ABOUT ME

ABOUT ME – Education and Experience:

I was born in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, and have lived in Canada, Spain, Mexico and the USA. My university studies include: U. of Western Ontario (English Lang. & Lit.), U. of Madrid (Hispanic Studies), Columbia University in NYC (Philosophy), and U.N.A.M. in Mexico, DF (Marketing)

In Spain, I worked teaching English as a Second Language (ESL) to native Spanish speakers. While living in Mexico, I translated two books on Mexican economic policy (“Foreign Direct Investment” and “Technology Transfer”) as well as Spanish/English press-releases for Mexican President José López-Portillo. Later, I worked as Capital Goods Joint Project translator for the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO).

After moving to the U.S., I gained credentials in both translating and interpreting: first as a Federal and State Certified Court Interpreter, and later as a Certified Translator (in both English to Spanish and Spanish to English). I currently live in Nashville, Tennessee, where I have continued my 40-year career working in the U.S.and Canada as a freelance court, business, and conference interpreter, translator, consultant and instructor.

I have always been involved in promoting education and high professionsal standards in the world of translating and interpreting (T&I). I served for six years on the Board of Directors the National Association of Judiciary Interpreters and Translators (NAJIT); am a Co-Founder and Advisor of the Tennessee Association of Professional Interpreters and Translators (TAPIT); and am a lifetime voting member of the American Translators Association (ATA).

In 2002,I served as a consultant in the creation of Rules and Ethics for the TN Court Interpreters Certification Program (S.C. Rules 41 and 42), and subsequently engaged in creating and conducting training courses for aspiring court, medical and community interpreters. More recently, I have been working as a Subject Matter Expert (SME) in test development and rating materials for interpreter certification programs across the USA and Canada.

Over the years, I’ve published several articles and white papers for both T&I and Attorney Bar Associations and am a frequent speaker at conferences on various T&I topics, especially Interpreter Ethics and the Transcription/Translation of Forensic Recordings (FTT).

CV – link

My “Other Life”

After reading all about my academic and professional life, you may be wondering how I manage to understand all the different kinds of street slang and dialects that come up in court. Well, apart from a lot of research, the answer lies in my “unofficial” biography: I’ve been a sojourner and a seeker all my life, having hitch-hiked around Europe at age 19 and lived in a VW Camper during travels in Mexico. While performing those high-level translation jobs mentioned above, I was actually living in a palm hut on a sandbar along Mexico’s pacific coast, trying to keep the sand out of my typewriter! There, and later in Mexico City, I interacted daily with day-laborers, farmers, musicians, advertising execs, bankers, politicians, and even some gangsters – people from every kind of environment — while happily digging holes to plant fruit trees, or singing in a recording studio, or taking my kids to school on a pony, or cooking over fire fueled by coconut shells.
That was the best education of all!

In court, as in life, knowledge, integrity, an open mind, and a compassionate heart are our best guides, and that is what I try to share in my work and workshops. If you have questions about a career in translation and interpretation, please feel free to contact me:

Image by @kel_foto