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Personal Background:
I was born in 1973, in
Colchester, England, where I attended two years of primary school. I moved with my family to Jerusalem, Israel, in 1980. I was
placed in a regular Hebrew-speaking primary school, which forced me
to quickly acquire Hebrew as my "second" native language. The
remainder of
my education was in Hebrew, although I continued to speak and read English at home. Negotiating the transitions between two very
different languages and cultures was immensely difficult at times,
but I am now grateful for having grown up bilingual. Bilingualism
has led me to a career that I love.
In 1997, I moved to the
United States with my Israeli-American husband. Since coming to the
U.S., a combination of studies, jobs and wanderlust has led us to
Seattle, Indiana, back to Seattle, to Long Island, NY, and most recently,
to Denver, where I now live and work.
How and Why I Translate:
For me, as for many translators, translation is far more than
just a job. It is part of how I live my life. My identity is
composed of multiple cultures in two languages.
On a given day, I
read daily newspapers from Israel, England and the U.S., listen
to the news on a NY radio station, read a Seattle weekly, and
listen to music on Israeli radio. I speak both English and
Hebrew regularly, and read books written in (or translated
into) both languages. I visit Israel every year, to see friends
and family, stock up on dictionaries, and catch up with the
latest developments in Hebrew, a language still rapidly
evolving.
Translation is a way to reconcile these parts and to promote
effective communication. I enjoy the challenges of translation,
and relish the opportunity to learn from whatever I happen to be
translating, whether a healthcare survey, an article about
software developers, a chapter from a novel, or a manual for
operating an espresso machine!
Professional Experience:
As an undergraduate at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem (where
I obtained a B.A. in English Literature), I translated academic
articles for fellow students and professors, both from Hebrew to
English and English to Hebrew. I also worked at a bilingual law
firm, where I edited and translated legal documents and
correspondence.
In 1997, while living in Seattle, I joined Microsoft's Middle
East Product Development group, which oversees the localization
of Microsoft Office products into Hebrew and Arabic. My duties
included quality assurance, testing localization tools, and
translating product labels and legal material.
After moving to Bloomington, Indiana, in 1998, I started my
home-based business as a freelance translator, while also
studying for an M.A. in Near Eastern Languages & Cultures. Since
that time, I have built up a client-base of over 60 translation
agencies and numerous direct clients. Most of my new business
comes through referrals from satisfied clients.
My first book-length translation was published in 2003, and I
now devote a significant amount of my time to literary
translation. I work with some of Israel's finest writers,
including David Grossman, Amir Gutfreund, Yael Hedaya and Tom
Segev. My translations have
been published in English by leading U.S. publishers.
Work Environment & Affiliations:
I work full-time from my home-office, where I am surrounded by a
large collection of dictionaries, grammar books, style guides
and other reference materials. I work on a PC with a cable
internet connection and perform daily backups of all files.
I maintain daily contact with both my "source" and "target"
languages, through websites, news groups, reading, on- and
off-line trade publications, and regular visits.
As of Fall 2007 I am a board member of the American Literary
Translators Association, and I also belong to the American
Translators Association and the Israel Translators Association.
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