Valber Santos

My name is Valber dos Santos, I am from Brazil and 35 years old. I have started to develop my linguistic skills when I had been for six months to study English in the United Kingdom, 2006, at the center for the nations of World Horizons, Llanelli, Wales, UK.

After my season in the UK I had been in North Africa, specifically Morocco, for 2 years being part of a volunteer internship in the NGOAcross Maroc and because of this I also could learn French. During my time in North Africa, I had part-time freelance jobs as an interpreter because there were loads of tourist groups from Portugal to Morocco and it was the way to pay for my stay there.

I went back to Brazil in October/2008 because I wanted to build up my professional skills and I actually have a nursing technician certificate from Cruz Vermelha Brasileira (Brazilian Red Cross).  I already have finished a geography teacher degree by Universidade Estadual Vale do Acaraú and a bachelor degree in translation(English and French) by Federal University of Paraíba and I have a professional experience as a translator by EXTRAD Project in the University. I had to translate different texts for the academic community in the University and I was a student research at a Translation Competence Research Group by the Federal University of Paraíba.

I actually am working as a freelance translator with different companies by the internet and I expect to get an opportunity with your company and I will be very thankful for the opportunity to show my abilities as a translator and give my best to be very professional. I also teach English in a language course and I love dancing and running as a hobby.

Career Goals

When I have started to study my bachelor degree in translation at the Federal University of Paraíba, João Pessoa, Brazil, I could not imagine the challenges I would have to be a freelance translator. My first expectation about to be a translator was the ‘glamour’ of knowing or being able to translate another language and I could not imagine that I would learn so many things and the job was so hard at the same time it is very pleasant and interesting. Terms and tools as CAT Tools, Translation memory, translation apps, etc., were so new for me and  I believe that those expectations have been changing since the beginning of my academic training and new expectations have been emerging and becoming new challenges for me.

First, at all, there is my expectation about the professionalism of being a translator. I always have been improving my qualifications as a translator. It just is not a linguistic qualification but I have to be able to deal with different branches of marketing, technology, business, entrepreneurship staff, etc. I have discovered that if I had some qualifications in another branch of medical, engineering, law, etc., It would be so great for my curriculum.Before I have studied to be a professional translator I have done a nursing technician course by Brazilian Red Cross. It has been helping me to get jobs in medical translations and a geography teacher degree so It makes me able to translate other texts but  I expect to get opportunities as an internship because to be a very good translator we always might be improving our skills.

My expectation about the internship in modlingua is that I will improve my acknowledge and very great for my professional skills. Thank you very much for the opportunity that modlingua staff is giving to me with the challenge to improve my skills. 

Valber Santos is a Summer Intern 2018 at Modlingua