Translator Astana

For a couple of months I’ve been involved in a JICA project first as an English-Russian translator of several documents, then as a Russian interpreter at the meetings.

A couple of years ago a huge projest was launched – construction of a new airport of Astana and remodeling of its runway and its facilities. Construction is done, so now the project has entered the  appraisal phase, that is why an independent consultant came to Astana to conduct a survey. That is how I met Mr. Yamaguchi. As I mentioned, first I did the written translation of a questionnaire and of several letters to International Airport Astana, so I got to know the vocabulary related to airport: apron, taxiway, aircraft boarding bridge and other words. Knowing those words was quite helpful when Mr. Yamaguchi arrived to Astana and held several meetings with the airport authorities.

Our first meeting was in the Ministry of Transport and Communication, in the Civil Aviation department, where Mr. Yamaguchi made a presentation of the purpose of his visit. Next  meeting we had was at the airport, where there were discussed issues related to the condition of some airport facilities and, specifically, of the apron. This meeting was followed by another one in the air traffic control tower. That visit was a very interesting experience for me because I got to see the operation of the airport from inside. It looked almost like in a movie when a controller spoke to pilots and gave them directions.  I was definitely amazed by the work of these people! This place has a restrict access to it so if I hadn’t been an interpreter I would have never entered that building. That is another agvantage of being an interpreter!

We continue working together with Mr. Yamaguchi, his next visit is expected in October, so I look forward to more meetings.