I hold a BSc degree in Engineering, plus a Certificate of Proficiency in English (ECPE) (University of Ann Arbor, Mich, USA).

I have been active in the Marketing and Exports sales of Industrial goods, up to Commercial Director, 1974 to 2005, and I have been involved in both translating (English / Spanish, both ways) and writing (also in both languages) throughout, though it was all started in a casual way. When needing to translate sales literature, technical manuals, specs and copy, I found that both MY translations and my originals worked better, and that's how I got involved -what with close deadlines, extensive travel in between and meetings.

So I know -firsthand- about the pressures, the deadlines and everything: Considering that I was both the translator AND the client, that I knew firsthand also when -and why- I wanted it done by a deadline, and that it was me at the receiving end (or that I alone was responsible for missing a deadline for a tender, for instance, not to mention that it was me too at the meetings involved), I KNOW that better than most... And this is why I hold no portfolio.

All of which means that, since I was both the translator and the client (until recently, so personal references are now available: See WWA section, top right corner this page) I have never bothered to gather references or (for starters) becoming a member of a proper professional association and getting proper credentials –my client(s) did appear to be perfectly happy without them.

The reason is that I have always enjoyed translating, even when that has interfered with my chosen executive career at some points in time (more than once, in fact). I might say that translating was sort of a hobby for me, but a very serious one –otherwise I would have landed in dire difficulties sooner rather than later, and I would certainly have had to relinquish translating, had the results been less than perfect, even for once.

This means also that, hobby or otherwise, I have been keeping my translation skills perfectly honed throughout my career –well over 35 years so far- and that I have done so in-depth in quite a wide variety of specialist technical fields in accordance with the jobs as described in my CV, but that I can prove it (objectively) only to myself.

Since I am now living at a slower pace, I have decided to put my expertise and experience to good use, and this is why I have decided to join the fray, and ProZ.