Freelance translator profile for Abi West



Translator's name:Abi West
Lanaguage pair:English to Portuguese translator
Country of residence:United Kingdom
Activity:Acitive since 2008
Membership status:Basic member

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Both of my parents are British and they decided to emigrate abroad to Portugal when i was two years old. My Father worked in the oil rig business in the Far East and my Mother worked in villa management whilst i spent my first three years of infant schooling in an International School. I then went on to attending a Portuguese Primary/Junior School for the the next four years. When i was eleven we moved from the village that we were living in, closer to the Algarve coast, a town called Albufeira where i then started my education in the towns Secondary Portuguese state school. I was very fortunate to have learned both the English and Portuguese languages fluently, English being my Mother tongue and Portuguese as my second and native speaking language.

In 1994 i made a decision to leave my home country of Portugal to further my education in the U.K. I was offered a placement at West Herts College, Hertsfordshire where i went onto gaining GCSE passes in English, Spanish, French and Portuguese Languages. I also enrolled in an evening RAC (OCR) word processing course where i passed with a distinction.

When my Father left the Oil Rigs in 1995,to be with my Mother in Portugal, he started his painting and decorating business which became very successful both within the Portuguese and English communities. I worked alongside my Father as his Portuguese to English translator, as his knowledge of the native language was basic.

Unfortunately my Father became very ill in 1997 and was diagnosed with having terminal Cancer and sadly passed away. His business was taken over solely by his partner.

I returned back to the U.K where i started a family of my own and am at present living in Eastbourne, East Sussex and am employed as a Duty Sports Officer/Children's Sports Coach at my local Sports and Community Centre.

My son is in full time schooling now which enables me to be much more flexible with time and am therefore seeking returning back to working as a Portuguese to English/English to Portuguese translator in East Sussex.