This short article provides background and recommendations for getting translations done in Ukraine. If you already know what you're looking for and need an experienced native English translator, you can skip immediately to my offer.

There is no shortage of translation agencies in any sizeable city of Ukraine. Just do a search for "Translation agency __(name of city)__" in English. While these agencies can generally perform high-quality translations from different languages into Russian or Ukrainian, it is much harder to find native speakers in Ukraine to translate texts from Russian and Ukrainian into other languages. Translation agencies in Ukraine offer these services, but very few of them have native staff (i.e. native English/German/French, etc.).

It's becoming more and more common to simply use Google Translate and then touch up the result. Translation agencies often look for native speakers who can edit translations performed by Ukrainians or even by Google Translate. This allows them to save money. However, as a professional translator myself, I have to admit that I really hate editing other people's work, except for really top-notch translators with a fluent command of English and excellent writing style.

The quality of translation depends on the translator's writing abilities just as much as on his or her knowledge of the source and target languages. Just having a "native speaker" do the translation (or editing) is no guarantee of quality, particularly in Ukraine, where agencies are willing to work with almost any reasonably literate native editor.

Notarized translations are often necessary for legal purposes in Ukraine. Almost all local translation agencies provide these services or can arrange for them.

If you need high-quality translation performed from either Russian or Ukrainian into English by a native English speaker and experienced writer, I am pleased to offer my services. I am the author of TryUkraine.com, and you can read a bit about me here. I have a near-native command of Russian and advanced Ukrainian and write articles in texts in both English and Russian. I have been translating since 1997 (Russian) and 2006 (Ukrainian) on topics from legal contacts to trade show programs, medical articles and questionnaires to ventilated building facades. I've translated the website of a headhunting firm in Kiev, literary texts for use on television, and information on personality psychology where every word had to be carefully weighed.

As a testament to my dependability, I've done approximately 150 assignments for a single client since 2006 doing back-translation — translations of the translation for quality control purposes (this is done for very important texts that will be used widely around Ukraine). When I inquired recently about the possibility of lowering my rates to receive more work from them, I received this reply:

My rates are from $0.06 to $0.15 USD per word in the source document depending on the difficulty and urgency of the assignment. I accept payment through PayPal and can work from any location and for any client, whether Ukrainian, Russian, American, European, Asian, etc. Send me an inquiry at  or through the TryUkraine.com guestbook.

*I also offer interpreting services from Russian and Ukrainian to English.

Translation from Russian/Ukrainian to other languages

If you need documents translated into Russian, Ukrainian, or any language other than English, I can help you find a qualified agency or freelance translator through my numerous contacts in the translation community in Ukraine and abroad. Write to me at  or through the guestbook.