Not all experts have beards
I translate German into English and have been doing so for the past six years. My specialist areas are information technology, technology, finance and business.
I have translated well over 1,500,000 words from German to English to date, while my daily output usually lies between 2,500 and 4,000 words per day, depending on the content and formatting of the text. My reliability, skills and professionalism come highly recommended, but at the same time I will never ordinarily accept a job that has me translating till the last minute and always allow time to check the English translation again prior to delivery.
Fellow translation industry professionals will know me through my popular translation blog, “The Translator’s Teacup”. One of my early posts, “The Ethics of Proofreading”, led to widespread sharing (and plagiarism!) and its eventual publication in the ATA Chronicle. This success has been matched and multiplied by subsequent successful articles, such as the “What makes a good, successful and happy translator” series.
My slightly unconventional, informative, techy, detailed and witty style has strengthened my reputation in the translation industry and verified my expertise in my key specialisations, bringing me a number of both niche and household name private clients, particularly in the information and financial services industries.
Qualified Member, MITI
Head of German Chapter, Member of Staff
Associate
Full Member
MA Communication & Information Sciences: Human Aspects of Information Technology
Tilburg University (The Netherlands), August 2011 to present
Including courses on:
- Natural Language Processing
- Social Signal Processing
- Online Marketing
- Programming
- Culture, Communication & Computers
- Computer Games
- Evolution of the Internet
- Culture and Technology
- Course grade average of 8.5+ (85%+, equivalent to a high First / top -10% of students)
- Currently working on thesis on natural language processing in a closed game environment using a crowdsourced database to match input to appropriate responses.
- Awarded the Tilburg University Excellence Scholarship (5,000 EUR) on grounds of previous academic history and application standard.
BA in German and Politics
Leeds University (United Kingdom), Sept. 2004 to May 2009
Including courses on:
- Advanced Translation
- German Politics, Society and Culture
- German Language
- German Cinema
- Final classification of high 2-1 with First in German
- Elected as General Student Representative to Leeds University Union, along with further election to the University Senate. Role involved fortnightly meetings, discussion of changes to Union policy inc. financial matters and proofreading of proposals by other representatives to ensure clarity and accuracy
“Erasmus” study in Politics, Law and Economics (in German)
University of Bonn (Germany), Sept. 2006 to June 2007
- “The Crados Conspiracy” in MOX: Illustrated Guide to Freelance Translation by Alejandro Moreno Ramos, Vita Brevis, December 1, 2011.
- “Assigning part-of-speech to Dutch tweets”, Aminian, M. et al, at CLIN22 (Computer Linguistics in
the Netherlands 22), January 20, 2012 (as contributing author and presenter) - “The Bluefin Bonanza”, The Black Fish / Big Green Factory Ltd., November 4, 2012 (as editor)
The following international associations have published my articles:
- “The Ethics of Proofreading” in the American Translator’s Association Chronicle, July 2011
- “Building the Universal Translator: A challenge for machine translation, human-machine interaction and human nature” in the International Association of Professional Translators and Interpreters IAPTImes Journal. December 2012
The following international associations have recommended my blog:
- American Translator’s Association
- International Association of Professional Translators and Interpreters (twice in fact!)
The following industry websites have recommended my blog:
Various fellow translators have kindly recommended my blog:
…whilst some have quoted me:
- Plain English for Translators: Accuracy vs Ambiguity (sic.!), Joanna Richardson of Clarity for IAPTI, 03 May 2013
- Introduction to Video Game Localisation, eCPD, 21 February 2013
- Create a successful application portfolio, ProZ.com, 18 January 2013
- LinkedIn® profile optimization for freelance translators, The Alexandria Project, 10 January 2013
- Translation and the meaning of everything, David Bellos for IAPTI, 04 January 2013
- Practical tools to prepare for negotiation, ProZ.com, 11 December 2012