Igor Korchilov | |
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| Born | 1941 (age 82–83) Russia  |
| Occupation | Conference Interpreter  |
Igor Korchilov is a top-level Russian-English conference interpreter who worked with Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev from 1987 to 1990, a period that covered the Cold War era.
Igor Korchilov was born in Murmansk, Russia. He grew up in the southern city of Kislovodsk, which is not far from Stavropol, where Mikhail Gorbachev was born. [1]
After finishing his secondary education, Korchilov worked as a film projectionist and as a disc jockey. It was during these two occupations that Korchilov heard of Elvis Presley's music, through a record that was brought back by a Georgia ballet company member from the United States. Because of Presley's music, he became interested in learning the English language and soon bought an English course book from a village bookshop to teach himself. He then prepared for and passed the entrance examinations for the Maurice Thorez Foreign Languages Institute, the best foreign-languages school in Moscow (now Moscow State Linguistic University). From 1961 to 1967, Korchilov attended the Maurice Thorez and earned a diploma majoring in English and Spanish. [1]
From 1967 to 1968, Korchilov attended the United Nations Interpretation and Translation School in Moscow which earned him a certificate majoring in simultaneous interpretation. Later in the spring of 1968, Korchilov was sent to work as a junior conference interpreter at the United Nations headquarters in New York City. It was during this assignment that he interpreted during delicate summit meetings between the Heads of State and Government of the Soviet Union and the United States. [1]
Then from 1985 to 1986, Igor Korchilov attended the school for Advanced Studies at the Russian Foreign Ministry's Diplomatic Academy in Moscow to earn a diploma on International Relations with a French language major. [2]
Korchilov was an interpreter for the Secretaries-General of the United Nations, and the Russian General-Secretary and other top officials of the Soviet Union for thirty years. He is the author of the book Translating History: The Top Russian Interpreter's Twenty-Five Years on the Front Line of Diplomacy (1997) published in the United States, Britain, Australia, Poland, China, the Czech Republic. Korchilov's book was also printed under the subtitles "30 Years On The Front Lines Of Diplomacy With A Top Russian Interpreter" and "The Summits That Ended The Cold War, As Witnessed by Gorbachev's Interpreter". Translating History is a recollection of Korchilov's time spent with Mikhail Gorbachev and many Western leaders, particularly Ronald Reagan, Margaret Thatcher, George H. W. Bush and his fellow Russian interpreter, Pavel Palazhchenko [2] [3] [4]
As one of the leading interpreters of his time, Igor Korchilov had the skill and ability to interpret simultaneously (simultaneous interpretation) and consecutively (consecutive interpretation). He can work both ways: that is from English into Russian, and also from Russian into English. He also interpreted from Spanish and French into Russian or English. [2]
Korchilov had 22 years of work experience as a conference interpreter (from 1968 to 1973, from 1980 to 1985, and from 1990 to 2003) at the United Nations Headquarters in New York City: [2]
Since 2003, four years after officially retiring from the United Nations and up to the present, Igor Korchilov, continued working as a freelance interpreter. As a freelancer, some of his engagements included the following: [2]
Because of his profile as an author and a veteran interpreter, Korchilov had been interviewed on radio and television. He had also given lectures in many U.S. universities regarding the subjects of interpretation and the Cold War era. The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) had shown interest in making a film based on his book. [2]
Korchilov received letters of commendation for interpreting at the US-UK-USSR Summit Meetings in 1987, 1988, 1989 and 1990; a citation on behalf of former Soviet general secretary Gorbachev for his excellent interpreting at a meeting with NATO Secretary-General M.Worner in 1990; and a citation for long and distinguished diplomatic interpreting service on behalf of former Russian Foreign Minister Shevardnadze. He also received numerous expressions of gratitude from other world leaders. [2]
Korchilov's career as a professional polyglot enabled him to interpret for the following public figures and business personalities (among many others): [2]
Andrei Andreyevich Gromyko was a Soviet politician and diplomat during the Cold War. He served as Minister of Foreign Affairs (1957–1985) and as Chairman of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet (1985–1988). Gromyko was responsible for many top decisions on Soviet foreign policy until he retired in 1988. In the 1940s Western pundits called him Mr Nyet or "Grim Grom", because of his frequent use of the Soviet veto in the United Nations Security Council.
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Pavel PalazhchenkoorPalazchenko is a former high-level Soviet conference interpreter who was the chief English interpreter for Mikhail Gorbachev and Soviet foreign minister Eduard Shevardnadze from 1985 and 1991.
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Jack Foust Matlock Jr. is an American former ambassador, career Foreign Service Officer, a teacher, a historian, and a linguist. He was a specialist in Soviet affairs during some of the most tumultuous years of the Cold War, and served as the U.S. Ambassador to the Soviet Union from 1987 to 1991.
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Vladimir Fyodorovich Petrovsky was a Soviet and Russian diplomat, ambassador, professor in history, politician and writer.
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