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Member since May '03

Working languages:
Spanish to English
Portuguese to English
English to Spanish
Portuguese to Spanish
Spanish to Portuguese


Michael Powers (PhD) - Legal and Technical Translations
PhD Span Port Eng - US Court Cert. 1980

Florida, United States / Native in: English Native in English
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7 Positive entries

Translator likelihood
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(41 entries)
4.9
Last 12 months
(3 entries)
5


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About me

Law, business, medical, technical, engineering, telecommunications, finance, dentistry, philosophy, ecology, scientific,employee manuals, advertising, linguistics, lexicography, academics, education

I was brought up monolingually in English in the Midwestern United States in the little town named Culver, Indiana, a small town next to Lake Maxincukee. In high school I started studying Spanish. Later, as an undergraduate Spanish and Portuguese major at Indiana University in Bloomington, Indiiana, I ended up studying at the Universidad Católica in Lima Peru for one year and then stayed in Peru to visit Bolivia, Argentina, and southern Chile. Six months later I enrolled in the Universidade de São Paulo in Brazil, where I finished my B.A. with a double major in Spanish and Portuguese and area certificate in Latin American Studies.

Between Peru and Brazil I got married to a Peruvian named Olga Bambarén in her home town of Lima, Peru where we met. She was an intelligent woman that earned a Bachelor's in Nutrition and Dietetics, and a caring mother. We were married to each other for 18 years until she succumbed to cancer. We had 4 children together and they were only 9, 6, 4 and 1 when she died.

Also on the personal level, I am presently married to Berta Powers. She was born in Cuba and raised in the U.S. since she moved out of Cuba to Mexico when she was 12, and then continued on to the U.S. after she turned 13. She earned her Bachelor's in economics in New Jersey, and, in addition to academic intelligence, she is a natural with people. She has done an outstanding job under very difficult circumstances. Berta helped me raise my children, especially my two youngest ones, Bryce and James, since they were 8 and 5 respectively, when we got married. Now she is finishing her Master's Degree in Mental Health - a field she has a lot of experience in after living in a combined family. It would be impossible to give her too much credit. I will forever be thankful to her.

We have a combined family of 5 children, consisting of Desiree, Sandra, Mikey, Bryce and James.

My stepdaughter, Desiree, just recently earned honors graduating with her Bachelor's Degree in Environmental Studies from Florida International University and is going to start her Master's Degree at Florida International University in Epidemiology. She got married in 2006 and she and her husband now have a healthy, lovely baby girl.

My daughter Sandra, is earning her Master's Degree at Cal Institute of the Arts in film, the premier institution of its type in the United States, afer graduating with honors from the Massachussets College of the Arts. She has now finished nearly two of the three year program and has received numerous academic scholarships for this year and her final year.

My oldest son (second oldest child) has finished a year of study overseas in Kassel, Germany, where he took all of his courses in German except for a translation class from Spanish into German. He now has his B.A. in German, and has been granted a Fullbright Scholarship to teach ESL in Leipzig, Germany for the next year (2007-2008). He will simultaneously take postgraduate courses at the local university. He is now accepted a fellowship to Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island to study toward his Ph.D. in Germanic Studies during the next five years and has the opportunity of earning a Ph.D. from Germany simultaneously. He was offered equivalent full packages at the University of Texas at Austin, University of Wisconsin at Madison and Ohio State University.

My second son (third child), Bryce, has received an academic scholarship to FIU, the local university in Miami, after graduating with honors from high school, and continues to participate in many sports. He has done an outstanding job his first year, and his Presidential Scholarship was renewed for this coming year (2007-08).

And my youngest son has just finished his sophomore in high school taking one advanced placement class (Environmental Studies) and all the rest are honors classes. He has just finished studying among an elite group of students at Florida International University this summer.

I decided to go to the University of Wisconsin at Madison for my M.A. in Spanish, and soon learned that although I like literature, I absolutely love linguistics. Since I wanted to specialize in Hispanic linguistics, I applied to a few different universities for the same. Georgetown University and Cornell University offered me fellowships for my Ph.D., but I decided on the University of Texas at Austin as an Assistant Instructor since I felt it was the strongest in the area in which I wanted to develop my expertise - Spanish and Portuguese linguistics.

Formerly I was a full time professor at Lousiana State University in Baton Rouge, Lousisana (1981-1982), the University of Miami in Coral Gables (1983-1989), and Miami Dade College (1989-1992). At the former I taught language and linguistics courses in Spanish, from the beginning levels up through the most advanced postgraduate subjects, and Portuguese language courses. At the University of Miami I taught language and linguistics courses, including Spanish for Hispanics on several occasions. At the latter, I taught ESL, Spanish, Portuguese and translation and interpretation classes.

I started interpreting in the year 1976 and started doing written translations in 1983. I became a United States Court Certified Interpreter in 1980 and was one of the original 10 to be certified in this language combination by passing the exam. In 1984 I was asked to help write the exam and adminsiter it. In addition to Spanish and English, I am certified as a Portuguese - English - Portuguese interpreter for immigration issues, and have interpred on different occasions in federal court in Portuguese.

My experience is varied and extensive. In interpreting, I have been an interpreter in more than 600 conferences, and in more than 3,400 depositions, trials and seminars. In conferences these include several in telecommuncations, business, marketing, pharmaceutical, medical, spiritual, etc. Depositions have been both civil and criminal with the longest one being the Magluta Falcón trial in Miami for more than 4 months. Roughly 90% of my interpreting work deals with Spanish and English and 10% with Portuguese and English. With regards to translations, I have translated more than ten millioin (10,000,000) words in a wide variety of fields. Approximately 50% of the translations have been from Spanish to English, 35% from English into Spanish, and 15% from Portuguese into English.

For three years (1991 - 1994) I worked full time as quality control supervisor for the Translation and Interpretation Division of Ebon Research Systems. In that capacity, I transcribed and translated hundreds of taped conversations, as well as hundreds of interpreting jobs and many, many translating jobs.

In 2000-2001, I was the official translator for the Commander-in-Chief of the Southern Command, General Peter Pace. He was the head of the Joint Chief of Commands from 2006 up until his resignation in August, 2007.

For me, interpreting and translating is more than a career. It is a passion, and I feel very fortunate that I am able to do what I love and make a decent living.



This user has earned KudoZ points by helping other translators with PRO-level terms. Click point total(s) to see term translations provided.

Total pts earned: 23840
PRO-level pts: 21456


Top languages (PRO)
Spanish to English8727
English to Spanish7786
Portuguese to English1977
English to Portuguese1218
English769
Pts in 10 more pairs >
Top general fields (PRO)
Law/Patents4462
Tech/Engineering4174
Bus/Financial4113
Other3594
Social Sciences1289
Pts in 4 more flds >
Top specific fields (PRO)
Law (general)2251
Law: Contract(s)1238
Business/Commerce (general)1150
Finance (general)979
Construction / Civil Engineering556
Other532
Education / Pedagogy472
Pts in 96 more flds >

See all points earned >
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