Translator Astana

I was invited as a Russian interpreter in Berlin for the Berlinale International Film Festival. It was a very big event that attracted thousands and thousands of people all over the world. Film stars, fild directors, fans, journalists – everybody was overwhelmed with excitement.

Among other films that were presented in the Competition section there was a Russian/Ukranian film on Chernobyl disaster. Film director and actors came to the Festival for the film premiere. Once the film was shown, a number of interviews were held with Mr. Mindadze, the film director and scriptwriter. That is when my work began.

We had about 15 interviews one right after another. While one crew was shooting, the other was setting up equipment. We started with a TV channel from the Czech republic which was followed by Eurochannel, Reuters, Al Jazeera and many other international TV channels. Journalists were very interested  in the film since it was a kind of metaphor of the Russian mentality. Mr. Mindadze was asked several times about his memories of the day of the disaster. I watched the film the day before so when I was interpreting I knew what I was talking about, reading on the Chernobyl disaster also helped a lot.

Next day we had interviews with the print: Le Monde was one of them. It was a very intense interview since the journalist deeply understood and felt the film. Mr. Mindadze was very pleased that his work attracted real professionals who didn’t need basic explanations.

I enjoyed working with M.Mindadze and wish him all the best in his creative work. And I enjoyed working for Berlinale,too. It was a great experience. Red carpet experience, so to speak 🙂

Last month I spent in Paris both studying in Alliance Francaise and working for ALSTOM Transport.
Most of the time I work as an English-Russian interpreter in Astana  that is why I almost don’t practice my French. Working for ALSTOM in Astana changes that a lot, so French translation in Astana is more and more required. I decided to take some time off in Astana and go to Paris to refresh my French.
Courses of the French language in Alliance Francaise were very useful, we focused on grammar and also worked on our conversational skills. I also had access to the rich library of Alliance Francaise which comprised books as well as audio and video files. The best way of practicing the language was actually communicating with  the natives and living in the french speaking environment. There was also such thing as Polyglot Club where people from different countries gathered and could practice basically any language. Many people were interested in speaking Russian to me.
Since ALSTOM headquarters is in Paris, it is no wonder that I contunued my work as a Russian translator there as well. It was nice to meet people from ALSTOM in Paris with whom  I normally work in Astana.
By the end of my stay in Paris I got a request for Russian translation in Berlin. Berlinale film festival will take place  there in February, 10th-20th. Among other films that will compete for the prize, there will be presented a Russian film „Innocent Saturday“ and there will be interviews with the actors and film director, that is why a Russian-English interpreter in Berlin is required.
I look forward to that exciting assignment!