My primary specializations are medicine, law and engineering, thought I am able to translate just about anything (please see CV).

Medical: I have translated hundreds of thousands of words in the medical field and have worked as a volunteer EMT in both the USA and Germany which provides me both the practical and linguistic perspectives.

I have translated patient records from nearly every specialty and other documents from trial applications/documentation to simple COVID flyers on hygiene, hospital protocols and living wills, and also work in medical transcription and interpreting. Medicine was an early passion of mine, since my father was a surgeon and my mother was a nurse which meant I grew up at my father's practice and in the emergency room in an era in which it was OK to park your kid at the nurse's station while you went into the OR. My bedside manner also comes in very handy when working directly with patients as an interpreter as I have been told I put people at ease. My native-speaker proficiency in both languages was often useful when working as an EMT as there are many non-German-speakers who do speak English and I was able to interpret for them on the fly.

My research skills are extremely useful here as I will spend hours searching for an abbreviation or obscure, potentially outdated term used in German and its counterpart in English, enjoying the "detective work". When I am confronted with a specialty with which I am less familiar, I will spend the time required to get familiar with it (this applies to all of the fields in which I work). For example, I recently started translating increased volumes of files from an obstetrics department at a German hospital and within a few days, I had learned not only what a CTG is, but how they work, how to read them, why they are used, what deceleration is and why it is bad, etc. I joke to my friends that I am pretty sure I am now fully equipped to delivery a baby in an elevator. My natural curiosity drives me to learn. When I work on drug trial documentation, I like to set up Google alerts to follow any future published progress on that study/drug/medicinal product. I also spend time in medical research for fun; in my free time, I read the Lancet.

I also love working in the medical field because it is never boring and so broad. One day, I am translating a report on a drunken fall involving radiology, orthopedics, blood panels, etc., the next, I am working on a drug trial report on a drug that may cure [insert ailment here] and the next, a malpractice file for a workman's comp case.

Legal: Also an area in which I have translated hundreds of thousands of words ranging from boiler plate rental contracts through to court transcripts of criminal trials. I also provide legal interpreting services.

I "fell" into the legal field when my mother changed careers mid-life and went to law school. Since she didn't know anyone, I was her "study buddy" and read most of her Emanual books and sections of her law books and a LOT of case law so I could quiz her. I learned about torts when I was 12. This was also in an era in which it was OK to bring you child to a lecture, so I attended L1 Con Law, Criminal Procedures and Civil Torts.

This allowed me to easily start out in the legal field and over the years, I have become familiar with UK, US, Canadian as well as German, Austrian and Swiss law. One of the things I love about legal translation is the dichtomy between legal theory/the letter of the law and the application of the law and how parties to each side can use the same statute, each interpreting to shore up their respective opposing arguments.

I work in all fields of law except patents.

Engineering/technology: This field incudes electrical engineering, civil engineering, mechanical engineering, telecommunications, etc. and ranges from simple user instructions through to deep-sea windfarm ecological studies.

This is a field I have no inherent expertise or background in, but which was as field that offered abundant work when I started out. So, I used my research skills and my engineer friends to learn what I needed. I find the entire field of engineering fascinating and am a "gadget" person who always stays up on tech (to the best of my ability, the field is so broad). The greatest leraning experience was interpreting on the floor of the production hall of a major machinery manufacturer here in Germany. Perhaps it is my background growing up on a ranch, building things, but I enjoy learning about how things work and what kinds of new technologies and methods are being developed.

Business/correspondence/websites: this ranges from simple correspondence to annual financial statements to websites of all kinds (travel, law firms, graphic design companies, electronics companies, etc.)

This is such a broad field. As a result of my general background of having worked in sales, gastronomy, customer service, travel, offices of doctors and attorneys, advertising, etc., this field covers everything "general" in business.

Literature: I have translated several novels, I prefer to work in the realm of fantasy and science fiction. This comes from my love of books and language and my talent as a wordsmith. I enjoy finding an author's voice, getting lost in the story as I transate the rough draft, then editing and revising time and again until I have captured the author's essence to the best of my ability. I enjoy working with authors closely and helping transform their "babies" into English-speaking babies.

This broad range of areas in which I work results from an eclectic start to my career. Since I lacked a formal degree, I had to rely on my linguistic skills (which is what I studied) and my background (father is a doctor and I grew up in the emergency room, mother is a lawyer and I worked in her office for years) and my ability to learn just about anything. What I don't know, I learn. I ask my resources and I study. As a result of that, I simply took on every job I was offered and ultimately developed expertise as a translator in all of these fields.