I have just retired from college teaching after more than three decades of EFL, British, American, and the so-called Post-Colonial Literature. Now I am writing a book on the teaching of literature to be published in the US next year. Actually I was invited to do it by a former Cornell University professor, who was my advisor both in my M.Sc. and Ph.D studies.
As my husband, who is quite well known in Brazil and abroad in the area of science education, has organized books and journals in this field, I have already translated many articles, papers, and chapters into English (from Portuguese and Spanish into English).
In 1977, right after coming back to Brazil, I translated, together with a physical education teacher, a book on the systemic approach to physical education. The publishing house (Editora Globo-Porto Alegre, RS, Brazil) does not exist anymore. Then I got engaged, for the same publishing house, in the translation of a book on architecture and engineering. It was a sort of group project, since each member was responsible for a single chapter. I believe the publishers did not have much success because they never got all the chapters translated. In fact, the editor told us that it was something as hard as cleaning the Statue of Liberty with a toothbrush. The only thing I know is that I have finished mine--everything about elements, tools, forms, material concerning the most diverse forms of roof. I never got any payment either!
Translation (and what some call version) appeals to me a lot for its challenging character. This attraction I can trace back to the classes of Latin in secondary school. My classmates just could not understand how someone could love translating Portuguese into Latin so much. Later on, at Cornell, I took two translation courses (seminars) with Prof.Dr. E.Fogel. Again there was a great challenge, since we had to translate into English poems written in German, French, Italian, Spanish, and Portuguese using as tools all types of dictionaries available (Roget's, Synonym Finder, encyclopedias, monolingual and bilingual dictionaries). Needless to say that all this happened before the explosion of the Internet! These very hard translation exercises have helped in the construction of a responsible and aware translator, although we all know that there is no such thing as a perfect translation due to the most essential element involved in it--language. It is possible to have a good translation depending on who is reading it. Language is context related, that is, a translator has to get informed about, at least, the most basic cultural aspects related to the language he/she is translating into or from. I stress this aspect especially when treating texts in the field of the humanities. When I work with texts of the hard sciences, I generally do not have to worry about the context in which the texts have been generated, though, sometimes, in the discourse of problem solving there are cultural items.
I believe I am a good translator in the fields of education, social sciences, science, and, mostly, literature. My experience as a college professor of EFL and Literature has been of extraordinary help when I translate.
I am also writing a novel and a collection of poems, in Portuguese, which I intend to translate into English.
As far as level of schooling, I have all the degrees necessary for a successful academic life, from courses sponsored by the British Council, M.Sc., Ph.D., and Post-Doctoral studies/research. I got these degrees--all of them--with scholarships from the Brazilian Government. Because of those graduate courses, I lived for more than six years in the US, not counting the time spent there visiting one of my daughters, who is married to an American.
As I was raised in a German speaking home, I spoke German until I was six. Now I understand it fairly well, though I would not dare translating it.
I forgot to mention my undergraduate degrees: I majored in Portuguese/French and Portuguese/ English. In fact, I started my college teaching career as a teacher of French and Middle Age French Literature.
Thank you!