LANGUAGE PAIR: Portuguese-English

NATIVE LANGUAGE: English

EDUCATION:
1) B.A. in Theater Arts, Marymount College, Palos Verdes-CA
2) M.A in English and American Literature, Tulane University,
New Orleans-LA

DIFFERENTIATING SKILLS:
1) strong research orientation
2) extensive documentation experience (Oxford, Chicago, ABNT)
3) keen awareness of the technical and cultural factors that shape
language and style

TRANSLATION PHILOSOPHY: Respect the original in content and style, but phrase the translation in true target language (unless local color is required).

This is about me, my translation path, the personal and historical reasons for my fields of specialization.

A native Californian, I was born in Long Beach and raised in Burbank - home to Warner Brothers, Disney Studios, NBC-TV and Lockheed Aircraft - in a creative, articulate and politically aware environment. My father, an aircraft engineer and inventor, was the son of Great Depression migrants, and my mother, a writer and community leader, the granddaughter of Azorean immigrants who settled in the Central Valley in the late 1800s.

Soon after receiving a B.A. in Theater Arts from Marymount College, I moved to New Orleans, with its culture within a culture and its ties to Latin America and the Caribbean. There I received an M.A. in English and American Literature from Tulane University, where I taught Composition and Literature as a teaching assistant and at Xavier University as a full-time instructor.

On completing graduate studies, I once again moved, this time to Rio de Janeiro, where I intended to stay for two years but stayed for thirteen, during which I learned Portuguese, spent many an hour perusing travel and historical accounts at the Biblioteca Nacional and the Real Gabinete de Leitura Portuguesa, taught English as a Foreign Language (at BRASAS and the Cultura Inglesa) and eventually became a translator on invitation from the Brazilian Coffee Institute-IBC. Shortly thereafter, I was summoned to the federal Institute for Applied Economic Research-IPEA, where I served as Translator and Associate Editor of the journal 'Brazilian Economic Studies'. Given that this was during the final years of the 'Brazilian [Economic] Miracle', Economic and Social Development stand out among my fields of expertise.

Then came hyperinflation, the cancellation of projects and, in my case, a return to the United States. Although approved by Agnew Tech-Tran and the US Civil Service, there was little demand for Portuguese at the time and the government instituted a hiring freeze in the face of recession. I therefore moved to Lake Tahoe, Nevada, to make use of my language skills in its thriving tourist trade. On arrival, I once again taught English (at the University of Nevada-Reno), but soon found the gaming industry more stimulating. At Caesars Tahoe, I became a host/interpreter for Brazilian guests and a gaming supervisor (or 'pit boss' in the local jargon, a verbal relic from the mining days), thus being dealt another specialization: Travel and Tourism.

With Brazil gradually entering a more promising phase as of 1988, I returned to the country and have been here ever since - in Rio, Petrópolis, Búzios, Pirenópolis-Goiás - places many visit and some of us live, teach, translate... Of the translations done in this period, I consider the most interesting to have been linked to growth and development in the age of globalization, namely, innovation studies. Outstanding among these are two extensive analyses undertaken by the Brazilian government: 'Technological Innovation in Brazilian and Argentine Firms' (Brasília: Ipea, 2007) and 'Technological Innovation in Brazilian and Mexican Firms' (Brasília: Ipea, in press), both editied by João Alberto De Negri and Lenita Maria Turchi and funded by the United Nations Development Program. I thereby entered a third area of strategic global importance: Innovation Studies.

For strictly professional data, please click on CV/Resume.