Dina El Kassas

Translator, localization specialist

Computatonal linguist and Elearning consultant
My Email I am an Assistant Professor at the faculty Al Alsun (languages and translation) of Minya University and work as a freelancer since 1995

I am particulary interested by the development of electronic resources for translation (parallel and comparable corpora, terminological databases, etc.)

PROFESSIONAL PROFILE

Diverse experiences in translation, foreign languages acquisition, e-learning and computational linguistics. Research interest mainly lies in the field of languages contrastive studies, development of electronic linguistic resources, and innovative solutions in education. Deep track record of reading materials and rewriting them. Outstanding skills in structuring data and building multi-level language resources. Coordination and management expertise.

CORE COMPETENCES
• Translation
• Computational linguistics
• E-learning engineering and management
• Educational technologies
• Knowledge mediation
• Foreign languages acquisition

Languages pair translation
• French to Arabic; Arabic to French
• English to Arabic; Arabic to English
• English to French; French to English

Translation domains
• Journalistic / politics / publishing / hotel / tourism / sports / media / broadcasting / history / geography / instructions / manuals / Linguistics / Education / training
• Technical / IT / communications / internet / multimedia / computers
• Certificates / diplomas
• Business / banking / real estate / insurance and financial services
• Medical / hospitality
• Advertisement / marketing / agriculture / arts / automotive / financial / economics
• Cooking /food / beverages / fashion / clothing / health and beauty
• Film / theatre
• Psychology / psychiatry / social sciences / religion

PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE
Faculty of languages and translation – Minya University, Minya, Egypt – 1998-Present
ACADEMIC STAFF
• Serve as Assistant lecturer then lecturer and now as Assistant Professor in the French department.
• Coordinator of the Quality Assurance Committee.
• Translator in the Faculty translation units.
• Teach French-Arabic translation, translation technologies, introduction to linguistics, syntactic theories, theoretical linguistics, discourse analysis, business French, French grammar and phonetics and Arabic grammar. Research in French-Arabic contrastive syntactic analysis within the framework of dependency grammar, namely Meaning-Text theory. Translate documents in the Faculty translation Unit.
Key contributions
• Translation of documents such as administrative documents, certificates and diplomas, contracts, reports, brochures, correspondence.
• Interpreted at the faculty international conference.
• Conception and evaluation of French department program curricula.
• Conception and development of the annual conference website.
• Proposing a EU-Tempus project to develop translation courses in order to include learning computer-assisted tools.
• Participate in the strategic planification and action plan 2010-2012, as well the evaluation of the institutional assets.
• Describing the faculty's quality assurance policies for foreign languages acquisition and translation courses.

OTHER EXPERIENCE
• Educational Manager, Center of multimedia resources and self learning – French University in Egypt – Feb 2008 – July 2008
-Surveying the university needs in foreign language acquisition / Developing e-learning materials for French as a foreign language and creating a blog for carrier management and employability Skills module / Collecting resources for building learning and professional e-portfolio / Elaboration of language workshops and educational scenarios
• Attached Professor, Faculty of Pedagogy – Ismailia University – Feb 2007 – Jun 2008
• Animator of seminar on computer-aided tools and a workshop on using Wordfast as a translation memory tool – French cultural center in Cairo – Jun 2008
• Translator of documentary from Arabic into French, Agence Capa television – Jan 2005
• Assistant-lecturer, Faculty of Hotel and tourism at Fayoum University – 1996-1998

EDUCATION
• Master in E-learning Management • Paris 3 – Sorbonne Nouvelle University, France
• PhD in Formal and computational linguistics • Paris 7 – Denis Diderot University, France
• Master in French language and Education • Grenoble 3 – Stendhal University, France
• MPhil in French linguistics • Ein Shams University, Egypt
• Bachelor in French language and translation • Ein Shams University, Egypt
• Diploma in Assistance and Management • Information Technology Institute, IDCS, Egypt
• External evaluation of higher education institutes • NAQAAE, Egypt

LINGUISTIC COMPETENCES
Arabic • Mother tongue
French • Effective Operational Mastery
English • Effective Operational Proficiency

COMPUTER COMPETENCES
Website development • Markup languages (XHTML, XML,CSS), Javascript, softwares : FrontPage, Dreamwaver and Kompozer
Graphics design • GIMP and Photoshop
Microsoft Package • Word, Excel, Power Point, Access, Publisher
E-learning • Data base management (PHP/MySQL, Access), Educational platforms (Moodle, WebCT/Blackboard and ATutor), Object Learning and Metadata (Reload, LomPad)
Languages industry • Functional and logic Programming languages (Perl, Prolog), Computer-aided translation (Wordfast, SDL Trados suite, Similis), Ontology editor (Protégé), Lexical Markup Framework standard, linguistic platform Nooj

QUALIFICATIONS
• Thirteen years of Translating document experience.
• Superb command of idiomatic French and Arabic language and grammar.
• Extensive knowledge of vocabulary in both languages.
• Extremely high level of fluency in Arabic and French as well as command of English.
• Ability to edit and review other translations.
• Sound interpreting skills.
• Excellent computer skills.
• Uncommon ability to work independently to solve problems while demonstrating good organizational skills.
• Unmatchable willingness and skills in research activities.
• Ability to work in a team environment.

PROFESSIONAL ASSOCIATIONS AND CREDENTIALS
• Associate Researcher – Modyco laboratory – Paris X University – France
• Member of the Egyptian National Quality Assurance and Accreditation of Education Committee for fixing National Academic Reference Standards (NARS) for Bachelor Degree in languages and translation faculties
• Association for Natural languages processing (ATALA), France
• Association of the Master AIGEME, France
• Association of Egyptian computational linguists, Egypt
• Foundation of technological and human development, Egypt
• Cairo linguists group, Egypt

SOME CLIENTS
• Renault
• Port Ghalib Resort
• Marsa Yas Car Racing
• Rocamed
• ESNAAD Co.