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My father instilled in me an insatiable curiosity about languages and the people beyond the borders of my hometown. With a family of eight children, trips abroad were out of the question. That doesn't mean we didn't travel. For two weeks every summer, my parents dragged us all over the States. At the impressionable age of five, we visited Québec. My fifteenth summer, we drove cross country all the way to Arizona and managed a day trip to Nogales, Mexico during a harrowing hail storm. By the time we got back, I knew that I shared my Dad's passions for languages and travel. Dad suggested I become a travel agent. "It'd be the nuts, Nanc'. You've got a real knack for languages and think of all the free travel." Oh, puleeeeez, Dad! I mean, those uniforms? Instead, I became a traveler. My journeys, in the name of adventure, work and education, have led me across the U.S. and back several times, to Canada, Europe, The People's Republic of China and South America. Along the way, I picked up a B.A. in French, did masters course work in communications at the Annenberg School (USC) and learned some Greek (in diners where I worked as a waitress). I literally stumbled into localization while living in Los Angeles. A friend, and a translator at Berlitz, suggested I interview for a freelance position. Something to do with computers, she said, and it'll help that you know a smattering of French. Bon! I needed the job. One contract led to another, one contract led to Atlanta, then to Brazil. Love led me back to Québec where I now live and work in the language biz as a multilingual desktop publishing specialist. After more than five years in the business, I am collaborating on a much-needed handbook on graphic design and desktop publishing for localization. In my spare time, I also write fiction (some published in the U.S. small press), non-fiction, translate (French/English), edit and research (for the sheer love of it). Life's ambition: Move even farther North, unplug my computer, write nothing but fiction with a goose quill pen and raise fainting goats. In the meantime... |
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