Born in Vancouver, Canada, I have a Bachelor's Degree in French and Spanish from the University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC and a Master of Arts in Translation from the Middlebury Institute of International Studies at Monterey, California. As part of my degree courses, I also studied in Quebec City, Quebec, Canada; Valencia and Madrid, Spain; and Geneva, Switzerland.
My professional and linguistic career began in Belgium at the European Union in Brussels and then at the International Encyclopaedia of Laws in Leuven for a combined total of six years. After teaching college-level French for a few months back in Vancouver, I left for Hong Kong where I worked at the headquarters of a multinational timber company for eight years, and gained experience in purchasing and sales, as well as translation and interpretation for business purposes. After returning to Vancouver briefly once again, in order to obtain certification in, among other things, Microsoft Office Suite, Web Publishing, Photography and Small Business Management, I departed again on a new adventure, working in the Caribbean as International Ambassador for an American cruise line, using my languages for tourism purposes.
In September 2005, I opened my own consultancy company in Vancouver,
ACFairbank Consulting, and currently provide services to my international clients in
translation, interpreting, editing, writing, proofreading,
website creation and management,
sales and marketing, and
photography.
In a constant endeavour to increase my skills and provide better and more complete services to my clients, I actively look for opportunities to continue my professional development. During the past few years, I have completed certificates in Professional Sales and Digital Film Production.
In September 2016, having already studied Dutch, French, German, Italian, Latin, Mandarin, Portuguese, Spanish and Swedish over the years, and taught French and Spanish, I decided to use my vast experience in language acquisition by obtaining TESOL/TEFL (Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages/Teaching English as a Foreign Language) certification. In a follow up to gaining this latter qualification, I spent an academic year living in Italy, teaching English to Italians, all while continuing my other business activities virtually.
In September 2017, I updated my translation skills at KUL (Katholieke Universiteit Leuven) in Antwerp, Belgium by taking an advanced CAT (Computer-Assisted Translation) tools course. I now have experience using MateCAT, SDL Trados Studio 2017, Memsource and memoQ.
In February 2018, I attended a two-day seminar entitled “Understanding Marketing and Negotiating for Interpreters”, presented by the AIIC (International Association for Conference Interpreters) in Washington D.C., USA. At this event, I learned how to improve my self-marketing skills. It was also an excellent opportunity to network with other interpreters from around the world.
I am: