I am a native English speaker and I translate French and Spanish to English. In 1994 I graduated from The University of Bristol with a BA Hons degree in Modern Languages.

Since then, I have worked in a variety of industries where I have consistently used my languages. These jobs were in Tourism (luxury European hotels, including the Paradors of Spain and the Châteaux de France), Education (language, secondary and business schools), Marketing (language school), IT (Compaq Computers), Business (insurance company), the Media (BBC) and the Theatre (Stoll Moss Theatres).

Working with my languages across a broad spectrum of environments has helped me to grow my skills in a range of areas. I gained valuable experience in both written and verbal communication with offices abroad and with French and Spanish nationals in my own workplace; I refined my written skills when dealing with important documents; I received excellent IT training and was able to put this to regular use, for example, as the creator of my department's website at Compaq; finally, I had the opportunity to apply years of language training to practical situations where speed, versatility, dependability and accuracy were essential.

My language skills have benefited from periods spent living in Spain and France, studying at the Universities of Salamanca, Granada and Montpellier.

After a short career break, I became a freelance translator in 2005 and in that time I have worked with a variety of agencies and private clients. My main areas of expertise are Tourism, Marketing, Education, Descriptive and Literary texts and Social Sciences. However, I also have experience of translating business and IT-related texts, as well and texts relating to health, healthcare and health and safety. I worked for a while as a Freelance Interpreter for the NHS in London. I also now do editing and proofreading work for Routledge.

Examples of my work as a freelance translator:

* literary and descriptive texts - books, travel literature, tourism, beauty, culinary, quotations
* tourism and leisure - holiday destinations, social and sports clubs, social and business travel
* marketing - magazine articles, product reviews, questionnaires, catalogues
* education - head teacher training and assessments
* UN documents - AIDS/HIV prevention
* texts about health, healthcare and health and safety
* websites and IT texts - recruitment, golf enthusiasts, digitization workshop
* business-related texts - business proposals, master agreements, insurance, private equity

My rates are very competitive and any projects of a technical nature are proofread by an IT consultant friend. My average output is 2,000-2,500 words a day, depending on the nature of the work. I am also available to work weekends.

PLEASE NOTE: I am due to start maternity leave shortly.

For further information, please contact me:
cj.vale@bluebottle.com