Cristina Sousa

After working several years as a secretary, I decided to embark on a new career in translation. I live in Brazil and I am pursuing a BA in Translation and Interpreting at Uninove University and currently I keep working in a law firm, and perform some volunteer work subtitling videos for Ted Talks.

I have attended several workshops and extension courses in audiovisual translations since 2017. Also, my experience acquired in working for a law firm made me build a good terminology in this area, which makes me confident in translating legal documents.

I like reading, watching movies and series, travelling and spending my free time with my family.

My career goals

I have been working as a secretary over the past years. Although having a good job and being recognized as an excellent secretary by my current bosses, I decided to change careers because of an old dream I have: become a translator. This dream has been pursuing me since I was a teenager, but at that time either I or my family could not afford for the high costs of that kind of education in Brazil.

In my point of view, everyone should choose a career based on what they truly love no matter what age they are, that’s why after raising my daughters and being financially stabilized I am ready to follow my dream.

I have started a BA in Translation and Interpreting in 2015 and I am in the last semester now. I have attended many events for translators since I started the course and the more events I went, the more I was sure that translating is what I want to do for a living in the future.

During my course, I found out that translation for subtitling and dubbing are my favourite subjects. For that reason, I have been working voluntarily in translating subtitles for Ted Talks. Also, as I work in a law firm since 1999, I am really used to the legal terminology, mainly in Intellectual Property area. I intend to focus on these areas in my career.

Last month, I became a member of the American Translator Association and I am planning a trip in October to attend the Annual Conference that will take place in New Orleans. I think it is really important for translators to attend these meetings and keep studying and developing skills.

To sum up, I believe that with training, effort, and dedication I will develop an excellent work in this new career and I hope we can work together to increase the level of satisfaction expected from the interns in your company.

Cristina Sousa is a Summer Intern 2018 at Modlingua, New Delhi