Ali Azh

Question and Answer

• What is your name?
  • Ali Azh
• Where do you live?
  • Iran
• What made you decide to become a translator or interpreter?
  • I consider the role of the translator as a mediator between cultures. Rather than merely supplanting one form of words for another, the translator has the capacity to enhance our understanding of development issues and indigenous cultures by mediating ideas across cultural and national boundaries.
• List one strength that you think sets you apart from your colleagues.
  • Excellent English and certified proficiency in Persian
• Name the one thing that you most enjoy in your translating or interpreting career.
  • Provide translation (including simultaneous translation where necessary) and interpretation support at training sessions, workshops, seminars and conferences
• Name one resource – such as a phone app, CAT tool, website, and so forth – that you find especially helpful in your translating or interpreting work.
  • http://www2.le.ac.uk/departments/history/outreach/besh/interpreting
• What's the best book you've read this year?
  • Madame Bovary

Madame Bovary (1856) is the French writer Gustave Flaubert's debut novel. The story focuses on a doctor's wife, Emma Bovary, who has adulterous affairs and lives beyond her means in order to escape the banalities and emptiness of provincial life. Though the basic plot is rather simple, even archetypal, the novel's true art lies in its details and hidden patterns. Flaubert was a notorious perfectionist and claimed always to be searching for le mot juste ("the precise word"). When it was first serialized in La Revue de Paris between 1 October 1856 and 15 December 1856, the novel was attacked for obscenity by public prosecutors. The resulting trial, held in January 1857, made the story notorious. After Flaubert's acquittal on 7 February 1857, Madame Bovary became a bestseller when it was published as a single volume in April 1857. The novel is now considered Flaubert's masterpiece, as well as a seminal work of realism and one of the most influential novels ever written. In fact, the notable British-American critic James Wood writes in How Fiction Works: "Flaubert established for good or ill, what most readers think of as modern realist narration, and his influence is almost too familiar to be visible".

Safaa Malaeb

Question and Answer

• What is your name?
  • Safaa Malaeb
• Where do you live?
  • Lebanon
• What made you decide to become a translator or interpreter?
  • I have always been fluent in both Arabic and English. I moved to Australia soon after I finished school in Lebanon in 1994, so I chose to study a field that would keep me attached to my language and my roots, and something that I was already good at. I did exceptionally well in both interpreting and translation at university!!
• List one strength that you think sets you apart from your colleagues.
  • I mastered both languages equally and received the same marks for both directions in the NAATI exam.
• Name the one thing that you most enjoy in your translating or interpreting career.
  • Being able to apply my perfectionism...
• We all have worked on those not-so-perfect assignments. Write about one such assignment that was not ideal and what you learned from it.
  • Worked for the Australian Federal Police for 5 months and had to deal with graphic and distressing content. I learnt that the best way to deal with the challenge is to remain detached, professional and ethical.
• If you could go back in time to when you were just starting out as a translator or interpreter, what advice would you give to your younger self?
  • Never ever compromise on perfection, make perfection your goal, even though knowledge has no limits. Perfect with what you know and keep learning.
• Name one resource – such as a phone app, CAT tool, website, and so forth – that you find especially helpful in your translating or interpreting work.
  • Almaany English Arabic dictionary.
• What's the best book you've read this year?
  • Overboard by Ghassan Nakhoul

Alexandra Scott

Question and Answer

• What is your name?
  • Alexandra Scott
• Where do you live?
  • Toronto, Ontario, Canada
• What made you decide to become a translator or interpreter?
  • I am fascinated by languages and very curious by nature; translation is the best kind of puzzle for me.
• List one strength that you think sets you apart from your colleagues.
  • Strong background in law and finance.
• Name the one thing that you most enjoy in your translating or interpreting career.
  • Independence!
• We all have worked on those not-so-perfect assignments. Write about one such assignment that was not ideal and what you learned from it.
  • Post-editing machine translation output ranks among the least enjoyable tasks. It confirmed my belief that having one's own translation memories to draw on are essential.
• If you could go back in time to when you were just starting out as a translator or interpreter, what advice would you give to your younger self?
  • Have faith in your abilities and drive, it will work out marvellously.
• Name one resource – such as a phone app, CAT tool, website, and so forth – that you find especially helpful in your translating or interpreting work.
  • Deja Vu X2
• What's the best book you've read this year?
  • Un eroe del nostro tempo by Vasco Pratolini

Ravinder Padya

Question and Answer

• What is your name?
  • Ravinder Padya
• Where do you live?
  • Hyderabad
• What made you decide to become a translator or interpreter?
  • Ph.D Scholar
• List one strength that you think sets you apart from your colleagues.
  • Dr. Tarakeshwar V.B.
• Name the one thing that you most enjoy in your translating or interpreting career.
  • Scientific Terms
• We all have worked on those not-so-perfect assignments. Write about one such assignment that was not ideal and what you learned from it.
  • Scientific Terms
• If you could go back in time to when you were just starting out as a translator or interpreter, what advice would you give to your younger self?
  • Scientific Terms
• Name one resource – such as a phone app, CAT tool, website, and so forth – that you find especially helpful in your translating or interpreting work.
  • Yes
• What's the best book you've read this year?
  • Scientific Terms