About Radica Schenck

I started my career as a freelance interpreter and translator in 1996 whilst studying English and Italian Language and Literature, Translation and Interpreting at the University Sv. Kiril i Metodij in Skopje. Thus I was privileged to study Old English and translate Beowulf, to explore timelines of kings and queens, read Chaucer and Blake, to indulge in the rich, exuberant English language of Shakespeare, Shelley, and Yeats, and to gain practical experience with international organisations interpreting for consultants primarily from England, Wales, Scotland and Ireland.

After my graduation in 1999 I became a United Nations staff member employed in the UNICEF Office in Skopje as a Programme Assistant for the Emergency Education and Emergency Child Protection Programmes during the Kosovo Crisis, afterwards for the Education and Early Childhood Care and Development Programmes. Although my main responsibility was providing technical assistance to the programme implementation in areas of the disaster and emergency preparedness and response, social inclusion and reforms in preschool and primary education, I additionally acquired experience in the management of programme-related translation and interpretation, team recruitment and coordination. In 2001 I passed the UN English Language Proficiency Exam (United Nations Headquarters, New York).

In 2001 I relocated to Munich where I live and work as a conference interpreter and translator. Here I learned German, passed the state exam for translators and interpreters for the Macedonian language and became a duly appointed and sworn translator and interpreter for the German courts and other institutions.

Today I have more than 20 years of experience in translation as well as simultaneous and consecutive interpreting for international organisations such as UNICEF, UNESCO, World Bank, EU, for German, Austrian and Bavarian governments and ministries, the judiciary, corporate clients, NGOs, specialised translation agencies and private persons.

Macedonian is my mother tongue, English and German are my working languages.

I am a member of the renowned associations International Association of Conference Interpreters (AIIC), the German Association of Conference Interpreters (VKD) within the BDÜ and the German Federal Association of Interpreters and Translators (BDÜ), which are known for their strict membership criteria. In the Bavarian Chapter of BDÜ I have founded the Medical Translators and Interpreters Group and have been serving on a pro bono basis since. In addition, I have been actively participating in various specialist working groups and attending specialised professional development events and courses.
Serbian is my second mother tongue. Italian is my C-language as studied at the University. In addition, I have passive knowledge of Croatian, Montenegrin, Bosnian and Bulgarian, and basic knowledge of Russian, French and Spanish.