By Jamie Hendrickson (MA Student, REEES)
We would like to highlight Morgan Shafter, a former REEEC FLAS Fellow in Russian who earned his Graduate Certificate in Translation Studies in 2018 and his M.A. in Slavic Languages and Literatures from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign in 2016.
Since earning his graduate degree and translation certificate at the University of Illinois, Morgan currently works as a translator, proofreader, and tester at Inlingo, a video game localization studio based in Russia. As a Russian to English localized translator, using the language skills that his Russian FLAS fellowship helped him develop is now both an everyday occurrence and a necessity for Morgan, who argues that his time at UIUC has given him “the cultural competence to adapt content created by Russian and Eastern European game developers for an American audience.”
As a former student of the Slavic Languages and Literatures Ph.D. program, Morgan’s interest in Russian literature in particular began back when he was in high school. After reading Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn’s One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich for a language arts class, he thereafter “started devouring the classics and was so taken with Russian literature and film that I started studying Russian in college and then decided to go to grad school and make a career of it.” That career has now led him to Inlingo, where his constant translations require him to draw on “what I learned from my Russian literature and film courses, as translating video game texts involves careful analysis of their narrative and sociolinguistic elements (story structure, dialogues, characterization, linguistic register, etc.).”
For those who are interested in learning more about a career in REEES but aren’t sure where it could lead them, Morgan has his two cents: “The great thing about the interdisciplinary nature of REEES and area studies in general is that it allows you to be creative and hone in on a very specific niche that integrates multiple interests. Take advantage of this interdisciplinary approach to explore what you enjoy and find career paths that incorporate the skills you pick up in REEES. Cultural competence in particular is a valuable skill that is applicable across a wide array of industries, such as tourism and hospitality, advertising, law, food, humanitarian work, etc. If there is a hobby you love (like video games, in my case),” he concluded, “then there is likely a job out there that combines that hobby with the region that you study.”
Morgan now lives in Chicago with his partner, REEEC M.A. holder and former REEEC employee, Sam Celmer and their dog Tofu. We at REEEC wholeheartedly congratulate Morgan on his success and hope to see even better things in his future.
More information about Morgan and his work can be found on his professional pages, see here for his Linkedin and here for his personal site. Jamie Hendrickson, the author of this profile, just earned her M.A. in REEES from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign.