Technical translator
Passionate about language. Passionate about technology.
I was born in the UK and spent almost all of the first 27 years of my life in an English-speaking environment.
After studying modern languages and translation in the 1980s, I began my career as a translator in the electrical industry, at the UK arm of a German switchgear manufacturer. In 1991, I moved to Germany to take up a staff translator position in Cologne. I have been delivering translation services independently since 1993.
In 1999, I began using the Linux operating system and have relied upon it ever since. My experience of using Linux for translation purposes is documented on my Linux for Translators website.
In 2002, I joined Keith Godfrey, the original developer of the OmegaT computer-aided translation tool, in launching a project to make it available to a wider group of users. Since then, I have been involved in the OmegaT project at different times as project coordinator, author of the user documentation, localization coordinator, website manager, and programmer of supplementary utilities.
Modern media enable me to maintain close contact with the English-speaking world and keep in step with changes to the language. I am a member of Germany’s largest professional translators’ association (BDÜ). I am also a member of Germany’s association for technical communication (tekom) and a supporting member of the German association of safety engineers (VDSI).
My life in Germany has taken me from the Cologne area, through the northern Ruhr region, and most recently to Wuppertal – home of the famous overhead railway and where it rains considerably less than in Miami, Florida.