Personal & Academic Background

I was born and raised in Germany and am a native speaker of German. I received a master’s degree in English and Russian Language Studies and Business Administration in 2012 at the University of Giessen. Studying applied languages and business served my interest in foreign cultures very well, providing me with the opportunity to spend extended periods of time in English speaking countries and get acquainted not only with the mentality of the people but also with specific linguistic characteristics of the respective variety of English first hand. Thanks to my international family background with relatives living in the US and England I had the valuable opportunity to shape and continuously improve my language skills from a very young age, leaving me with an even stronger interest for languages, particularly English.

Combining both, languages and business studies, enabled me to gain profound knowledge in the translation of various types of texts as well as providing me with the necessary expertise and understanding of important concepts, models and theories within the fields of business and economics. My academic focal points, namely marketing, taxation and accounting are currently being broadened by an additional bachelor’s degree in finance and banking, which I will finish shortly.

Studying English allowed me not only to reach a high level of proficiency in speech and writing, but also helped me to practice and ultimately develop important skills in regard to the translation of a wide range of different texts. During the course of my translation training, strong emphasis was put on translating documents in the areas of marketing, finance, human resources, general economics as well as politics and literature. While doing translations for different private clients such as family members or friends, I have additionally become familiar with technical translations in the field of machinery, general business and finance.

During my studies of English linguistics I became familiar with important concepts of pragmatics, especially the effect of language on speakers and hearers in certain communication situations. Additionally, emphasis was put on techniques to be applied in order to achieve the intended meaning of an utterance or sentence to be conveyed in an unambiguous way.