I’m Juan Rodríguez and I’m a freelance translator living in Berlin. I translate from German, French, and English into Spanish. Apart from general texts, I usually translate texts related to marketing, economics, finance, culture and arts; and, like most of us in this business, I’ve also translated numerous technical and legal texts. I work in projects that involve transcreation, SEO, and localization; I support companies that want to adapt their web content to Spanish speaking markets.

I don’t know exactly when did I start translating. I remember doing it at school: some friends needed some translations and then I started charging them.

I have a double major in literature and economics and after graduating I worked in market research. The corporation was multinational and I ended up translating a lot of material for my monolingual colleagues. As the company had clients from all over the world, part of the job consisted on transcreation.

I’ve always loved languages: in my college years I was devoted to French and then I decided to learn German. One of the reasons to come here to Berlin was to fully understand and speak this language (which was harder for me than English or French).

I started working as a translator when I came here. I started helping people I knew and then the world spread… As I have a background in economics, marketing and literature, it has helped me to offer really good translations. I’m a writer and I’m investigating for my PhD: These facts prove not only that I like writing, but also that I do it well. Also, as I need some fresh air and new intellectual challenges different from my novel and my investigations, I’m always motivated to translate more.

The most important thing when I translate is to present a fluid text: something that’s easy to read and also fulfils the goals of the translation. It must be impeccable: so good that the reader won’t notice that it’s translated. I’m a writer and I care about writing well: I respect the reader.