Donald W Snowden (translator)

(1)

Former freelance journalist, U.S. native, very conscious of flow

Hello, I am US native, resident in Valencia, Spain since 1997, and ES>EN translator since 2006.

Before I went to Spain, I was a freelance journalist writing regularly for Los Angeles Times for over 20 years and contributed the New York Times Syndicate and many other publications. My main focus was popular music and culture with a strong history emphasis since I am a born historian.

I invite and encourage you to look at my ProZ profile, especially the About Me section at the end. That will give you the clearest picture of my path to translation and my strengths and abilities as a word person.

 http://www.proz.com/profile/1381652

I've translated three book-length projects since starting in translating, that would technically not be fiction, but given my lack of familiarity with Spain context and knowledge of socio-cultural history of the periods when I started, they might as well have been fiction.  

One was a biography of late 19th century classical guitarist Francisco Tarrega, with much focus on his actual correspondence and critical reactions to his work.

One was the complete works of Catholic bishop Luis Amigo (950 pages .pdf), including a critical biography and all of his sermons. Developing a voice as a late 19th century / early 20th century Catholic bishop preaching to the flock certainly rates with creating/translating a ficitional character in my book.

A shorter project (100 pages) was a series of fictionalized accounts of actual events that occurred on Ibiza in late 19th century/early 20th century. The stories had some character overlap and intertwined plot lines but I finally figured out the connecting link was two pieces of land, one in the city and one rural.

Based on a test comparison through an agency, I was in line for translating a novel of Russian Mafia meeting Spanish artistocracy in contemporary Madrid but the writer never committed to the project. 

I also just finished 45,000 words of Mexican telenovela plot synopses, which probably qualifies.

As a journalist, I did literally hundreds of interviews so I think I have a very good feel for people's voices and how to to go about developing them.

My background in pop music and culture, and love of street slang and the poetry of profanity, means I would probably be better with contemporary themes and more direct narratives. That also plays into my strengths of history and social sciences. 

I doubt I would be as effective with old period pieces, extensive description, or extended literary metaphors.  However, I did many interviews with musicians who went off on philosophical, spiritual spins on art and I do have fun going off on/creating those tangents.    

I think that's all. Please get in touch with me if you have any questions and I  And I will say that if Babelcube expands into non-fiction e-books in the future, I'm definitely available for that.

Native language: English
Translates from: Spanish
Translates into: English




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