The whole week I’ve been translating negotiations at the Ministry of Tourism and Sport, where the Vice Minister Uskenbaev had meetings with Judith Luscomb, the representative of the Buzz Buziness, the film production company.

There was made an offer to make a documentary film on Kazakhstan which would show the country in all its beauty, both in winter and in summer. The documentary would touch various topics, such as history and religion, handcrafts and culture, adventures and ecotourism, local traditions and kazakh food. There was elaborated a very detailed plan of filming and Vice Minister as well as the Committee Chairperson seemed to like the idea.

At the next meeting they went into more details about tender processing and legal issues. With such a big project one should take every detail into consideration. My translation went rather smoothly since I am quite familiar with the tender processing in Kazakstan. The next day we met with the chief accountant and went through the whole project again, this time focusing on figures.

While translating presentation from English to Russian I was thinking about interpreter’s role in negotiations. Not only should he/she translate word for word thus delivering the message, it is also extremely important to use the right intonation, gestures, smiles and pauses. What the outcome of the negotiations would be if the presentation is done perfectly in English but it looks pale when translated into Russian because of an interpreter? So I came to a conclusion that an interpreter should also know the bacics of marketing and branding, as well as pchycology. It’s not only the matter of language skills, it’as also about the right personality.

With Judith we also did some shopping because she was interested in purchasing some traditional kazakh clothes. Hats were her favoutire item Well, kazakh traditional hats are something!

I also did some written translation for Judith since she needed me to translate some official letters to the Ministry. In general it was a very exciting assignment since the topic - mass media- was both familiar and interesting.

The topic was rather unusual for me: I was translating the presentation on the forest nursery. I have never worked in that sphere before, so the material that I received on the eve of the presentation was very helpful. Some words were familiar, like „greenhouse“, „irrigation“, „seeds“ and others, some concepts were new to me, such as „germination“ and „micoriza“. It was rather a technical translation since we discussed the process of seeding and planting.

As an interpreter I always learn many things when I work. You never know in what field of knowledge you will work tomorrow, this is why you can’t be 100% equipped with the specific vocabulary. An interpreter must have an excellent memory so that if a word is mentioned once, this word should be buried in one’s memory forever. During presentation several people might be talking at the same time, so an interpreter should be very attentive, so he or she does not miss out anything. Some people might also be talking for too long and it’s not always a good idea to inetrrupt and start translation. So there should be a notebook and a pen. And an excellent memory again!

The atmosphere at the Ministry was very friendly, the protocol was signed and a new meeting was scheduled for February. I am sure I will learn even more about bare-root seeding, dripping system of irrigation and seed hardening!

I already have experience in geology related translation, so words like „quarry“, „shear strength“, „porosity“ and the like were familiar to me. But there is always something new (for example, the term „slab“): Mr. Dimitriadis was so kind that explained to me difference between several types of marble: polished or ancient, with ot without fossils, more strong or more vulnerable and so on. He also had samples of about 20 types of marble from oll over the world: from his own quarries in Greece and from other countries such as Iran, Turkey, India. I was particularly attracted by the so called Snow White marble (the most expensive, it turned out ).

There weren’t too many visitors on that day, but those who did appear were real professionals in marble industry: they knew what they needed and what they were looking for.

After the exibition we went on the short excursion in Astana, visited Baiterek and several construction sites where marble was used.

Why I really like being a translator in Kazakhstan, is because I can always meet people from various parts of the world with different background and mentality. After rendering my translation services back on Friday, I knew a little more about Greece, marble and maybe even more Kazakhstan and its advantages over other countries.

