Studies/Qualifications:
At ISLA (Instituto Superior de Línguas e Administra??o), Leiria, Portugal:
- MA Degree in Translation Studies : English , French and Portugal
- Attended the III Meetings on “Translation, Culture, Society” carried out by the ISAI
(Instituto Superior de Assistentes e Intérpretes), on the 10th of May, 1996.
- 5th year – Humanities course of studies – Portuguese Language & Literature,
English Language, French Language;
- 4th year – Humanities course of studies – Variant of Public Administration/Public
Relations.
Professional Experience:
- June & August 1995: worked for a market and public opinion research agency
(Metris), based in Lisbon, conducting interviews door-to-door;
- October 1997 to April 1998: collaborated with a local (regional) newspaper (Diário
Regional de Leiria), writing once a week for the opinion article section. Personal
column entitled “Sair em Leiria...de noite e de dia”, under the pseudonym Miguel
Rude. Articles main subjects focusing on cultural, social aspects of the day-to-day
life of the city of Leiria and its inhabitants;
- April 1998 to October 1998: several freelance translation jobs in the journalistic
area, technical (electrical appliances), software (computer games instructions
manuals), literary (small excerpts of foreign language literature – English and
French), audio-visual (scripts destined for documentary voice-overs and movies
subtitling), sports (tennis, athletics and judo - theory and practice articles);
- February 2000 to August 2000: Teacher of Portuguese language for foreigners, at
the Galway Atlantic Language school;
- October 1998 to November 2005: full time in-house English-Portuguese technical
translator with P.H. Brink International, now Merrill Brink International, (Galway,
Ireland). Main fields of work/expertise:
Automotive
Translation, editing and proofreading of:
Operator’s manuals for construction, material handling and agricultural
equipment such as tractors, excavators, loaders, horizontal drills, sprayers, windrowers,
lawnmowers, and others;
Instructions manuals for the installation, usage and repair of outboard engines
for recreational boats.
Electronics
Translation, editing and proofreading of:Parts catalogues (relays, switches,
hardware wiring schematics and diagrams for electronic systems);
User’s manuals for stereos, karaoke systems, TVs, DVD-players, in-car CD
players, and others.
Financial
Translation, editing and proofreading of:Financial documentation/reports.
Legal
Translated some legal documentation, from English to Portuguese and
Portuguese to English.
Medical
Translation, editing and proofreading of:
Instructions manuals for medical devices (mainly on the less invasive
technology field) - stents and catheters (endoscopic, pulmonary, coronary, renal,
easophageal, etc.), biopsy needles, pre-amplifiers, pumping systems, cannulas,
and others;
Instructions manuals for electronic examination tables for patients.
Instructions manuals for respiratory systems, ventilators, spirometry systems,
orthopaedic prosthesis, and others;
Instructions manuals for body-toning devices;
Instructions for usage and application of microbiological products (microbiology
tests).
Software Localisation
Performed software testing and translated user’s manuals for network switches,
hardware installation, anti-virus software, and did some extensive software
testing;
Other functions within the company:
Adaptation of Brazilian Portuguese into Standard European Portuguese.
Acted as backup person for the Trados Department, during a 2-month period –
worked with Trados 5.5 and Trados 6.5.
Helped the Desktop Publishing QC (Quality Control) Department, when needed.
Performed numerous QC jobs on English and translated manuals - this included
checking the overall layout of manuals for formatting, measurements,
punctuation, style, etc.
Helped the Localisation Software Department fixing language bugs in the
localised software builds, using the program Catalyst 5.
- February 2006 - Technical translator at ELFP, Queluz, Portugal
- Translation of automotive manuals.
- March 2005 to the present day: freelance translator based in Portugal.
- September and October 2010: Translator/Interpreter at the Embassy of India,
Portugal.
Languages:
Portuguese – native speaker, fluent
English – fluent, proficient
French – medium level
Spanish – basic
Other qualifications:
- Good computer skills, Microsoft Windows 98/2000/XP/Vista and Microsoft Office
97/2002 (Word, Excel, Powerpoint);
- Excellent typing skills, both in Portuguese and English;
- Basic knowledge of Adobe Framemaker 5.5;
- Good knowledge of the translation software tools IBM Translation Manager and
Trados Workbench Tools (including Winalign, Tag Editor, T-Windows and
Multiterm);
- Attended an intensive English course for foreigners (Advanced Level) at the Galway
Atlantic Language school, destined to prepare candidates for the University of
Cambridge English Examinations;
- University of Cambridge Certificate of Proficiency in English. Examinations held in
Dublin University College, June 1999;
- Attended the MEDISA Conference - Medical Devices Manufacturers in Ireland,
held at the Corrib Great Southern Hotel, Galway, Ireland, in 2000.
- Attended a two-month Creative Writing for Beginners at the Galway Mayo Institute
of Technology, Galway, September 1999 to October 1999;
- Attended a Creative Writing for Beginners course at GTI (Galway Technical
Institute), 10-week period (January 2003 to March 2003);
- Attended a 10-week Fiction Advanced Course at GTI (Galway Technical Institute),
from October 2003 to December 2003;
Computer equipment:
- Desktop Pentium I7 2,67Ghz, 12Gb DDR3 RAM, 1 TB Hard Drive, DVD-RW unit,
1Gb DDR5 Graphics Card, deskjet printer/scanner/photocopier;
- IBM Thinkpad laptop, Pentium IV 1.3 Ghz, 768 Mb RAM;
Software:
- Windows Vista Home Edition;
- Microsoft Office 2003;
- Wordfast 5 (translation program);
- Trados Workbench 7 Freelance Edition;
- Several utility programs, such as photo editing software.
Other activities:
- Fond of writing/reading - fiction, short stories;
- Wrote a small book, crime-story type, entitled “Soníferos” (Soporifics), which was
pre-selected when submitted to the literary contest initiative “Prosas de Estreia”
(Prose for beginners), carried out by the publishing agency Editorial Notícias and by
the Instituto Português da Juventude (Portuguese Institute for Youth) in early 1998;
- Wrote for the DN Jovem (literary segment of the Diário de Notícias - Lisbon-based
newspaper), destined to promote and stimulate the act of writing among young
people), having had several short-stories published, from September 1998 to June
2000;
- Very fond of cinema, music, sports, computers and amateur photography.