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, I am married now with one child. 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 (and partly, for Russia). Services that I provide range greatly: it is translation, interpreting, guiding, troubleshooting, driving, matchmaking, advice, other.

Although I basically studied English on my own (you can read about my experience in my personal web site) I finished 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.

Half of my work is associated with dating. Since Russian and 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 have 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 (although I am thinking about setting up a dating agency). So far I am just an interpreter. Also, a substantial part of my work is technical translations which I mainly do for Russian and Ukrainian companies and government bodies.

Also, I have been lately getting more work as a travel/tour 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 also work in the Crimea where I also have a house and spend a lot of time, and actually I can work anywhere in Ukraine and even Russia and Moldova. As a guide-interpreter, I have worked in Vinnitsa, Dnepropetrovsk, Jitomir (Zhitomir), Zaporojie (Zaporizhie), Kiev (Kyiv), Kirovograd, Nikolayev (Nikolaev, Mykolaiv), Poltava, Simferopol, Sumy, Harkov (Kharkov or Kharkiv), Herson (Kherson), Cherkassy (Cherkasy), Chernovtsy (Chernivtsy) in Ukraine; Moscow, Voronezh in Russia; Kishinyov (Chisinau) in Moldova. I have also been privately to Chernigov (Chernigiv) and Lvov (Lviv), and as an independent tour guide and interpreter/translator I can work anywhere in Ukraine (e.g., in Donetsk, Ivano-Frankovsk (Ivano-Frankivsk), Lugansk, Lutsk, Rovno, Ternopol, Ujgorod (Uzhgorod), Hmelnitskiy (Khmelnitskiy) — even though I have not been there yet) and even in Russia (for example, in Nijniy Novgorod (Nizhni Novgorod)). 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 56 towns in Ukraine including 17 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.

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

A lot of reference from my customers is available upon request.