40: Sergei Chernov

LangFM

The name Chernov is one of the big names in the interpreting profession. Like Kaminker, Herbert, or Seleskovich. So it’s no surprise that when I sat down with Sergei Chernov, now the chief interpreter at the International Monetary Fund, he started with a bit of a disclaimer:

Sergei: I am a second-generation interpreter. And my father was an interpreter and one of, well, what we might call the founding fathers of our profession. Interpretation, anticipation, inferencing, all that good stuff.

Sergei’s father, Ghelly Vasilyevich Chernov, was an eminent interpreter and a leading interpreting scholar. His most well-known publication is probably “Inference and Anticipation in Simultaneous Interpreting” - or “the good stuff”, as Sergei calls it. But there is a second disclaimer, actually, which has to do with Sergei’s job:

What we will be talking about here are my views, my personal views and opinions that do not in any way reflect the views and opinions of the International Monetary Fund.

You are listening to LangFM, and my guest today is conference interpreter Sergei Chernov. Of course, no one starts their career working as the most senior interpreter at one of the leading international organisations. So I was interested in Sergei’s roots.