Contact with the english language came at a very early age when I lived for 1 yr in the U.S.A, after that, at least 40 pct of my communicating in life has been done in english.

Most of my primary and high school education was done in an english school in my country of origin, Colombia; where I received intense preparation and training in english literature, english history and translation, grammar and comprehension; 75 pct of the academic curriculum was in english, all with english, scottish and irish teachers. I was awarded The Lower Certificate in English from The University of Cambridge at the time, with an honorary mention in Verbal English.

During my university education most textbook and academic literature was in english. At the time, I started working on translations, not only as per the request of professors to help future colleagues and classmates, but also to suplement my income in topics other than Chemical Engineering, like history, literature and social studies. I also have an MBA degree in finance from Loyola University in New Orleans.

Throughout my career, since I have been involved in international business and consulting, mostly with Fortune 500 companies, English has been more of a need, than a requirement; I have seen excellent professionals having to delay or postpone their career advancement, because of a lack of knowledge of the english language. For approximately the last 10 yrs I have reassumed translating as part of my consulting activities.

As a sequential interpreter I have not only learned patience and acquired people skills, but my vocabulary in english has suffered a tremendous boost especially the one related to the banking, insurance, medical and public security industries. I have been ranked as an "Outstanting Interpreter" by my quality supervising officer, for the time I have been interpreting.

I do a lot of reading in english, my favourites are The New York Times and Esquire. I am also in the process of reading "The Secret" and enjoy reading fiction and non-fiction action thrillers like The Da Vinci Code and The Templairs.