Mercedes Paloma Lopez

Question and Answer

• What is your name?
  • Mercedes Paloma Lopez
• Where do you live?
  • San Antonio , Texas
• What made you decide to become a translator or interpreter?
  • I decided to pursue a career as a translator after I began translating well-intentioned documents and letters for several non-profit organizations that wanted to be inclusive with their LEP clients.
• List one strength that you think sets you apart from your colleagues.
  • Both my education and life experiences have led me to innumerous interactions with different communities that have enriched my vocabulary and Latin-American idiomatic expressions; For my education, I hold a Master's in Inter-American studies, and my experience includes traveling throughout Latin-America with humanitarian clowning groups.
• Name the one thing that you most enjoy in your translating or interpreting career.
  • Working in Pediatric Oncology, I love the sense of relief that a child gets when they know there will be someone there to interpret for their parents, as they are commonly the person serving as interpreter. I also very much enjoy that parents feel free to ask questions, and are able to understand the documents provided for them.
• 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.
  • I am always part of "not-so-perfect" assignments; the multiple provider meetings in educational hospital settings can be distracting and chaotic, where several people are having side conversations and speaking at the same time. I have learned to deal with these situations by clarifying my role with everyone involved in the meetings, having the freedom to stop for clarifications, and conducting these meetings with simultaneous interpertation.
• 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?
  • I would advise myself to shadow an interpreter before embarking on this career, to create my own glossaries and commonly used phrases and idioms. 
    I would stress that boundaries are important to serve in the fullest capacity, and to be firm and clear with ethics and standards.
• 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.
  • www.cosnautas.com
• What's the best book you've read this year?
  • The Language Instinct
    by Steven Pinker

In this classic, the world's expert on language and mind lucidly explains everything you always wanted to know about language: how it works, how children learn it, how it changes, how the brain computes it, and how it evolved. With deft use of examples of humor and wordplay, Steven Pinker weaves our vast knowledge of language into a compelling story: language is a human instinct, wired into our brains by evolution. The Language Instinct received the William James Book Prize from the American Psychological Association and the Public Interest Award from the Linguistics Society of America. This edition includes an update on advances in the science of language since The Language Instinct was first published

Patricia Hulmes

Question and Answer

• What is your name?
  • Patricia Hulmes
• Where do you live?
  • Lyon, in France
• What made you decide to become a translator or interpreter?
  • When we moved over to France from the UK my husband, who took up a post with the CNRS as a biochemist/biophysicist, was often asked to correct texts in English by French scientists, but did not have the time. As I also had a scientific background, I saw an opportunity and set up as a freelance scientific translator.
• List one strength that you think sets you apart from your colleagues.
  • I specialise in very specific fields
• Name the one thing that you most enjoy in your translating or interpreting career.
  • I am always learning new things!
• 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.
  • I was persuaded very early on, against my better judgement, to translate a technical text into French at short notice. It was a nightmare. Even though I am pretty well bilingual, I now always translate from French into my native English and never the other way round.
• 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?
  • Acquire a better understanding of French bureaucracy before you start!
• 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.
  • The internet, used judiciously
• What's the best book you've read this year?
  • The Paris Wife by Paula McLean

A deeply evocative story of ambition and betrayal, The Paris Wife captures the love affair between two unforgettable people: Ernest Hemingway and his wife Hadley.

Chicago, 1920: Hadley Richardson is a quiet twenty-eight-year-old who has all but given up on love and happiness—until she meets Ernest Hemingway. Following a whirlwind courtship and wedding, the pair set sail for Paris, where they become the golden couple in a lively and volatile group—the fabled "Lost Generation"—that includes Gertrude Stein, Ezra Pound, and F. Scott Fitzgerald.

Though deeply in love, the Hemingways are ill prepared for the hard-drinking, fast-living, and free-loving life of Jazz Age Paris. As Ernest struggles to find the voice that will earn him a place in history and pours himself into the novel that will become The Sun Also Rises, Hadley strives to hold on to her sense of self as her roles as wife, friend, and muse become more challenging. Eventually they find themselves facing the ultimate crisis of their marriage—a deception that will lead to the unraveling of everything they've fought so hard for.

A heartbreaking portrayal of love and torn loyalty, The Paris Wife is all the more poignant because we know that, in the end, Hemingway wrote that he would rather have died than fallen in love with anyone but Hadley.

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER

WINNER—BEST HISTORICAL FICTION—GOODREADS CHOICE AWARDS

NAMED ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY People • Chicago Tribune • NPR • The Philadelphia Inquirer • Kirkus Reviews • The Toronto Sun • BookPage

Valeria Brisolara

Question and Answer

• What is your name, where do you live, and how long have you been an interpreter or translator?
  • Valeria Brisolara
• Where do you live?
  • Brazil
• What made you decide to become a translator or interpreter?
  • I have always liked languages and decide to study English and German in college.
• List one strength that you think sets you apart from your colleagues.
  • I translate legal texts and I am a sworn translator.
• Name the one thing that you most enjoy in your translating or interpreting career.
  • The challenge
• 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.
  • Most documents and agreements are far from ideal.
• 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?
  • Check everything.
• 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.
  • Proz
• What's the best book you've read this year?
  • Budapest

You can count on Rick Steves to tell you what you really need to know when traveling in Budapest.

Following this book's self-guided walks, you'll explore Europe's most underrated city. Soak with Hungarians in a thermal bath, sample paprika at the Great Market Hall, and take a romantic twilight cruise on the Danube. Wander through the opulence of Budapest's late-19th-century Golden Age: the Parliament, Opera house, Great Synagogue, and Heroes' Square. View larger-than-life relics of the bygone communist era at Memento Park. For a break from the big city, head into the countryside—to Habsburg palaces, Hungarian folk villages, the historic winemaking capital of Eger, and colorfully tiled Pécs.

Rick's candid, humorous advice will guide you to good-value hotels and restaurants. He'll help you plan where to go and what to see, depending on the length of your trip. You'll get up-to-date recommendations about what is worth your time and money. More than just reviews and directions, a Rick Steves guidebook is a tour guide in your pocket.

Dimitris Moutafis

Question and Answer

• What is your name?
  • Dimitris Moutafis
• Where do you live?
  • Athens, Greece
• What made you decide to become a translator or interpreter?
  • My love for words!!!
• List one strength that you think sets you apart from your colleagues.
  • Entrepreneurial mindset
• Name the one thing that you most enjoy in your translating or interpreting career.
  • Marketing Brochures!
• 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.
  • A review for an insurance company's year-end results report, translated by 8 different persons. I never should have taken this job!
• 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?
  • You shouldn't take any job just for the money.
• 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.
  • SDL Trados Studio
• What's the best book you've read this year?
  • 101 Things a Translator Needs to Know

This is a book for beginners. It's also a book for seasoned professionals, students and teachers. For freelancers and staff translators. For amateurs and experts, generalists and super-specialists - be they certified and sworn, recognised, authorised. . . or simply tantalised by translation's potential for a varied and enriching career. The authors are all successful translation professionals in fields ranging from highly technical to literary. Here they share insights and tips about what translation involves and how a professional translator needs to think, work and act when dealing with clients and colleagues.