Language Skills
Translation
I have performed numerous translations from German and French into English, both in a professional and an academic capacity. These have concerned political, literature and technical matters.
I have also performed information only translations (prose) from English into German and French. For reasons of accuracy, translations are ordinarily performed into the translator's native language, since only a native speaker of a language has full command of the language's idioms and peculiarities.
I have used computer assisted translation technologies and have also been involved in setting up and maintaining these.
Proof Reading
In my professional career, I have proof read documents for completeness in multiple languages and for accuracy in English, German, French and Russian.
My knowledge of German has allowed me to read and broadly understand certain documents in other germanic languages, such as Dutch, Swedish, Norwegian and Danish, and in turn my knowledge of French has provided the same possibilities for documents in other romance languages, such as Italian and Spanish.
Spoken Skills
German
By far my strongest foreign language, I have spent a combined period of over eighteen months in German-speaking countries, including Germany, Austria and Switzerland.
I worked for a total period of one year in a professional capacity in the Swiss hotel business, dealing with hotel guests on a daily basis in a German-only environment. Additionally, I spent nearly six months studying politics in a German university alongside native students, where I also perfomed research and wrote a study on the democratisation of the former East German police following the fall of the Berlin Wall as part of my degree.
I maintain an interest in German affairs and enjoy German music, film, and literature.
French
My second foreign language is French. I have spent a combined total of over six months in France, including more than five months studying at a French university alongside native students.
Whilst studying there, I researched and wrote a study on the environmental impact of the skiing industry as part of my degree.
About My Family and Me
From humble Yorkshire lad to honorary Midlander, I've been in the making since 1971 and still haven't made it yet.
Born in Bradford in 1971 and raised in the village of Oxenhope in Brontë country, I attended Coventry University between 1990 and 1994, where I studied Modern Languages (German and French as core languages and Russian ab initio), with a third year spent between Potsdam, Germany and Grenoble, France.
I met Emma Paddison in 1993, we married in 1996 and now have two girls, Murron (born 1998) and Philippa (born 2001).
I live in Nuneaton, Warwickshire and am webmaster for a CAD/CAM software company in Coventry. So much for the Modern Languages degree!
I have played the drums since 1981 and was a member of Coventry originals band BAiT between its birth in 1996 and its demise in 2007. I now play classical guitar and mandolin for my own amusement.