My name is Leonids Karklins. I live in Latvia, and I am bilingual Russian/Latvian.

Actually, the languages and translating have become a part of my life.

A couple of years ago, to be precise in 1980, I received a university degree in Spanish, Portuguese and English languages. The same year I  got a diploma as Portuguese speaking guide, in order to assist in the Olympic Games celebrated that year in Moscow.

I did not seen the Games, because I got a contract as translator/inter- preter  job and I went to Cuba to work in a cuban shipping company in Havana. It had actually been a good experience, both in professional sense and in what the soviet people used to call "to see the world".

I worked in Cuba for 5 years. When I came back to Latvia, I couldn't manage to find some job as a translator with a quite active Spanish, (well, except a part-time translating in the Latvian Chamber for Commerce and Industry). So, I got a bit acquainted with an exotic activity like patent officer. To feel myself a professional in the field, I graduated a respective university in Moscow, upon completing two years course by correspondence.   

To my mind, these two activities - translating and patents - have a lot in common. Being the basic, perhaps, the spirit of research.

Then the Perestroika came across, which brought some freedom and broke several soviet monopolies, the foreign trade being among them.
Thus, there was established a foreign trade institution in every republic of the USSR to deal with import and export. I made use of my knowledge of foreign languages and got a position of project manager in such institu- tion in Latvia. I assessed the import of industry equipment to Latvia. It has been a good experience in an interesting time period.

In what the languages concerns, I made a course in business languages in those times, which I consider to be of great use for me.

It is not my intention to bore anybody by telling my story. For those who still are interested in my carrier I offer my CV, while those who wish to know something about my country I recommend my Latvia related links.

In my life I have never stopped my freelance translator activities. Now I am a official translator and I keep a close contact with 5 or 6 Latvian translation agencies and some agencies abroad.