Background: I have spent time in Egypt and Israel and have done programmatic work and translation for organizations promoting peace in the Middle East, as well as for translation agencies. In addition, I have extensive experience writing/editing assessments of media use around the world. I currently work as a freelance translator, writer, editor, and poet. I have translated government documents, media/market research materials, academic/research writing, newspaper articles, business documents, and poetry. I have a security clearance with the U.S. government.

Strengths: My strengths as a translator are attention to detail and complete mastery of my native English. I translate only into English, which is the language in which I have many years of experience as a professional writer and editor, and as a published poet. I believe that translation is not only a matter of conveying the meaning of the original text, but also of creating a professional, well-written document in the target language. I always double-check my own work so that the final product I submit will be as error-free as possible. If I have questions or uncertainties about the text—or if I encounter errors or other problems in the original—I will bring these to your attention. I take responsibility for my work and believe in open communication with the client. I will provide you with the same attention and high quality of work that I expect from others.

My approach to translation: As a poet, I believe that every word counts. As such, you can rest assured that no word will be overlooked in my translations. At the same time, languages are not equivalent, so a word-for-word translation often results in confusing or awkward writing. Thus, for many types of non-technical documents, I find a guiding principle of literary translation to be more appropriate: translating phrase by phrase, or even sentence by sentence, rather than word by word.