Formerly a staff translator in government service with 30 years of experience working for the UK Ministry of Defence in Whitehall and elsewhere, I took early retirement and am now a full-time freelance translator. During my time as a staff German & Arabic translator I had to tackle most subject areas but am particularly experienced in defence matters (high level ministerial correspondence, reports on military equipment/exercises) & Middle East politics, translating high level documents (memoranda of understanding, treaties, NBC declarations to UN etc.), historical documents (First and Second World War), as well as medical translations (reports from German hospitals & consultants on British armed forces' personnel stationed in Germany). The last 10 years of my civil service career were spent as an Arabic lecturer teaching the language to armed forces personnel.

As horse riding has been my hobby for over 40 years (I own a connemara x thoroughbred and competed in dressage and now Le Trec), I also undertake equestrian translations eg. a horse owner's guide to equine anatomy, import papers, a farrier's handbook etc.. Cooking is a major interest and I have translated several cookery books. I have now been a freelancer for 15 years and spend 50% of my time translating clinical trial material (from both German and Arabic). Other frequent subject areas are ski resort/hotel info for various tourism offices, recipes for a Swiss cookware manufacturer, educational certificates, birth certificates, employment references, wills and divorce decrees.

I have translated over 20 books, 4 of which have been cookery books for the same publisher and 3 biographies from another publisher. In the last 18 months I have translated 3 gardening books for Bloomsbury. I charge £100 per thousand words of Arabic (general text), £75 per thousand words of German (general text)
£85 per thousand words of medical/legal German, £35 per hour for proofreading