Our tour in Astana started with the visit of ALZHIR (russian acronym that stands for the Akmolinsk camp for the wives of treators of motherland) that was established in what is now settlement Malinovka back in 1937. Our tour guide Elena told us the story of the establishment of this camp, about the women that were sent there and about their harsh lives in the camp. As a translator I sometimes face some difficulties when translating the realities of Kazakhstan (or in this case these of Soviet Union). But even in cases when I can’t use word for word translation, I turn to the descriptive translation. Our guest from the UK were astonished since they had no idea such thing as the camp for wives of treators existed in Soviet Union. We visited the museum in Malinovka that showed how women survived in that camp. I am sure that this excursion touched everyone’s heart beacause I could easily see the shock in our visitors eyes. Every time I go to this museum I am reminded of the black period in history of our country that became the second motherland for million people sent to the exile. Almost every family knows what „Stalin’s repressions“ mean and not only from the textbooks…

After such an emotional start of our excursion we came back to Astana, had lunch with our guests and continued our tour on the left bank. After visiting Baiterek we drove to the Palace of Independance. We stopped by the newly opened monument „Kazakh Eli“ which means „Kazakh people“ and then went inside the Palace, where we were shown the model of Astana and where we watched a short 4D movie about Kazakhstan and its heart-Astana.

We also went on excursion in the Palace of Peace and Accord that is situated right in front of the Palace of Independance. We visited the hall where the Congress of leaders of world and traditional religions is always held.

Our excursion was extremely intensive, we visited almost all the sightseeings of Astana and our guests seemed to be very impressed.

Ambassador of UAE in Astana & me

On the excursion we worked together with the tour guide Elena, it was not our first excursion together, so I knew what to expect in terms of translation. We started our excursion on the right bank of Astana, the place that the city emerged from. We passed by the main sightseeings of the Old city and then came to the left bank, where we visited Baiterek and the Islamic cultural center.

Eventhough I am a translator, my work is not limited to translation only. I usually talk about Kazakhstan, its culture, history and traditions. Our guests from UAE took keen interest in all these and asked me a lot of questions. It is always very exciting for me to share my knowledge with someone who is eager to listen.

They also wanted to see the life of common people of Kazakhstan, so we went to a small village near the airport, where we found the houses that were built in the 1930’s, very simple traditional houses. There is always a striking contrast between what one can see in the capital and somewhere nearby. Our guests seemed to like that village with a very traditional way of life.

When the excursion was over, I was invited to the reception dedicated to the promotion of the new destination Abu Dhabi-Astana as well. I’ve met a lot of new people at the reception and learned more about the Arab culture. I will remember this day as the one that I spent with very nice people, sociable and open-minded and I am looking forward to meeting them again one day.

So we met in  Astana International Airport where I came to pik them up and then I helped them to find their hotel.

The main part of the work started next morning, when we met in order to get some things settled, such as to get the accreditation, to make several appointments and to confirm the date and the time of the interview. Once this has been done, we were off to the city to film some sightseeings of Astana. We worked  both on the right and left banks of Ishim river, made pictures of Presidential palace, Baiterek, Parliament, old city square, etc. We visited some museums, one of which is the first President museum.

Next day we left for Borovoe, since Jean Marc and Julien wanted to film “la nature savage”- wild nature that is.   I did the organizational part: I found a driver and  instructed him about what places we should visit. So we spent a whole day climbing on the hills and stones, filming lakes with waves and struggling with icy wind.  There was more work to do in Astana.

The biggest thing of their stay in Astana was the interview with Mr.Talgat Musabaev, the kazakhstani cosmonaut. Mr.Musabaev shared with us his experience, told us about the plans for development in the spacial industry and also sent his warmest regards to the French  cosmonauts he once worked with.  He used a lot of space related terminology and this was a challenge to me since I had to get it all correctly. In general the interview had a very positive energy and translation in such atmosphere was a pleasure for me.

We also attended some other events, such as World Touristic Organization, that took place in Astana in the beginning of October, met with different people and filmed more of Astana. I also got to translate the questions to our  President prepared by Jean Marc.

So this is how that week passed. I went to the airport again-this time to say goodbye to Jean Marc and Julien.  It’s amazing how can one get used to each other over such a short period of time. That week was really hectic but full of new people, new places and new challenges.

On the first day of his stay in Astana we met at the hotel where we discussed topics that would be covered the next day. These topics mostly  touched the computarization of the data base system. Social  issues such as marriage, divorce, child adoption etc. were discussed with the head of the passport service.

