Background
I grew up in Indiana, studied in Philadelphia, and embarked on my language career in the Pacific Northwest—a background that has given me an insider’s perspective on American language and culture. At the beginning of the new millennium, I came to Europe and taught English in the Czech Republic, Germany, and Switzerland. This teaching experience broadened my perspective and helped me better understand many of the finer points of the English language. I am now settled in Switzerland and have been immersed in Swiss culture and the Swiss German language for over fifteen years. Raising two bilingual boys with my Swiss husband has given me an even greater appreciation of how language can cross cultures.
Qualifications
After graduating from high school, I went on to study at the University of Pennsylvania. At UPenn I obtained two bachelor’s degrees: a BS in economics with a concentration in management at the Wharton School and a BA in environmental studies with a concentration in biology at the College of Arts and Sciences. These two very different degrees provided me with insights into both business and the sciences. My academic background has equipped me to translate texts related to corporate, scientific, academic, and environmental topics.
In the course of my academic and professional work, it became increasingly clear that two of my passions are teaching and languages. I pursued the former by obtaining a Certificate of Language Teaching to Adults (CELTA) and the corresponding diploma (DELTA), qualifications I put to good use while teaching English to adults here in Europe. I pursued my passion for languages by learning several different languages and by becoming a qualified translator with a diploma in translation from SAL (Schule für Angewandte Linguistik) in Zurich. I currently combine my interests in languages and teaching by working as a freelance translator and editor and teaching courses to aspiring translators at SAL.