a historical-philosophical discipline, which includes psychology, the obligatory knowledge of a language. What can Google Translate translate? As we know, it’s dangerous to rely on a machine. An orientalist knows the subtleties of language that are beyond the reach of any machine. It is a fairly rare speciality, demanding a great deal of knowledge and a great deal of work. It’s probably not good to say that we do have quite a large dropout rate of students who cannot endure the tension of the learning process, when you have to delve into another culture, to read a great many texts. No word-for-word crib is going to help. A colleague told me how they read the Bible in their time. As you know, there is the original text and the [Russian] Synodal Translation from the Greek. The two do not match. When students started to read from the Synodal Translation, the tutor would stop them and say: “But that wasn’t in the Hebrew text; that is only in the Synodal text.” Students cover many different texts during their education – and they need to know them all.
– Where can one encounter graduates of the Oriental Faculty today?
– Someone with a basic education in oriental studies, with a profound knowledge of a language, will be of use everywhere. When the Soviet Union was disbanded, it turned out that in many of the republics which formed orientalists became the president. In commerce, in politics, in diplomacy, and in intelligence-gathering – an academic base is important everywhere. And those who studied with us have a head start and advantage over graduates from other institutions of higher education.
– Where do your students gain practical experience?
– It came unexpectedly for me that students’ practical training is arranged no better than back in our time. I myself gained experience at Cairo University. Our generation of orientalist scholars spent half a year living in the countries that we studied before ever working as interpreters. Now we need to construct that system of education anew. It’s vital to learn in the countries where they speak the language, where you find out about the culture of the country. Fifty percent of my merits as an Arabist originated at the time when I studied in Egypt. Now we have an agreement, for example, with the Sultan Qaboos University in Oman, where a group of students will be travelling to gain experience. They will live in the city of Nizwa – a spiritual and political centre where the ruling dynasty comes from and where there are traditional theological religious schools.
– What would you say to your 20-year-old student self?
– Things will not be at all simple, but I always knew that…
– For you Saint Petersburg State University is….
– For me, it’s a place that I always saw. I was born here, I studied here. I want us all to take pride in the university and never doubt its greatness. We are special and there is nothing to be ashamed of in that.
