English to LatAm, Neutral or EU Spanish translator, proofreader and copywriter

20 years translating computing, technical, advertising, marketing and audiovisual documents

Three years as a freelance translator for various agencies and direct clients: Arthur Andersen Consulting, McCormack & Dodge, Twentieth Century Fox (press dossiers), NEC (cell phones, printers…), Toshiba (cell phones), NOKIA Data (cell phones, Alfaskop monitors), some translation agencies and dubbing companies, conferences, etc.

Two years as in-house translator, editor and project manager in a multinational translation company (Madrid subsidiary). Program localizations (software, documentation, compilation, dtp, printing, lino) and Project Management in Spain and other countries. Direct contact with the client headquearters (usually multinational corporations). Some of the clients I worked for were: Compaq (computers manuals and MS-DOS 5.0 localisation), AT&T (5ESS system for Telefónica [Spanish Telecom]), Microsoft (WinWorks 2.0, PC-Works 3.0, WinWord 6.0, etc.), Young & Rubicam Advertising (advertising docs), TORO (golf courses machinery), Du Pont (teflon & Lycra derived compounds), Computer Associates (CA-dBFast 1.0, CA-SuperProject, CA-Clipper, etc.), Summagraphics (plotters manuals), Saab (advertising brochures), Saatchi & Saatchi Advertising (advertising docs), among others. I also translated some parts of Windows 95, Office 95 & Office 97.

I worked as a translator, editor or project manager in more than 60 MS-DOS, Windows 3.1 to 7, Mac, iPhone OS, Flash and Web-based software localizations from English into Castilian Spanish, Latin American Spanish and/or Neutral Spanish for clients like Microsoft, Computer Associates, Peregrine, 3Com, AOL-Netscape, USRobotics, among many others.

Two years as a freelance translator/editor again, working for various agencies and corporations from Madrid, Corunna, Seville and Barcelona (in Spain), besides London and Dominican Republic. During this time I worked as a Project Manager for some projects, as Quality assistant, Team organizer, etc. and I translated some Microsoft products for Windows and Mac (MacWorks 4.0, MacOffice 4.2, etc.)

I translated most of Netscape Navigator Gold 3.01 and Netscape Communicator v. 4.x & 7 software and help files besides press notes and other documentation. During the last years I have translated to Mid-Atlantic Spanish many software and hardware products (handheld organizers, corporate web sites, network administration manuals, printers, scanners, modems, graphic applications…). Also, I have localized more than thirty websites in the last three years (computing, photography, online services, e-commerce, art, etc.). I managed a team to localize Netscape 7.0 help system into International Spanish.

Audiovisual translation (film scripts for dubbing and subtitling)

During all these years I have worked for all the Spanish TV channels (translation of scripts for cartoons, movies and documentaries) and I give presentations and workshops in some universities about “Writing, dubbing and subtitling for the TV and cinema”. I have translated major feature films like Matrix, Spider-Man, for dubbing and subtitling. Multimedia material also: Disney Interactive cd-rom games based on Disney films (“The Hunchback of Notre Dame Animated Story Book”, “101 Dalmatians Animated Story Book”…).

Proofreader, style reviewer, copywriter, linguist

I worked in the USA (Sep.-Oct. 1994) as a Style Editor for the translation of the proposal (700 pages, 7 translators) made by the Airtel consortium (formed by Spanish companies and the American telephony company PacTel, now AirTouch) for the Spanish Government. Since December 27th 1994, Airtel (now Vodafone) is the first private digital (gsm) cell telephony operator in Spain.

I worked as a proofreader in dozens of multimedia and software projects, as well as trends, advertising and market research projects for international advertising agencies and market research companies. I also worked on transcreation and localization of existent contents, besides writing new contents and suggesting new ideas for local products, documents and markets.

Since 2001, I am a scriptwriter for Televisión Española (Spanish pbs) and since January 2005 I am a co-host in a TV contest about language. I also write articles on computing, photography and food for printed and online magazines.

Typography, writing, proofreading and training

I created the online help for the cd-rom version of the Spanish Royal Academy Dictionary.

I’ve given presentations and seminars about software and specialized translation, website localization, movie scripts translation, Neutral Spanish, writing, typography and proofreading in many countries, including Ireland, Belgium, Luxembourg, Bulgaria, usa, Southern Cone, Mexico, Venezuela, Colombia, Guatema, among others. Some of my texts on Spanish language are used on Spanish as Second Language textbooks in Canada, Italy and the United States.

Since 1996, I have published more than 120 articles about translation and linguistics. I created the ATA Spanish Division mailing list and I was its moderator for several months in 1999. I’ve also participated in thirteen books about specialized translation.

Hardware

-         ASUS P7P55 LX ATX Intel Core i7 860 2,8 GHz 1333 MHz, 8GB DDR3, 2 HD (500 GB  and 1 TB),  GeForce 9500, HP 30″ monitor.
-         Color laser printer, fax, 2400 dpi flatbed scanner, DSL, DSLR professional photo equipment.
-         Multizone DVD, CD-ROM, CD-RW, Blu-Ray, HD-DVD…
-         Several removable and portable hard disks, digital cameras, PDAs, etc.

Software & more

-         Windows XP, Windows Vista, Windows 7, Office 2003 and 2007.
-         Resident tools, macros applied to translation, FTP, etc.
-         Basic knowledge about programming (Visual Basic for Applications).
-         My (printed) reference library includes 204 books, guides, dictionaries and manuals.
-         17 GB of glossaries, official terminology lists from major software and hardware manufacturers, besides dictionaries and TM files.
-         Wide knowledge of cultural assessment, localization and software beta-testing.