We would like to introduce you to Victoria Pastor de Meer, who is passionate about Law. Victoria has managed to combine her passion with her vocation as a translator and works in 3 languages on a regular basis. Not happy with it, Victoria is always on a continuous training mood, now is the turn for studying Dutch and Romanian.
Victoria is the winner of the September 2020 edition of our Translator of the Month action, an initiative to say thank you! and recognize the efforts of the industry professionals: translators, the driving force behind every translation company’s success.
Let’s have a chat with Victoria.
How would your perfect day start?
A few months ago, the answer to this question would have been very different, but in these difficult times that we are facing, my best day would start reading the headline that the COVID-19 pandemic is finally over and life is back to normal.
As a translator, you specialize in the legal field. When did you decide to specialize and why did you choose this particular field?
I decided to specialize in legal translation when I was studying my translation degree at university. I opted for this particular field since Law has always drawn my attention. In fact, some time before starting my translation degree I was considering studying law, although I finally decided to study translation because languages are my true vocation.
What is your biggest strength as a translator? And your biggest weakness?
My greatest strength is the dedication I put into my work. When I start translating a text, I like to acquaint myself with the subject to ensure that the final translation has the best possible quality. The number of things that one learns by translating is impressive, both linguistically and culturally.
My biggest weak point is my perfectionism. Many times, I have the feeling that some term or expression may have a better translation, or more suitable for the context, than the one I have chosen. I suppose it is something that happens to many translators. In the end, work experience, good documentation and reliable information resources teach you to make decisions with confidence when translating a text.
You work with four different languages, that´s impressive! Which language pair do you enjoy working with the most?
The language pair I like to work with the most is German-Spanish. I studied German as my first language in my degree and it has a special value. I could say that it is the most difficult language combination of all the combinations I translate, due to the challenges it poses in all aspects. However, efforts pay off when I feel the satisfaction of having done a good translation.
What kind of training do you do to continue to improve your translation skills?
I try never to stop studying something that is related to translation and languages. I am currently studying Dutch and have also taken up Romanian, which I studied as a D language during my degree and always found it to be a fascinating language. Besides that, I like to read news from the international press in English and German to improve my level in these languages by learning new terminology. I frequently visit translator forums to keep up to date on CAT tools and I like to take online courses related to programs that I use in my day-to-day work, such as Excel or Word.
What CAT tools do you prefer working with?
The CAT tool I like to work with the most is SDL Trados. I have worked with this tool since I started studying and I still think that it is the one that offers the most benefits and works the best. I also work with SmartCat, which I think is a very good initiative, but as it is an online tool it is a problem when you don’t have internet access.
Thank you so much Victoria for taking the time to answer our questions. It’s been a pleasure and congratulations!
Danke schön, Victoria! It’s a pleasure to work with you! Hope you’ll enjoy your SeproTec hoodie.
