Languages

Japanese
I studied Japanese at St Catherine’s College,  Oxford (2:1, 1996). I took the Ikkyu (highest level) of the Japanese Education Ministry Proficiency Examination in 1995 and the Diploma in Japanese Translation offered by the Chartered Institute of Linguists in 1998, achieving a Merit.  I have been a member of the Chartered Institute of Linguists since 2011 and a Member of the Institute of Translation and Interpreting (Japanese) since May 2014. In 2018 I became a Chartered Linguist. I have been a Fellow of the CIOL since 2021 and a Fellow of the ITI since May 2022.

Between 1994 and 2009 I spent 9 years working in Japan as a translator, editor, researcher, solicitor and for a brief period, television presenter.  My work as a solicitor included two years at a bilingual law firm and a year on secondment to the legal department of a major trading house.  Successful use of the Japanese language is of course critical for a translator and interpreter, but it also enhanced my experience in the other roles significantly.

German
I grew up in a bilingual environment, spending several years in German-speaking Switzerland and Germany as a child.  As an adult I had the opportunity to return to Switzerland in 2009 and have been working as a translator from German to English since that time.  During my stay in Switzerland (2009 – 2012) I also worked as a solicitor for a law firm there, frequently dealing with German documents and correspondence. I became a Member of the Institute of Translation and Interpreting (German) in 2021.

I have been working as a freelance translator since 2007. I currently live in London.