I have graduated university with specialist degree in Translation & Interpreting in 2007. My majors were English and Japanese with Russian as a native language. At the time I was offered a job of teacher of the Japanese language in my Alma mater, and I was happy to jump aboard because I liked working with young people and spreading the word about the things that I love  Elinguistics, translation and Japan. Being a full-time teacher I tried to keep my translation practice with freelance jobs. As time went by I realized that I lack certain knowledge and skills to deliver high-quality translation from Japanese language to English or Russian. Local schools or translation agencies could not offer any advanced courses or guidance in this field, and so I decided to search for a foreign school. As I was a registered member at Proz.com I got a newsletter mentioning Babel School of Professional translation. I carefully studied the BUPST homepage  Eit was just what I needed! It offered an advanced hands-on course in translation and gave an opportunity to study from anywhere in the world via the Internet. I was not sure I would make it through the entrance exams, because despite having JLPT 1 I could not say that my Japanese language abilities are anywhere near the native level. But I passed the exams and enrolled to Patent, Technical and Medical Translation course. Technical translation is in demand, so it seemed a reasonable choice for someone who wishes to support themselves by working as a freelancer.