City of Many Tongues, New York, USA
As someone considered multilingual by others, it is only logical that I should live in a city where only one in four speaks English as their first language, translation and interpretation of languages is an aspect of daily life, and playing "what's that language" on the subway is a great way to pass the time. With hundreds of thousands of both Russian and French speakers living here, I am not at a loss for conversation partners.
Living in the Midwest
Until recently I lived in Urbana, IL. Champaign-Urbana is a very international place, despite the surrounding cornfields. It boasts a fantastic university, an incredible library (with an impressive Slavic collection), a flourishing Argentine Tango community, and WEFT Champaign 90.1FM, a community radio station where I once hosted Francophiliacs. The place has a strange effect on its natives, making them keep coming back for more suffocating summers, unbelievably straight roads, and awe-inspiring spring thunderstorms, so perhaps I'll be back again.
Languages and Me
I was born and spent my childhood in Moscow, Russia, studying at what is now School No. 1205. By the time my family moved to the Midwest, in August 1991, I already spoke English and had started learning French.
I attended the venerable (and in so many ways irreverent) University Laboratory High School, where I studied German for four years, and went on to earn a Bachelor of Arts degree in French, cum laude, from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and a Master of Arts degree in Translation and Interpretation from the Monterey Institute of International Studies, the premier school of language translation and interpretation in the United States.
My main areas of expertise are telecommunications and Internet technology. I have extensive experience translating marketing, legal, and technical documents for firms in these sectors. I also regularly translate internal business communication, training materials, and legal documents. Additional specializations include gastronomy and the music and entertainment industry.
