I started translating around ten years ago and since that time I've translated thousands of texts on a variety of subjects: business, art, science and some literature, including scripts and some biographies.
I am a professionally trained linguist. I read Hispanic Studies at the University of Liverpool, graduating in 1999 with a First, along with a Distinction in the Spoken Use of Spanish. I then spent a couple of years teaching and translating in Spain, fulfilling something of a lifelong ambition up to that point, of living and working in Spain.
After that, I went back to Liverpool to do postgraduate work in Spanish linguistics in 2001. My research concerned change in the semantic field of verbs of visual perception, looking at Latin right through to modern Spanish. This was long and and hard and after a few years, life intervened and I had to put the research on hold. I am still working on it when I get the chance.
While I was a postgraduate I taught in the department, including linguistics tutorials, Spanish language classes at all levels and translation and interpreting classes for Socrates students. Part of the advanced Spanish language classes involved correcting and commenting upon translation to and from Spanish. I was observed and praised for my teaching during my time there.
Between 2006 and 2007 I worked for Arvato Services in the UK on their Microsoft adCenter contract. This involved proof-reading pay-per-click adverts, and their related websites, before the adverts were shown on Microsoft's search engine called Live Search at the time - it's now called Bing. I held a number of posts and it was fascinating to get an insight into how Microsoft worked, as we dealt with the client on a daily basis.
At the beginning of 2008, I came back to Valencia and in January 2010 I passed the prestigious Dip Trans translation exam (Spanish-English), set by the Institute of Linguists of London, and, in September 2010 I became a full-time freelance translator.