40: Sergei Chernov

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 scho...