The 3rd episode of That Could Have Gone Better, is a special episode. Andrew was lucky enough to spend a week in Russia, where he attended the Translation Forum Russia conference in Yekaterinburg. On the way to Yekaterinburg he spent a couple of days in Moscow and ran into someone he found vaguely familiar.

This episode will serve as an introduction to Andrew’s experiences in Russia (a country he was visiting for the first time). The episode centres around 2 employees from Effectiff, Tatiana (Tanya) Rudneva and Daria (Dasha) Maksimova. The reasons for focussing on Tatiana and Daria will become evident in the episode.

“Translation Forum Russia was an incredibly enjoyable experience, both dark and divine, and full of random coincidences! Many a stereotype was shattered, but quite a few were confirmed as well”, according to Andrew.

Since Carol was unavailable to record this week, you are unfortunately stuck with Andrew (and Tatiana – sort of) for the episode!

Massive thank you to Tanya and Dasha for being such wonderful hosts!

Next week’s episode will dive deeper into the experiences at TFR and the idea of Russian stereotypes from Russian and non-Russian points of view!

In a world where everyone is trying to present the best possible version of themselves, professionally/privately, perhaps airing some of our less polished experiences will be somewhat cathartic and beneficial to all? Well, that’s my theory anyway. I once tried to make a wheel for a go-cart with cereal boxes, cello-tape and stones… so what do I know?!

TCHG Better is a Ludejo Studios production which takes a serious look at embarrassment in the world of international business, and throws a little light on the more humanising stories of the people who work in Localization.