My name is Masha. I’m a recent graduate from McGill University in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, where I double majored in history and political science and minored in Russian language. I have previously done more casual (unpaid) translation work, but am looking to expand to a more professional level of translation. I speak English, French, Spanish, Russian, and Dutch. I have a strong commitment to correct grammar and being accurate in my translations. Below are summaries of my experience with each of the languages listed above.

English: English is my native language; I was born and raised in the United States. I’ve always enjoyed writing in all its forms, along with editing and proofreading. I worked in my university’s writing help centre for several years during my time there, helping with and advising for other students’ essays and other writing projects.

French: I attended a French school in the states, going through a full immersion program that gave me a strong grasp on the language from a very young age. I have previously spent time living in Paris and in rural France. I’ve lived in Montreal for five years now, in the majority francophone part of the city; most of my daily life is conducted in French.

In university I took several of my courses in French, and when working in the writing help centre would often proofread and edit essays in French. Sometimes these would involve casual translations in order to provide a summary in English. Otherwise, casual translation of French documentation and sources were common for my own research and writings in university. I have undertaken one larger translation project in French (which also involved some Spanish; see below) which involved getting information to families of an American plane that had crashed in France after the Second World War. I enjoyed working with the researchers in France, and was commended for my quick and accurate translations.

Spanish: I began studying Spanish at age 10, as a “second language” component to my French immersion program. I did very well in this, and ended up going on exchange to live in San Jose, Costa Rica, for a semester, where I conducted my entire life in Spanish.

During the larger translation project mentioned above in the French section, I was also able to utilise my Spanish in order to transcribe recorded conversations between a French researcher and a Spaniard.

Russian: I began studying the Russian language when I entered university, eventually getting to the most advanced level of McGill university’s program and making it my minor.

My studies in history and political science also centred heavily around the Soviet and post-Soviet areas, so I commonly would translate documents, political treatises, and news articles from Russian into English or French for my personal use.

Dutch: I casually studied Dutch for several years, a fascination with which spurred me to choose so spend a six month semester abroad in the Netherlands.During my first few months there, I undertook an intensive Dutch language course, which solidified my grasp on the language to the point where I could function in both everyday life and academic settings almost entirely in Dutch (occasionally, my accent leaves a bit to be desired, but technically and grammatically my skills are sound).

Similar to Russian, I have done some Dutch to English translations for personal academic use while working on projects for my courses in the Netherlands.

I look forward to being able to work with you!