User:Benchik

General Information
My name is Ben. I am from Chestfield, near Whitstable, Kent, England. I was born on April 28, 1984 in Dartford, England, UK, and now live in Kew Gardens, London.

Education
I have completed a BA in Modern & Medieval Languages at the University of Cambridge, where I studied Russian, French, Polish, Slavonic and Romance Historical and Contemporary Linguistics, Old Church Slavonic, Russian Culture, History and Literature from 800-1860, General Linguistics, Phonetics and Forensic Phonetics and many other sub-disciplines.

I am an alumnus of Clare College, University of Cambridge. I graduated in 2006.

Current place of employment
I am currently working for the BBC World Service.

Area of Expertise
→ Slavonic Linguistics

→ Romance Linguistics

→ Translation (Russian→English/English→Russian/French→English/Spanish→English)

Interests & Hobbies
→ Languages - English, Russian, French, Spanish, Polish, Arabic

→ Broadcasting on Cambridge University Radio - CUR1350 (until I graduated in June 2006)

Username origin
Benchik (or Бенчик in Russian) is an agglomeration of Ben (short for Benjamin in my case) and the Russian diminutive suffix -chik (-чик). These diminutives are used to make things sound friendlier, and are used mainly between family and friends.