Olga Kósa: "A good interpreter is invisible"

- recalls.

From the beginning, he was interested and fascinated by the work he saw there, and he also loved the balanced rhythm of the city, which was built on the nuclear fuel plant's operation, as it provided and still provides a livelihood for the people who live there. He also went to school there. In Russia, primary school and secondary school are one department, with children studying for eleven years in the same institution. Olga studied English from the fifth grade onwards, and did so well that after leaving school, with a high level of English, she entered Russia's most famous Lomonosov Moscow State University, which is very popular with foreigners and has the largest collection of books in the country, with nine million books. He was admitted to the university because of his determination and perseverance.

He studied English for four hours a day and also tried to learn Hindi for eight hours a day, also in a university setting. He successfully overcame the obstacles and also found time to explore Moscow, a city of 12 million people."In Moscow, the university is in a very impressive location, opposite the Kremlin and close to the popular GUM department store. In our little free time we used to walk around these squares. It was a very nice time of my life," she says.

He successfully completed his university studies, graduated as an oriental philologist, obtained a degree in English-Hindi-Russian interpreting and taught for two years in a secondary school in Moscow. He then returned to his hometown, Electrostal, and joined the team at the world's largest nuclear fuel plant.

Electrosteel and nuclear fuel production

"I've worked here as an interpreter, interpreting at management meetings, translating at various professional meetings and, strangely enough, I've never been nervous. When I was young, I didn't feel the weight of it, I didn't realise the responsibility it entailed. Nowadays, with twenty-five years of experience behind me, I can be terribly nervous before a negotiation. As your knowledge grows, you realise more and more how little you really know," he says.  

During his ten years at Elektrosztal, he gained a wealth of knowledge about the nuclear fuel production process. "I learnt the technical language easily because I had a mentor to help me at the beginning and I was always looking into everything. I've seen the nuclear fuel manufacturing process, I know what comes next, what the welding process looks like, how the pastilles are loaded into the cladding, how they are checked. I had the opportunity to get to know all the different areas, because my job was very varied, because I had to work in almost all the different fields. It's not just a question of knowing technical terms, but also of understanding the processes. The quality and professionalism of the interpretation can make or break a successful negotiation between the parties."

In the course of his work, he has visited the Temelin nuclear power plant in the Czech Republic, Lovisa in Finland, the now closed nuclear power plants in Germany, and nuclear facilities in Japan, China and the United States. On one occasion, he travelled to India in a cargo plane as a member of the crew accompanying a nuclear fuel shipment. "When I boarded, the first question I had was where the bathroom was. Needless to say, there was none on the plane. It was a huge plane and we had come a long way, landing was a redemptive moment."

His career at the nuclear fuel plant in Russia was going well, to the point where he was a candidate for a middle management position, but in the meantime life brought him to Hungary, where he moved with his eleven-year-old son. It was at a conference that she met the Hungarian engineer who later became her husband, and for whom she left her career and hometown behind to move to Paks.

Paks and an operating nuclear power plant

"Neither my son nor I spoke a word of Hungarian. My husband bought me a Hungarian language book and while I was at home with our daughter I learned the language from this book in two years. The Hungarian language is difficult, but my husband is a perfectionist, so he always corrected me, even in the middle of the shop, if I said something wrong" - she says. And it paid off, because after two years, in 2010, she passed the Hungarian language exam and graduated as a Hungarian-Russian translator. His son also quickly adapted to the new environment, although, as he recalls, at first it was strange for them after Elektrosztal, a Hungarian nuclear city of 160,000 inhabitants. In Paks, which is home to just 30,000 people, it's very quiet, and after 8 p.m. most people are at home resting.

After settling in Hungary, he had the opportunity to join various projects of the Paks Nuclear Power Plant, including the turbine power increase project, of course as an interpreter. This time, after years of working in a nuclear power plant in operation, he was able to expand his knowledge in a completely new field.

"Here, too, I had the opportunity to learn almost all the disciplines. My favourite was the block controller, so much so that at one point I was determined to become a block controller. I asked if any women had ever worked there. They said there was only one applicant. It's a man's job," she explains.

After nearly eight years at the Paks Nuclear Power Plant, a straight path led to Paks II. Zrt., which is implementing the new nuclear power plant project. Olga Kósa joined the largest nuclear power plant investment project in the European Union in 2018. „Working in various areas of the nuclear industry, I had the opportunity to learn about different technologies and terminology within a given framework, which laid the foundation for my work here,” she says.

Paks II - Domestic investment of the century

The Paks II project is an international project where the official language is English and the main contractor is Russian. The company employs five interpreters, led by Olga Kósa. They translate technical material and interpret at technical meetings and senior management meetings, where they have a high level of responsibility. 

"This is a very exciting project. It has also given me new knowledge about the nuclear industry. As an interpreter, we have to keep learning, and we can do this job well if we work on improving our professional skills. You have to be able to control your emotions, stay calm and neutral even when there is tension between parties. We must not interfere. It is a job of trust, as often very sensitive information is being presented. Confidentiality is an essential requirement here"- he explains.

He loves not only the interpreting itself, but also the preparation. He says that the Paks II project has a lot of good professionals who are excellent at giving them the knowledge they need to not only mediate between the parties like a "parrot", but also to see and understand the technical side in depth.

The project gives me a lot of work, and perhaps it was the impetus that led me to the Faculty of Law at Pázmány Péter Catholic University. Soon he will be able to pick up his law degree in Hungarian. As she points out, it will be a joint degree with her husband, because without him, without his support, it would not have been possible. Not only Olga, but also her son has found his place in the Hungarian community, as a computer security engineer, he is also part of the Paks II project team.

"This project keeps people fresh, and not just because there are so many young, enthusiastic engineers. The events here follow a dynamic sequence. Maximum concentration is needed, an active presence during the negotiations. Our job as interpreters is to get the message across perfectly. A good interpreter is invisible, he or she performs the task in such a way that the parties understand each other, the negotiation is successful, but the interpreter is not remembered."

- says.