Conference Interpretation for large international exchanges. This may involve simultaneous interpretation, using soundproof booths and wireless equipment, or consecutive interpretation, addressing the audience directly from the stage.

• Seminar Interpretation for smaller, often less formal exchanges. This may involve simultaneous interpretation, using wireless equipment, or consecutive interpretation. Such work often involves the  translation of presentation materials as well.

• Escort Interpretation for small to medium sized groups. This typically involves consecutive interpretation of tour guide information, or simply narrative information provided directly by the interpreter.

• Private Interpretation. Typical at international exchanges are smaller side meetings involving one-on-one dialogue on specific matters.

• Conference Calls. We will arrange your conference call and provide consecutive interpretation among multiple parties.

• Movie & Television Production work may involve either simultaneous or consecutive interpretation work and/or voice-over work.

Svetlana Guggenheim is a highly experienced simultaneous and consecutive interpreter, translator and cross-cultural trainer with more than 20 years of experience. She has worked extensively throughout the United States, Russia, Armenia and other republics of the Newly Independent States (NIS) with government officials, scientists, economists, businesspeople, and a broad range of delegations since 1989.

Clients and Program Participants

Ms. Guggenheim has provided simultaneous & consecutive interpretation and written translation services for a wide range of clients and program participants, including:

Experience and Qualifications

• Provided simultaneous and consecutive interpretation for professional conferences, speakers, and movie and television productions. Extensive experience with state-of-the-art interpretation equipment, including wireless systems and soundproof booths.

• Assisted American firms doing business in Russia and provided interpretation and translation for visiting delegations of Russian, Ukrainian, and other scientists and representatives from the Newly Independent States (NIS) sponsored by USAID, USTDA and other government and nongovernment agencies and organizations. Assisted visiting consultants and business persons visiting the U.S. to understand local practices and to successfully communicate with their American counterparts. Provided services for American delegations traveling throughout the NIS, including interpretation, translation and coordination of meetings and travel.

• Interpreted and translated a wide range of technical material, including energy and power issues, environmental, finance & business management, medical/health care, mathematical, educational, linguistic, and cultural information in a variety of settings, including the Office of the Vice President of the United States, World Bank, Securities and Exchange Commission, NASDAQ, AMEX, USAID, District Court of Maryland, nuclear power plants, offshore oil drilling platforms, operating rooms, etc.

• Provided numerous written translations of highly technical material, ranging from environmental treaties to economic/privatization issues

• Experienced with modern computer hardware and software.

• Extensive liaison and intercultural communication experience

Representative Assignments:

• Seminar: Environmental Clean Up and Nuclear Safety. U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) sponsored seminar series for MinAtom officials.

• Seminar: The Role of Environmental NGOs in Policy Making Decisions. USAID-sponsored seminar for Russian NGOs, administered by Futurepast, Inc.

• Conference: Public Participation in Environmental Decision Making. Center for Political and Strategic Studies; conference dedicated to economic reforms and political changes in Russia and Ukraine.

• Seminar Series: Water Quality, Water Systems and Waste Water Treatment. Designed by Futurepast, Inc; administered by EPA.

• Conference: Russian Far East Conference on Water Resources, Environment. USAID-sponsored conference. Topics included use of natural resources, water boundaries, nuclear waste conservation in Siberia and Far East infrastructure development

• Hazardous Waste Delegation. Interpreter and coordinator for an American delegation to Russia and Belarus examining hazardous waste management and radiation waste issues, including Chernobyl.

• Seminar: Pesticide Induced Infant Mortality and Genetic Defects in Central Asian Republics. Hosted by American International Health Alliance (AIHA). Provided simultaneous interpretation for visiting physicians from Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan and Kazakhstan.

• Seminar: Rural Healthcare and Environmental Awareness. Designed by the Institute for International Education for visiting physicians from NIS.

• Water Resources Management Orientation Tour for Central Asian Officials. Administered and designed by USAID and CH2M HILL covered a wide range of topics, including water quality and safety, water reservoirs and aquifers, transboundary rivers and sociopolitical implications of their usage.

• Russian-American Exchange on Public Health Issues. Under auspices of People to People International, Spokane, WA, provided interpretation for a Russian-American exchange of physicians, public health officials, and environmental scientists, including children’s health problems, reproductive health issues, emergency medical care, environmental effects on health, and epidemiologic research.

• Russian NGO Delegation: Strategies for Effective NGO Operation. Provided simultaneous interpretation for a USAID-sponsored exchange under the direction of Futurepast, Inc., Arlington, VA. Also provided translation of presentation materials.

• Russian Environmental Delegation. Interpreter/translator for JK Research Associates, Arlington, VA for a USAID-sponsored Russian environmental delegation dealing with public participation issues.

• Global Climate Change. Assisted Applied Environmental Research, Falls Church, VA, in negotiations with Russian scientists and officials to develop joint projects examining global climate change mitigation strategies through management of Siberian forests.

• Environmental Policy Delegation. Provided interpretation and coordination for an American delegation to Russia, Latvia and Estonia examining the role of private industry in environmental management. Participants included AT&T and Xerox.

• Seminar: Pesticide Induced Infant Mortality and Genetic Defects in Central Asian Republics. Hosted by American International Health Alliance (AIHA). Provided simultaneous interpretation for visiting physicians from Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan and Kazakhstan.

