Your translators and interpreters
Since 2004, Alexandra has been doing what she always wanted to do: translating. She specializes in literature (including poetry) and texts on art, culture and social issues, translating them into German, English and plain language. She also provides editing and proofreading services, in particular for academic texts. On topics within her area of expertise, Alexandra also works as an interpreter at conferences, lectures, webinars, and readings (usually simultaneously; Russian, German and English in all combinations).
Alexandra studied English, American, and German Literature at the University of Düsseldorf (receiving a Magistra degree with top grades) before moving to London to study Comparative Literature at UCL (MA with distinction). She then completed a summa cum laude PhD in Translation Studies and American Studies at the University of Duisburg-Essen. Since then, she has worked as a freelance translator and lecturer; for her workshops and seminars on translation, she has developed a series of engaging exercises. She has received a number of awards for her work as a translator, including the Prize for Literature awarded by the city of Düsseldorf. The citation for the award reads: “In Alexandra Berlina, we are honoring an outstanding literary figure who greatly enriches the Düsseldorf literary scene.” The city of Düsseldorf is well aware that translators are literary figures! And the best part is that the two award-winning translators are the most colorful presences in the press photo.
Translating poetry has always been Alexandra’s greatest passion. While doing her doctorate on the subject, she began translating poems into English herself. Her translations have since been published in magazines such as Modern Poetry in Translation and anthologies such as The Penguin Book of Russian Poetry. She has received the Joseph Brodsky/Stephen Spender Translation Prize (3rd prize), the ALTA Travel Fellowship, the Willis Barnstone Translation Prize (shared 1st prize) and the Compass Award (2nd prize) for her poetry translations into English. Her dissertation on Joseph Brodsky’s translations of his own poems was published by Bloomsbury and received the Anna Balakian Prize. Alexandra translates not only literary classics, but also modern poems and song lyrics. Whether romantic, funny, or philosophical, whether into English or German – to translate a poem, you have to immerse yourself in it, and that is what she loves most about translating.
Alexandra primarily translates texts from the humanities and social sciences into English – for example, on poetics and the avant-garde, or on art and evolution. She received the Transcript Translation Grant for her annotated translation Viktor Shklovsky: A Reader and the Modern Language Association’s Aldo and Jeanne Scaglione Prize for the best translation in the humanities in 2016. Alexandra also proofreads (grammar, spelling, punctuation) and edits (style, consistency, readability) English and German texts. Her services also include copy-editing/layout editing and adapting texts to specific formal requirements (e.g. for academic journals). Proofreading is carried out using tracking mode and comments, so that every change can be seen, understood and, if necessary, dismissed.
As the poet and translator Erich Fried put it, “translating great literature is impossible – and very useful.” In the German plot of this impossible and very useful field, Alexandra has done such work as translating Mikhail Bulgakov’s The Master and Margarita from the Russian as well as O. Henry and Bel Kaufman from the English. As these examples suggest, she has quite a bit of experience with highbrow literature. However, that’s not the only kind of translation she’s into! She really likes translating humorous fiction and fast-paced light reads with plenty of dialogue; she also has a special fondness for memoirs, autobiographical writing, and family histories (They called us Bloody Foreigners and These Hard Times are two examples involving Jewish destinies). She’d love to translate more children’s, middle grade, and YA books: after all, she has a discerning audience at home. Alexandra also enjoys working with aspiring authors, including self-publishers, for whom she is also happy to proofread the original.
Alexandra also translates nonfiction – a process that often crosses over into the academic field. Alexandra loves learning more about literary translation, for instance, thanks to workshops of the German Translators’ Fund. You can find an overview of her key book translations at www.alexandra-berlina.de.
Alexandra has been proofreading English and German texts since her time as a research assistant at the university of Essen. Proofreading involves grammar, spelling, and punctuation; editing adds to that issues such as style, consistency, and readability. In English, she mainly edits academic texts, including the adaptation to the prescribed formalities (e.g. of an academic journal). Editing always takes place in tracking mode and is accompanied by comments when needed: this way, you can see, comprehend, and accept or reject every suggested change.
Alexandra (the one with short hair) with the Sixties Girls at the Capitol Theater in Düsseldorf
Alexandra regularly translates and interprets for museums and cultural institutions; mostly into English, sometimes into German. Whether it’s the Kölnisches Stadtmuseum or the Queer Museum in Berlin – the texts to be translated often deal with the intersection of art, history, and social issues. Translating exhibition texts and brochures often also involves editing the originals; occasionally, Alexandra also simplifies museum texts, translating them into Plain English, Simple English or using the Easy Read style.
Alexandra also translates for film and theater (her example are the surtitles for the poetry performance “Brodsky/Baryshnikov“) as well as for the press (for instance, the speech of a Nobel Prize winner).
Alexandra translates and interprets for many institutions that are committed to diversity and equality. These include foundations against racism, antisemitism, and homophobia, but also universities. For instance, she felt she was really doing something useful when interpreting for the “Gender in the Caucasus” project at the Potsdam University of Applied Sciences (English <> Russian) and for a Ukrainian-German transgender network (German <> Russian).
Alexandra also translates into simplified English. The aim can be to make the reading easier for non-native speakers or to render an academic or bureaucratic text more palatable. When it comes to simple language, a test translation is useful to determine the level of simplification: there are different modes such as Simple English, Plain English, and Easy Read (and their German equivalents).
Alexandra is primarily a translator, but she also enjoys interpreting in her areas of expertise – art, culture, humanities, and social topics. She offers both consecutive interpreting (when the speakers take breaks for the interpreters) and simultaneous/conference interpreting (when the interpreters, usually in a booth, provide a live oral translation without a time lag), working not only in Düsseldorf but also throughout Germany as well as online.
