A bit of me: I specialise in IT, medical, and academic translation, revision, and proofreading. I have a BA in English and Spanish Literature and an official Master in English and Spanish as Specialised Languages. Currently attending my first PhD year in Forensic Computational Linguistics. I spent the first years working as an in-house translator, eventually freelancing. I have a passion for anything that needs careful reading!
Expertise in translation, revision and proofreading services
Passion for computational and forensic linguistics and anything that needs careful reading! Content I translate
Academic essays and articles
IMRAD
Contracts and agreements
POA, wills and Title Deeds
Any other text that needs to be adapted into one of the languages I master that I would die for reading. My portfolio As a translator, I have translated several texts, and for a question of professional agreements, I have to protect the privacy of my clients, but I can provide other translations, including Art
An added value is the union of linguistic and humanistic preparation with solid scientific high school studies. I am inclined to search for the theme and the subject, aware of the specific sectoral language and the most rigorous need to convey the correct message in the proper tone.
Reasons to hire a professional translator:
Convey meaning. Your translations reflect what you want to disseminate
I am a PhD student. I know how hard and expensive it is to have you published in a Specialised Review or journal.
It is essential to be understood correctly. A good translator must investigate the topic or theme she is translating, so why not rely on someone who is used to doing it daily for herself and who is passionate about learning!
This is how I solved a recent terminology, style, or linguistic challenge
For a new APP, I had to convey the meaning of “liveness” in Italian when talking about compliance and anti-fraud teams to fight money laundering, terrorist financing, and online fraud. Well, the task was difficult, but I sorted it out lightly. But I still think of what to do with these new terms applied to technology that appear daily and are extremely difficult to translate.
My professional methodology for a standard translation project is
Read the original first! I eventually might decide to rely on MT (generally for a question of time/money). But I always, and I mean always, read the original first: how can you convey meanings into another language IF you do not know what you are reading? Also, when I translate, I always think to the writer (of course), but the reader too. If I do not understand it, possibly no one would….Arrogant? Maybe yes, but words are bridges to communicate with others, not barriers to make you smarter than the rest.
This is how I continue my learning in my area of expertise
You never know enough: I have recently updated my knowledge and studies with a Master’s degree in English and Spanish as specific purposes with excellent results. I have finally the relevant skills for Medical translations that I always feared for too specific. Now I feel confident enough to venture in IMRD translation for the medical sector.
This is how I solved a recent recent technical challenge on a translation project
I frequently assess QA for a Nasdaq Stock Market Corporation (privacy here is a must, and I am so good at it nobody knows). I am constantly complaining with PMs about the lousy quality of MT they are accepting as good and appear on their website! I recently banged on the table and claimed better translation quality: well, it seems they are taking action on this, based on a very documented report I sent them!
These are the pressures I enjoy and do not enjoy in my work
I enjoy paid pressure… I hate being pressed and complaining about my high prices for low rates, which is why I recently decided not to. Also, I’m not too fond of anxiety because I cannot edit the translation as much as I like. This is the reason why I prefer direct clients to agencies. I enjoy pressure for a specific purpose: a review deadline, direct client’s satisfaction… But hey! I do know we live in a stress-age so that I can handle it :)
This is how I solved a recent communication challenge with a client
I always enjoyed words, but this is not the general trend. I recently found that communication is much easier if I use bullets, so I use them whenever I need to explain procedures or relevant information.
This is how I manage terminology consistency in my area of expertise
Medical translation is a challenge daily: neologisms, barbarisms (mainly from English). I constantly rely on Published medical evidence ranked according to their Impact factor (“quartiles”, updated every two years), As a database, I can mention SCIMAGO and ACADEMIC ACCELERATOR, both online, PUBMED from Medline or CINAHL (includes psychology). In Spanish can be mentioned Gaceta Sanitaria, PAHO (Organización PanAmericana de la Salud). Keywords are significant in medical reviews and articles (MESH and DECS), as they are used vasty to discriminate among hundreds of thousands of texts.
As a writer in my native language, this is how I would describe my style
As a translator, I like to stick to the author’s style, leveraging it with the reader’s necessity to reach the relevant issue. It requires a lot of background and experience (and, yes, diplomacy).
When clients request literal translations, this is how I handle the situation
Context, context, context. And the client is always the boss: one important thing. If I consider improvements, generally, the client agrees with me as my points are always well described, detailed, relevant and….sorry for being pedantic but accurate… :)
Lorenzo Gutiérrez, Gutiérrez Procurador de los Tribunales
Estoy muy satisfecho con el trabajo de Elena: es puntual, rigurosa, detallista y se toma muy en serio su trabajo. No es la primera vez que me identifica disconformidades o incoherencias en el original. No puedo que recomendarla.
Elena es excelente, no solo realiza la traduccion sino que tambien le da el sentido correcto a cada frase, los clientes a los que tengo que remitir las traducciones quedan mas que satisfechos.