Representative Assignments:

• Seminar: ISO Standards in Oil and Gas Industry. Provided simultaneous and consecutive interpretation for Mobil Oil Seminar seminar for Gazprom representatives.

• Seminar: Environmental Clean Up and Nuclear Safety. Provided simultaneous and consecutive interpretation for U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID)-sponsored seminar series for MinAtom officials.

• Conference: U.S. Trade & Development Agency Conference on Power & Transport Projects. Provided simultaneous and consecutive interpretation for a U.S. Trade and Development Agency-sponsored conference in St. Louis examining power and transport project opportunities in the NIS and Central and Eastern Europe. Conference was co-sponsored by the World Bank and European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD). Provided simultaneous interpretation for former U.S. Secretary of Commerce, Mickey Kantor.

• Seminar: Environmental Clean Up and Nuclear Safety. U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) sponsored seminar series for MinAtom officials.

• Global Climate Change. Assisted Applied Environmental Research in negotiations with Russian scientists and officials to develop joint projects examining global climate change mitigation strategies through management of Siberian forests

Business “survival skills,” cross-cultural training. An important component of Ms. Guggenheim’s services is helping American organizations reach better understanding of their NIS counterparts and familiarize themselves with local customs and traditions and business culture and vice-versa. Representatives from different cultures are often challenged to communicate comfortably, especially when participants come from completely different backgrounds and lack common points of reference. Ms. Guggenheim works to discover and communicate these individuals’ common points of reference, whatever they might be, and use them as the first step in establishing a dialogue. In her work, she has found that people often reject what they do not recognize as familiar, even to the point of demonstrating hostile and aggressive behavior. In such cases, her role is to help them understand what they may not be aware of or provide them with a different perspective. She has learned how to deal with a wide range of intercultural challenges and have succeeded in building mutual trust and respect as a foundation for open communication. Ms. Guggenheim draws from a deep understanding of intercultural business issues and the ability to communicate them successfully.

• Russian Language Training at all levels is provided by Ms. Guggenheim for business persons, academics, or tourists. Language training is available individually or for groups.
  

Logistical support (Travel, Interpretation Equipment, Conference Logistics). A successful program begins with good planning and attention to detail and the clear and consistent communication of this information to planners and participants. Of course, as programs evolve, changes (both expected and unexpected) are inevitable. Therefore, it is important to be flexible and creative, to be able to adapt to new circumstances, and to keep the program on track. Throughout a program, visiting delegates in unfamiliar circumstances find themselves challenged by a myriad of minutia. It is critical to be well-organized, monitor and record individual needs and schedules, and serve as a repository for important information, such as telephone numbers, room numbers and travel information. Finally, the frantic pace of a traveling seminar requires strong discipline in the ongoing tracking and organization of expense information, receipts, and the tracking of hours for accounting purposes. Drawing upon extensive experience with traveling delegations, Ms. Guggenheim is well-prepared to provide strong logistical support for any delegation.

Representative Assignments:

• Seminar: The Role of Environmental NGOs in Policy Making Decisions. USAID-sponsored seminar for Russian NGOs, administered by Futurepast, Inc.

• Russian NGO Delegation: Strategies for Effective NGO Operation. Provided simultaneous interpretation for a USAID-sponsored exchange under the direction of Futurepast, Inc., Arlington, VA. Also provided translation of presentation materials.

• Translation of Business Contracts. Translated a range of business contracts for Russian firms and visiting business persons from the U.S. and U.K.

• Security Delegation. Interpreter and coordinator for an American delegation to Russia involving former CIA and KGB officials to review security issues. (This delegation was featured on Ed Bradley’s Street Stories, CBS-TV.)

• Art Museum Directors’ Delegation. Provided interpretation and coordination for an American delegation to Russia to exchange ideas on the management of museums and preservation technologies.

• American community social programs delegation. Provided interpretation for an American delegation to Moscow and St. Petersburg examining community-based social programs.

• Conference: New Trends in Economics Education. Provided interpretation for Moscow conference on new trends in economics education, presented by a visiting American delegation. Russian participants included economic advisors to former President Gorbachev.

RussianInterpreter.com

As a Russian native who has lived in the United States for more than 20 years, Ms. Guggenheim not only offers professional conference interpretation services, but also assists businesses in both the United States and the former Soviet Union in successfully conducting business with their counterparts, focusing especially on cross-cultural differences and strategies.

Ms. Guggenheim is an experienced simultaneous & consecutive Russian Interpreter and contractor to Language Services of the U.S. Department of State.

Services…

• Simultaneous and consecutive Russian-English interpretation.
• Russian-English interpretation for professional conferences, speakers and movie and television productions using state-of-the-art interpretation equipment, including wireless systems and soundproof booths.
• Assistance to American firms and delegations doing business in Russia and interpretation and translation for visiting delegations from Russia and the Newly Independent States (NIS).
• Interpretation for a wide range of technical material, including energy sector issues, economic/privatization, environmental, mathematical, medical, educational, linguistic, business management, real estate and cultural information.
• Business “survival skills” for the American doing business in the NIS.
• Logistical support for coordination of conferences, delegations and travel.
• Translation of written documents, technical reports, etc.

Choosing a Russian Interpreter for Your Conference or Meeting…

Choosing an interpreter should not be an afterthought when developing an international conference or project. The abilities of your Russian Interpreter are critical to the success of your exchange. For more information on interpretation and translation, see Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ).

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