Jose Henrique Lamensdorf (translator)

(1)

Experienced Portuguese (BR) <> English (US) translator

I have been translating between English and (Brazilian!) Portuguese since 1973. Don't worry... I'm still sound of mind. I began doing it as a Mechanical Engineering sophomore, my internship consisting mostly of translating and localizing heavy industrial equipment installation, operation, and maintenance manuals, later moving on to technical and educational manuals too. Spent almost ten years doing it, until I began to broaden my horizons.

Later I moved from industrial marketing to human resources management, and widened my scope in translation. After this employee phase of my life, in 1987 I became a freelance translator and training consultant. In 1999, having passed the Brazilian government exam for sworn translator and interpreter, I decided to shut down my consulting operations, and focus exclusively on translation.

Having started so long before computer age and globalization, I was misled - actually I was the one who misled myself - into believing that a translator must be equally capable of translating in both directions within the chosen language pair. This is what made me stick to English and Portuguese, and hone my translation skills in both directions. I gave up on translating Italian and French, which I still speak, because I'd have to study a few more years to translate into these languages properly and reliably.

At first, before the Internet, all my clients were local. I'd drive there taking floppy disks or printouts. So the requests to translate into English were extremely rare. Nevertheless I kept focused on my dual-direction translating skills. With the Internet, my clients are anywhere on our planet. Being a BR-government licensed sworn translator means that I was tested, and the law says that I must translate in either direction, as requested.

As I gradually covered an increasingly wider scope of subjects, there are only five broad areas of human knowledge left in which I don't translate technical content: medicine, biology, accounting, finance, and sports. When it's the case, I rely on, or refer to specialized colleagues I know.

Personally, I am a tech guy. Since my early childhood, my favorite "toys" were nuts, bolts, springs, levers, wheels, motors, wires, etc.. That's why I went to mechanical engineering school, the "obvious" decision. On the side, I was always a keen reader and writer. Since my elementary school days, my teachers proudly took al my essays to show to the school principal.

Technically, a work colleague once defined me quite accurately, after some feat I did with one of the company products. He said, "All of us here are mechanical engineers. You are the only mechanic with an engineering degree we have." And actually I did it because I had written a clear instruction manual on how to do it.

Regarding books, I've translated a few, sometimes as a ghost translator, so I remain anonymous there. The books where I am credited as the translator are listed at http://www.lamensdorf.com.br/translated.html .

Some authors ask me for a critique on their book. I never do it, out of principle. If I ever say what I think of it, and if I didn't like the book for any reason, the mere act of stating it in words could demotivate me from always doing my best, regardless. So I don't say it.

All the literary critique an author could ever get from me is a yes/no answer to the question: "Would you give it to your wife to read?" My wife is very conscious of the use of her time, however I know some genres that she simply does not appreciate. So I'd still leave that author in a quandary on which would be the case for his or her book.

My favoriate value? Ethics! If I don't think I'll do a good job, I'll turn it down, if I can.

Native language: Portuguese
Translates from: English, Portuguese
Translates into: English, Portuguese


User links: Website Proz




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