Frequently Asked Questions

These are some of the questions I’m regularly asked. If you can’t find the answer you need, don’t hesitate to contact me! 

On this page:
1. Andy or Andreas?
2. Which CAT tools do you use?
3. Which languages do you work with?
4. Do translators only translate into their mother tongue?
5. Do you ever translate into French, Greek or Spanish?
6. What about Catalan?
7. Do you provide sworn translations?
8. Do you translate in person?
9. Do you have a minimum charge?
10. Do you have a CV/resume?
11. Can you provide any references for your translation services?
12. Are you a member of any professional associations?
13. Can you reproduce formatting in Word?

Please note that the rest of this page (with the actual answers) is not visible on small screens such as smartphones. This is due to the extreme bugginess of Squarespace’s Fluid Editor, which clearly needed more beta testing before being released!

1. Andy or Andreas?

Whichever you prefer! I use the two interchangeably so you can too!

2. Which CAT tools do you use?

I have licences for SDL Studio and memoQ.

I also use online translation platforms such as MEMSOURCE.

3. Which languages do you work with?

4. Do translators only translate into their mother tongue?

6. What about Catalan?

7. Do you provide sworn translations?

8. Do you translate in person?

9. Do you have a minimum charge?

10. Do you have a CV/resume?

11. Can you provide any references for your translation services?

12. Are you a member of any professional associations?

13. Can you reproduce formatting in Word?

English (my mother tongue), French, Greek, Spanish and Catalan.

I normally translate only in the following language pairs:

  • French to English,

  • Greek to English,

  • Spanish to English.

For Catalan, it’s more complicated! See question 6.

Yes, mostly. It’s true for nearly all professional translators who work with Western European languages (which are the ones I’m familiar with).

The general rule is that translators only translate into their mother tongue. However, there are two scenarios in which the general rule may be overridden:

  • the pool of translators for a given target language or language pair is too small to dogmatically insist on a native speaker every time,

  • the translation doesn’t have to sound like it was written by a native speaker.

As regards Catalan, I currently have a high level in the so-called receptive skills (reading and listening) but my productive skills (writing and speaking) are below professional level. I will therefore consider, on a case-by-case basis, translations from Catalan to English only (not in the reverse direction).

No. This is a service mainly offered by translators who’ve had a formal education in translation.

I think you’re referring to interpreting. Although interpreting is often called translation, those of us who work with languages professionally distinguish between the two. Quite simply:

  • translation is concerned with writing,

  • whereas interpreting is concerned with speech.

I only do translations.

Yes. I charge a minimum fee to cover administrative and accounting tasks that I have to do for every single job, however big or small.

Yes I do. Send me a message with your request.

My CV is also available in French and Spanish.

Yes I can. Send me your request.

I am currently a member of my local translators association: Associació Professional de Traductors i Intèrprets de Catalunya (APTIC) 🡕

Yes, I can reproduce the formatting of your document in Microsoft Word. Over the years, I’ve developed a good feel for what clients expect when they ask for reproduction of formatting. And I’ve spent an unhealthy amount of time getting to know the ways of Microsoft Word!

5. Do you ever translate into French, Greek or Spanish?

Yes. From time to time, I do translations in my reverse language pairs:

  • English to French,

  • English to Greek,

  • English to Spanish.

If I’m comfortable with the subject, I can guarantee that my translation will be understood as intended; I cannot guarantee however that it will read as if written by a native speaker. Sometimes non-nativeness is not a problem.

Case in point: a Spanish client who occasionally asks me to translate articles about his company’s products that have appeared in English- and French-language publications. The translations are for internal use only so they don’t need to sound 100% natural.