Unfortunately I can’t go into more details regarding this translation because as a translator I should stick to one of the translator’s rules: “Interpreter should not reveal any information that he or she obtained during translation”. But what I  can definitely “reveal” and I guess it wasn’t  a state secret at all is that the adviser from OSCE told me that he really liked Kazakhstan and it was his 4th and certainly not last visit to Kazakhstan.

He didn’t have enough time to do any sightseeing, but on our way to the Ministry I explained a little bit the history of Astana, I showed the major sightseeings in Astana such as Baiterek, the Residence of the President, the building of Ministries, the Pyramide and so on. So on can say that a translator should be a good tour guide even if he or she is not doing the translation of an excursion

I worked at the Congress of World Religions that was held in Astana on the 1-2 of July as a Liaison Officer for the World Church Council General Secretary Samuel Kobia.

WCC-Chef Samuel Kobia & Snezhana Skakovskaya

It was a very interesting task since the Congress of world religions is unique in its nature. Religious leaders from more than 77 countries came to Astana in order to have an open dialogue between the religions.

Guest from Korea & me

The Congress was well organized, our guests were placed in hotels of Astana and they were daily informed by their liaison officers about their programme.  Usually we came at the hotel and accompanied our guests in the buses and led them to the Palace of Peace and Accord or to the Palace of Independance where all the meetings were held. We were accompaning them every minute and  were solving all the problems they could have: whether someone has lost his badge or hasn’t gotten his invitation to the reception, the liaison officers were called to help. We also did translation for our guests since  many  of them were foreigners and didn’t speak  Kazakh or Russian. Mostly translation was needed for the purpose  of communication between kazakhstani part and our guests or sometimes for the communication among guests themselves. Arrangement of accommodation and transportation was also our duty, as well as arranging siteseeing in Astana.

The Congress was a great experience since this was not only the meeting of different people, but also of different cultures and religions. I  am very glad that translation in Astana gives me the opportunities to meet very interesting people!

In most cases a foreigner will go for a hotel, but there is still a big number of those who want to cook themselves and feel a bit more like at home, then they seek for a serviced apartment, apartment for daily rent. What I want to do here is to help those who try to find an apartment or a hotel using the internet.

Why would one chose an apartment and not a hotel room-that’s the first question. In my opinion one can feel freer in an apartment rather than in a hotel room. Usually all rooms in a hotel are standartized and really have no face. Apartments can be very different, with different number of rooms, with kitchen and balcon. Those who travel with their family find it very comfortable in an apartment taking into account the possibility of cooking and less strict conditions of the stay. There are some services that go along with the apartment: from arranging the transfer from the airport to making laundry and ironing. Hotels, on the other hand, have their own advantages. No matter what one chooses, it is easier to arrange the accomodation with the help of Apartamenty.kz, which  contains the big choice of apartments and hotels in Astana and other cities in Kazakhstan.

NATO Security forum in Astana: french-russian Translation

The Ministry of Foreign affairs of Kazakhstan selected volunteers for this forum. It was decided that some would work at the airport coordinating arrival and departure of delegations, some would locate in hotels helping out with accomodation, some would be responsible for transportation. Initially I was among those who would work with NATO advanced group in the international office. My skills in French language were quite useful since both French and English are official languages of NATO and I could translate from French to Russian directly. As one of NATO officers told me it was very nice speaking French because many English speaking people ignore their duty to be in command of the other offcial language. I was asked by some people to show them the city and to help with bying souvenirsso I had a chance to tell our guests more about Astana, its history and places to visit.
When the forum started I was assigned as a Liaison Officer of the French delegation. It means I was fully responsible for their sray in Astana – starting from visa issues and list of delegates to drawing up their personal schedule, arranging transportation and accomodation.

Me & NATO Officer

It was a very good experience for me since I could get to know more about the internal work of both Ministry of foreign affairs and NATO – now I know that one  can hardly get any rest during forum, working day doesn’t finish at 7p.m., cell phones never stop ringing but at the end there is a feeling of satisfaction of your own work