I love languages, and I have a broad range of life experience and education that I am able to use in my translation work. I spent the first five years of my life in Israel, where Hebrew and German were my 'native' languages. I lived the next four years in Uruguay, where I learned the foundations of Spanish that I use now in interpreting and translating. I came to the United States at 10 and developed an excellent command of spoken and written English, which is now my strongest 'native' language. I also studied French and Italian in college, but my major focus was Psychology. I have a Bachelor's degree in Psychology and a Master's degree in Counseling Psychology. I have spent many years working in mental health agencies, and did much of this work with Spanish-speaking patients in many different settings including psychiatric hospitals, outpatient clinics, police stations and jails, and emergency rooms. My work experience also includes 7 years at the UCLA Medical Center and School of Medicine. All of his background contributes to a strong understanding of medical and behavioral-science terms and concepts that I can apply to my translation work.

I also love music, and have studied piano, music history, and music theory. I have sung in community choirs and have taught classes in music history and theory. I also repair musical instruments (brass and woodwinds).

I have worked as a copy editor for the University of California Press and other publishers. I am a certified court interpreter and medical interpreter (Spanish<>English); my work for the courts includes interpreting at hearings and trials, as well as translation of court documents, and I also do interpreting by telephone for administrative-law hearings. I regularly teach academic Spanish (and occasionally conversational Italian) at a local community college.

I have contributed to the education of interpreters in the state of Washington by preparing and teaching the following courses to my colleagues: Speaking Out on Ethics // DUI and Traffic Terminology for Court Interpreters // Medical Terminology for Court Interpreters. I also developed a comprehensive glossary of English-->Spanish legal terminology for the Washington State Administrative Office of the Courts which may be found on the official state-wide AOC website at: [http://www.courts.wa.gov/programs_orgs/pos_interpret/index.cfm?fa=pos_interpret.display&fileName=glossary/index ]

I am very careful and precise in my translation work, and spend a great deal of time checking and cross-checking terms in many reference sources to make sure that my translations are accurate and clear.

My translation clients have included:

--TransPerfect Translations: Translation, proofreading and back translation of health sciences texts (medical records, medical journal articles, clinical trials documentation, pharmaceutical information) from Spanish and Italian into English.
--ASET International Services Corporation: Back translation of Italian behavioral
science/clinical research texts. (please see their Blue Board entry)
--Morales-Dimmick Translation Service (a translation/interpreting agency in
Emmett, Idaho): Telephone interpretation of administrative-law hearings
throughout Washington, Oregon and Idaho. Escort interpreting for trade
missions from Central and South America. (please see their Blue Board entry)
--The Language Exchange (a translation agency in Burlington, Washington): Proof- reading and copy editing of English and Spanish text, brief translations of
English into Spanish and Italian. Interpreting assignments throughout
Washington.
--The Washington Traffic Safety Commission: Copy editing/revision of a state-wide
Spanish 'Driving Under the Influence' information brochure.
--The San Juan County (Washington) District Court: Translation of court documents
and forms into Spanish.
--The San Juan County Victims' Services Office: Spanish translation of Victim
Services brochure.
--The San Juan County Department of Health and Community Services: Spanish
translation of Family Services and Resources brochure. Spanish translation of
Informed Consent form and materials for Dental Fluorosis study.
--The San Juan County Emergency Management Department: translation of
emergency management brochures into Spanish.

Please also see my profile on the ATA (American Translators Association) web site at: http://www.atanet.org/onlinedirectories/tsd_listings/tsd_view.fpl?id=9077.

COMMENTS AND FEEDBACK RECEIVED:

(I have just added this section -- April, 2011 -- of positive feedback I've received.)


“Our reviewers were very pleased with your translation and we look forward to working with you. For your information, a score of 99% or above is required from both reviewers in order to pass.”

“This is an excellent translation that uses standard and accurate industry terminology.”

“The translation flows and reads smoothly and I didn’t have to refer to the source text to understand the content.”

“The translation is virtually perfect, a model of what all scientific/technical translations should be like.”

"In my humble opinion, the translator did a great job."

"Got this feedback from my proofreader for the file you delivered this morning. The translation is excellent! "

“Por cierto, la revisora me ha dicho que tu traducción era de una calidad excelente!” [“By the way, the proofreader told me that the quality of your translation was excellent.”]


"As a project manager, I work with Joseph Tein on a regular basis. He is a great linguist to work with. His professionalism, quality and flexibility smooth my workflow. I've never got any complaint about Joseph's work from our client. More often than not, our clients send us positive feedback about his translations."

"The quality of work on these was excellent."

"Hi Joe! I have a file that another linguist messed up -- and the QM specifically asked that you look at it, as she thinks you are awesome. Can you please have a look an answer her questions?"

"Joe is a linguist who had the experience and ability to help out. Not only did Joe send in a revised file, but he wrote two follow-up e-mails to the PM later that night, as he reflected on and did more research on certain issues in the file that were unresolved the first time. Although such detail, precision, patience, and investment of his time are all typical of the work that Joe sends us, he really went above and beyond the call of duty here to help us out when we were in a pinch, and this job was not even his. His willingness to help in such cases has really made him a go-to guy for mystifying medical files. "

Although this was not Joe's job (it was done by another linguist and was in relatively poor shape), his extensive and detailed help spoke volumes of his commitment as a part of our team. QM sent the document to the PM and specifically asked for Joe to take a look at her questions about terminology. Joe took on this project with gusto, and not only did he respond to the specific questions that were asked, but he proofread the entire document and pointed out a few more issues that would improve the quality of the file. Time and time again, Joe has shown himself to be eager and willing to help, a downright pleasure to work with, not to mention that he is a very learned linguist who is extremely knowledgeable about his subject area."

"Joe, thank you a million times over! You are always there for us!"

--More of these available :)

Thank you for visiting my profile!