My Approach
Tertulia’s approach to helping clients share their stories and messages in multiple languages is grounded in the understanding that a language cannot be isolated from the community of people that speak it. I consider my work as a multilingual wordsmith to be a vocation and a craft, and I strive to work in a culturally intelligent, creative, curious, collaborative, and ethical manner.
Culturally Intelligent
I strive to translate the meaning, message, register, and tone of a text with a specific audience in mind. This might mean that the end result departs from a word-for-word literal translation in order to be more effective at getting a key message across or ensuring the viability of a call to action. I strive to examine cultural assumptions in the original text and come up with alternative solutions.
Creative
I strive to recreate the experience of reading a text or hearing it out loud when I translate it. If it is a literary text, I aim to convey the author’s style, inventiveness, and quirks that make their work stand out to me and stick with me over time. I strive for a translated poem to read as poetry and a translated novel to read like literary fiction, and I allow these creative sensibilities to cross over when I am working on non-literary content, as well.
Curious and Collaborative
I strive to acknowledge that the quality of my work depends just as much on my accumulated expertise as it does on ongoing learning, research, collaboration with colleagues, consultation with experts, dialogue with clients, experimentation with multiple solutions, and attentive listening to feedback. In addition, I often collaborate with other translators and editors whose first language is Spanish or Portuguese.
Ethical
I strive to respect and honor all the voices that are in my care as a multilingual wordsmith. These voices might include a person that I have interviewed, the author who wrote the poem that I am translating, the team that created the podcast that I am reviewing, or the intended audience for any texts or content that I participate in producing. Furthermore, three fundamental principles guide me when I create Spanish-language materials and content for a US-based audience.
Culturally Intelligent
I strive to translate the meaning, message, register, and tone of a text with a specific audience in mind. This might mean that the end result departs from a word-for-word literal translation in order to be more effective at getting a key message across or ensuring the viability of a call to action. I strive to examine cultural assumptions in the original text and come up with alternative solutions.
Creative
I strive to recreate the experience of reading a text or hearing it out loud when I translate it. If it is a literary text, I aim to convey the author’s style, inventiveness, and quirks that make their work stand out to me and stick with me over time. I strive for a translated poem to read as poetry and a translated novel to read like literary fiction, and I allow these creative sensibilities to cross over when I am working on non-literary content, as well.
Curious and Collaborative
I strive to acknowledge that the quality of my work depends just as much on my accumulated expertise as it does on ongoing learning, research, collaboration with colleagues, consultation with experts, dialogue with clients, experimentation with multiple solutions, and attentive listening to feedback. In addition, I often collaborate with other translators and editors whose first language is Spanish or Portuguese.
Ethical
I strive to respect and honor all the voices that are in my care as a multilingual wordsmith. These voices might include a person that I have interviewed, the author who wrote the poem that I am translating, the team that created the podcast that I am reviewing, or the intended audience for any texts or content that I participate in producing. Furthermore, three fundamental principles guide me when I create Spanish-language materials and content for a US-based audience.
