It's a great honor, as well as a pleasure, to introduce myself to colleagues, interpreting and translating agencies, and direct clients.

I started my freelance career interpreting in 1999. I interpret in two language pairs: English<>Russian and English<>Spanish. I have interpreted in many different settings: criminal and civil trials, out of court legal proceedings (depositions, arbitrations, mediations), medical appointments (quality medical examinations, psychiatric evaluations (including an evaluation by a forensic psychiatrist in prison), individual and group therapy), business negotiations, field interviews for private investigations, interpreting for public schools (IEP meetings, psychological evaluations) and market research. I also interpreted for Bolshoi Ballet in Costa Mesa Center of Arts – that was my favorite project of all.

I became a California Court Certified Russian interpreter in 2005, shortly after Russian certification exam became available. In 2011, I became a California Court Certified Spanish interpreter as well.

As an interpreter, I offer my clients the highest level of professional ethics, quality interpretation, and exceptional punctuality.

• Professional ethics: I guarantee strict confidentiality at all assignments. My respect for the relationship between you and your client is absolute.
• Quality interpretation: I have heard numerous positive comments from the attorneys I’ve interpreted for. It is especially flattering when attorneys, after hearing my interpretation once, request me back.
• Commitment to punctuality: I’m on time for the assignment, period.

In addition to interpreting, I also have experience doing software testing in Russian and doing voice-over in Russian.

My native language is Russian . In 1990, I fell in love with Spanish language, and it has been part of my daily life ever since. I passionately read Spanish literature, write in Spanish to my Spanish-speaking friends all over the globe, and speak Spanish practically every day, since I live in the area of Los Angeles where Spanish is the first language.

Since 1999, I have done Spanish interpreting for many medical appointments, field interviews for insurance companies, parole revocation hearings in Los Angeles County jail, as well as depositions and small claims court matters. In addition, I worked as a Spanish linguist for Metropolitan Interpreters and Translators, Inc., doing tape transcription and translations.

My latest professional achievement is passing California Court Certification Exam in Spanish language, so now I can offer my clients certified interpreting services in two languages. I’m an organizer and a moderator of a yahoo group called “preparing for the exam”, which I created specifically for the interpreters who are working on becoming certified, so we can give each other moral support and encouragement. Please visit the group here: http://tech.groups.yahoo.com/group/preparingforexam/

Foreign languages are my passion, and I expect to be learning new languages as long as I live. I love discovering literature and culture behind the languages I learn, and traveling to countries where they are spoken. I taught myself Portuguese in 2004, and made a trip to Brazil in 2005, where I spoke Portuguese all the time, and apparently I was doing it well – I was even asked by the Brazilians asked what part of Brazil was I from! I have also started to learn Italian a couple of years ago, and now I can carry on a simple conversation in Italian.

As my latest language-learning adventure, I'm challenging my brain with non-European languages: Hindi and Arabic. I have organized a group for the students of Arabic in Los Angeles, which you can find here: http://www.meetup.com/Lets-speak-Arabic/

Additional relevant experience I have: teaching languages (Russian, Spanish and English as a second language) to small groups (through Excellence in Education Academy) and private students, and public speaking experience. I have made several public presentations about homeschooling, based on my successful experience as a homeschooling mother.

Among my other interests are history and philosophy, and especially intellectual history, and I run a meet-up group for intellectual history lovers, which you can find here: http://www.meetup.com/Ideas-that-shaped-history-discussion-group/

Thank you for taking your time to read my profile. I hope to hear from you.