Michele A. Berdy

Michele A. Berdy has lived and worked in Moscow for 30 years. She is an accomplished translator and interpreter. After graduating magna cum laude from Amherst College, she did post-graduate work at the Pushkin Institute in Moscow and then worked as a translator and editor at a Soviet publishing house (1979 to 1982). In addition to working as a simultaneous and consecutive interpreter, she has translated several books, hundreds of articles and short stories, and sub-titled over 50 feature and documentary films. She has taught at the Department of Translation and Lexicography at Moscow State University and currently conducts master classes and workshops on various aspects of translation and intercultural communication.

Following a decade-long career producing innovative public affairs programming for American and Russian television, since 1996 she has managed and consulted on communications programs in Russia and the region, specializing in health and public service promotion.

Ms Berdy writes a popular weekly column on language and translation for The Moscow Times and The St. Petersburg Times, as well as book reviews and feature stories about Moscow and Russian culture. Her articles on culture, current events and various aspects of intercultural communication appear in the Russian and English-language press. She was the lead or sole writer of four guidebooks about Moscow, St Petersburg and Russia, and co-author of a Russian-English dictionary.