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About Me

My name is Igor Kalinin, I live and work in the south of the former Soviet republic of Ukraine (Odessa and the Crimea). Born in 1972 in Odessa, I am married now and have a daughter. I studied in Odessa State University majoring in physics but my excellent English skills proved to generate more income than science so far. I started working as a translator in 1998 when I worked for an international exhibition company. Since 1999 I have been basically working as a freelance translator and interpreter, although I have had some regular jobs and I have been part of Stirlitz Translation Agency since 2004. Right now I am basically acting as the all-purpose agent for a foreigner visiting Ukraine. Services that I provide range greatly: it is translation, interpreting, guiding, troubleshooting, driving, matchmaking, advice, other.

Although I mainly studied English on my own (you can read about my experience in my personal web site) I did finish Odessa State School of Foreign Languages in 1999 and got all A marks in English after going through all 4 semesters in one. My vocabulary is over 11,000 basic English words (without borrowed and international ones) and many more derivatives and expressions. Besides English I can speak some German and understand written Spanish, French, Italian and Polish. And, it is needless to say that I know Ukrainian, even though Russian (unfortunately) was and still is my first language. So, in total I have 8 languages: 2 mother tongues and 6 foreign ones. I constantly improve my language skills and have plans to study more languages.

Besides, I finished the guide school at Odessa Economical University in 2011:

And I am listed at the Guide Registry of Odessa Municipal Tourism and Culture Department.

So I am a Certified Licensed Tour Guide in Odessa, Ukraine.

Also, I have been lately getting more work as a Ukraine travel guide (guide interpreter) taking care of accommodation, transportation, etc, so this is what this web site is about. Although I am based in Odessa, I can work anywhere in Ukraine. As a guide-interpreter, I have worked in Vinnitsa, Dnipro (Dnepropetrovsk), Jitomir (Zhitomir), Zaporojye (Zaporizhie), Kiev (Kyiv), Kropivnytsiy (Kirovograd), Nikolayev (Mykolaiv), Poltava, Simferopol, Sumy, Harkov (Kharkov or Kharkiv), Herson (Kherson), Cherkassy (Cherkasy), Donetsk, Sumy, Chernovtsy (Chernivtsy), Hmelnitskiy (Khmelnitskiy), Ternopol, Rovno, Lvov (Lviv) in Ukraine; Moscow, Voronezh in Russia; Kishinyov (Chisinau) in Moldova. I have also been privately to Chernigov (Chernigiv), and as an independent tour guide and interpreter/translator I can work anywhere in Ukraine (e.g., in Ivano-Frankovsk (Ivano-Frankivsk), Lutsk, Ujgorod (Uzhgorod) — even though I have not been there yet), except for the temporarily occupied territories of the Crimea and Donbass. All the cities listed are regional centers and there is a host of smaller towns that I have been to (Alushta, Balaklava (Balaclava), Boprispol (Borispyl), Inkerman, Kerch, Krasnoperekopsk, Kremenchug, Krivoy Rog, Mukachevo, Pavlograd, Reni, Saki, Sevastopol (Sebastopol), Uman, Yalta, Yevpatoria (Evpatoria)) and many others. In total, I have been to 66 towns in Ukraine including 22 regional centers (of 25; see above), so I can claim that I have been around my country quite a lot. Most of the visits were on business (interpreting and guiding). Towns like Nikolayev, Simferopol, Kiev are like my second home because I often go there and know them quite well.

A lot of my work used to be associated with dating. Since Ukrainian women are more feminine and family-oriented than most American women, and take good care of themselves to look great, there is a growing demand for so called mail order brides (which is an incorrect term, by the way) in the US. For some reason I often had to translate private letters, phone calls, interpret in person, and do some minor related jobs such as flowers delivery. What’s more, I offer a great way to meet hundreds of thousands of Ukrainian women directly without any agencies in between!

This does not mean however that I am a matchmaker. So far I am just an interpreter. Also, a substantial part of my work is technical translation which I mainly do for companies and government bodies.

You can read my resume or you can find more about me in my private web site www.IgorKalinin.Com. To learn about my services and rates, please go to the next page.

Reference from my customers is available upon request.