Professional Portuguese Translator: Sara Jones

Sara shares with us a little about herself and her professional career as a Portuguese translator

Lost in translation is a movie very dear to me. Apart from its poetic depiction of the characters, multilayered feelings of solitude and displacement, what I find most astonishing about it is its delicate attention to detail. The devil is in the detail and it is based on this fundamental idea that I, Sara Jones, professional translator since 2012, have grounded my professional ethics. My passion: to do linguistic detective work.

Multiculturalism and passion for translation

Born to a Portuguese mother and an English father, my life has been marked by multiculturalism and travel. After spending my adolescence in Germany, I moved back to Portugal, where I had previously spent my childhood, and earned my BA in English and German Languages, Literatures and Cultures, followed by an MA in Anglo-American Studies. During my studying years, I realized that I am enthusiastic about languages and cross-border communication.

For 4 years, I worked as a teaching assistant at the German School in Porto (Portugal), followed by the decision to become a translator. I then got accepted for a three-month translation traineeship at the European Parliament, where my wish to translate professionally solidified. Since April 2012 I have been collaborating with several companies as a freelance translator.

In 2014, I started working as external freelance translator (as a German and Portuguese translator) and more recently as a proofreader for BigTranslation. What I find most outstanding in collaborating with BigTranslation is its team, which combines a high level of professionalism with an exceptional degree of friendliness and helpfulness. These last two years have, in that sense, been a very rewarding experience and I hope that many more lie ahead of this amicable working relationship.

Language combinations

I work in the following language combinations:
German >Portuguese, Portuguese > German, English > Portuguese, English > German, Spanish > Portuguese, Spanish > German