Vanessa Almeida de Paula

My name is Vanessa Almeida de Paula, I'm from Brazil and I'm 28 years old. I started my studies in the English language concomitant with high school, in a private school, as well as the computer technician. At first, I had a hard time learning, but when I changed class I noticed a growing improvement. My interest in teaching flourished. When I got a job as a computer instructor, I had the opportunity to teach English, too. I felt good teaching and planning classes.

As I prepared for the SAT, I researched the linguistics course and got to know the translation area, which interested me a lot. I was able to pass the most famous public universities, such as USP, UNICAMP, UFSCAR, UNESP, but I could not attend them because I had a mental disorder. My father never agreed on me to study linguistics, because he believed that the professional in this area was very devalued in Brazil and I was influenced by his opinion. After psychotherapy sessions, medications and family conversations, I decided to take psychology because I was getting better and I thought I could help other people too.

As soon as I started my undergraduate degree in psychology, I got a freelance translation job, where I worked for a year and a half. It was quite a school because I knew some of CAT Tools and how they work, as well as the translation area of I.T., instruction manuals and the like. However, I was not able to study psychology and continue to work on translations. I continued to study psychology with great love and realizing I was fulfilled. However, when I started the practical part of the course, I experienced difficulties. And I fell ill again. I got married recently and I'm getting better in my mental health. I'm still deciding whether I'll finish my psychology course (only 1 year left!) or leave once and for all for the area of linguistics, my old dream.

Career goals

I think it's important to finish the psychology degree in the first place. Even if I decide not to act in the clinical area, it will be a great foundation in the work of translations in the area of psychology, as well as in the area of education, among others. Besides, if I wanted to study linguistics, I would be able to finish the course more quickly, because my undergraduate degree in psychology would allow me to do a pedagogical complementation in linguistics.

Then I would be able to teach Portuguese, Literature and English in the public education network, as well as to improve myself in the area of translation, specializing in subtitling, voiceover and interpreting.

I am also interested in developing teaching materials, whether to teach English or Portuguese as well as to revise them. I believe that to be a Summer Intern at Modlingua would be the beginning of a sincere career and, as a consequence would result in quality productions.

Vanessa Almeida de Paula is a Summer Intern at Modlingua, New Delhi