On 15-22 September a unique seminar for young translators of fiction literature from Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Turkmenistan took place in Almaty. During the event the Russian language proved to be a valuable mediating tool in translating from German into native languages. Young translators, all of them with solid knowledge of Russian, brought their translations from German into Russian, and reputed translators Irina Alexeeva (SCIT, Herzen university, Russia) and Rosemary Titze (Germany) used them to discuss translation techniques to be applied when translating texts into native languages. Thereby, Russian was used as a language of cultural mediation in creating a body of translated literature in the three CIS languages. Moreover, Russian helped the participants to understand the affinity among Kazakh, Kyrgyz and Turkmen languages, and enabled them to look for similar ways to deal with translation challenges. The seminar was organized jointly by Goethe Institute (Moscow) and Goethe Institute (Kazakhstan) as a part of a three-year program “Mastering Translation”.