Education

I started my career as a translator in my home country, Germany, after passing the Bavarian State Exam for Multi-lingual Secretaries in German, English, and Spanish after two years of full-time training at the Inlingua Language Center in Augsburg, Germany. In order to improve my understanding of how business operates day to day, I subsequently did a two-year training in business, which I completed with honors from the Free State of Bavaria, Germany.

At that point, I started teaching Spanish and English at adult education centers in Bavaria and went into the translation business as a freelance translator, working for various translation agencies, and private parties.

After spending a year in the U.S., where I taught German and Spanish at a county college in New Jersey, I returned to Bavaria in order to earn a degree in translation.

I passed the Bavarian State Exam for Translators and Interpreters at SDI (Sprachen & Dolmetscher Institut) in Munich after only two years of study (normally candidates aren’t admitted to sit the exam until after three to four years of school). Next, I took the necessary classes at SDI to earn my B.A. in Translation. The topic of my thesis is “Business Cultural Differences between Germany and the U.S. from the perspective of a German expatriate in South Carolina.”

Parallel to my studies at SDI, I completed the “Certificate in General Translation”, an online translation program for skilled linguists at New York University School for Continuing and Professional Studies with Spanish and German as my source languages and English as my target language.

I also hold the CPE (Cambridge Certificate of Proficiency in English) issued by the Cambridge University in England and the D.E.L.E. Superior (Diploma de Español como Lengua Extranjera), Spanish for “Diploma of Spanish as a Foreign Language”, issued by the University of Salamanca in co-operation with the Instituto Cervantes in Spain.

Both diplomas correspond to the highest level (C2) of language proficiency described by the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages.

In South Carolina, I have completed stages 1 and 2 of the South Carolina Court Interpreter Certification Program.