Kerstin Mareile Funke

• Born and raised in a small town in the Lausitz region
  
• Studied in Berlin and Moscow: English and Russian at the
  Humboldt University in Berlin and the State Foreign Language Institute MGPIIJA (now the Moscow State Linguistic University)
  
• University degree as a translator and interpreter (Diplom-Sprachmittlerin) for English and Russian
  
• First work experience: seven years as a simultaneous interpreter and translator in northern Germany
  
• Period abroad: seven months in Namibia and Zambia
  
• Two-year further vocational training course in commercial accountancy
  
• Appointed and taken under general oath as an interpreter and translator for English and Russian by the District Court (Landgericht) of Neubrandenburg
  
• General work experience: eighteen months as a full-time proofreader for the "Nordkurier" newspaper
  
• At the turn of the millennium I started freelance work as a conference interpreter, translator und copywriter