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Freelance translator and/or interpreter, Verified site user
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Services
Translation, Editing/proofreading
Expertise
Specializes in:
Art, Arts & Crafts, Painting
Business/Commerce (general)
Music
Management
Poetry & Literature
Also works in:
Food & Drink
Human Resources
Tourism & Travel
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Sample translations submitted: 1
Swedish to English: DN review of Alex Kershaw's book 'Raoul Wallenberg's sista dagar' (excerpt) General field: Art/Literary
Source text - Swedish Raoul Wallenberg räddade själv eller i samarbete med andra tio¬tusentals av dessa människor. Riktigt hur begriper man inte riktigt av Kershaws rapsodiska berättarsätt – förhoppningsvis kommer de två svenska Wallenberg-biografier av Ingrid Carlberg och Bengt Jangfeldt som ges ut senare i år att ytterligare konkretisera och fördjupa bilden av Wallenbergs insats. Också hos Kershaw finns dock oväntade glimtar av hans mänskliga drivkrafter – ”Jag gillar det här farliga spelet” – och beskrivningar av hans okontroversiella diplomatiska metoder, som att dela ut skyddspass, köpa fastigheter, muta nazistiska makthavare och ibland – med fara för sitt eget liv – handgripligen hämta ut judar från tågens godsvagnar. Kanske var Wallenbergs främsta tillgång just att han inte var diplomat.
Ännu en bestående insikt är förstås att hela tragedin med Wallenberg efter det sovjetiska tillfångatagandet 1945 kunde ha undvikits om Sverige agerat med rätt diplomatiska impulser redan från början. I stället visar Kershaw hur den svenska envoyén i Moskva, Staffan Söderblom, under sitt undergivna möte med Josef Stalin i juni 1946, i praktiken krattade marken för mordet på Wallenberg.
Förutom att intyga sin beundran för Stalins goda fysik förklarade Söderblom att hans och den svenska regeringens tro var att Wallenberg – då ännu i livet – ”råkat ut för en trafikolycka” eller fallit ”offer för banditer”. Därefter kunde de sovjetiska förhörsledarna i lugn och ro förklara för sin fånge att om den svenska regeringen haft något intresse av att rädda honom så skulle de ha ansträngt sig mer.
Är det något som de aktuella fallen med svenska samvetsfångar – Dawit Isaak, Martin Schibbye och Johan Persson – visar är det dock att den svenska utrikesförvaltningen inte lärt sig denna läxa om vikten av kraftfullt agerande redan från början.
Diplomatisk senfärdighet går inte att reparera. Också om detta är Alex Kershaws bok en sorglig påminnelse.
Translation - English Raoul Wallenberg saved tens of thousands of these people, either by himself or with the help of others. Exactly how it was done isn’t really explained through Kershaw’s rhapsodic narrative style; it is to be hoped that the two Swedish biographies of Wallenberg to be published later this year, by Ingrid Carlberg and Bengt Jangfeldt, will provide more details on and enhance the picture of Wallenberg’s achievement. But Kershaw’s book does contain unexpected glimpses of what motivated Wallenberg as a human being – “I like this dangerous game” – and descriptions of his controversial diplomatic methods, such as distributing protective passports, purchasing properties, bribing Nazi officials and sometimes putting his own life in danger by physically retrieving Jews from the railway wagons. Wallenberg’s main asset might have been that he wasn’t a diplomat.
Another lasting insight is of course that the whole tragedy of Wallenberg’s fate after his imprisonment by the Soviets in 1945 could have been avoided if Sweden had taken the appropriate diplomatic action from the start. Instead, Kershaw shows how the submissiveness of Staffan Söderblom, the Swedish envoy in Moscow, when meeting Josef Stalin in June 1946, practically paved the way for Wallenberg’s murder.
In addition to declaring his admiration for Stalin’s impressive physique, Söderblom explained that it was his belief and that of the Swedish government that Wallenberg, who was still alive at this point, had ‘had a road traffic accident’ or ‘fallen prey to bandits’. Consequently, the Soviet interrogators could calmly tell their prisoner that, if the Swedish government had had any interest in saving him, they would have tried harder.
However, if the current cases of Swedish prisoners of conscience Dawit Isaak, Martin Schibbye and Johan Persson demonstrate anything, it is that the Swedish Foreign Service has not learned the lesson of the importance of forceful action from the outset.
The damage caused by diplomatic tardiness cannot be repaired; Alex Kershaw’s book is a saddening reminder of that too.
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Translation education
Bachelor's degree - University of Aberdeen
Experience
Years of experience: 6. Registered at ProZ.com: Jul 2011.
I have 5 years of in-house experience in Swedish/English translation and proofreading at the Swedish Embassy in London from 1990 to 1995, where the work covered a very wide variety of subjects, including politics, labour market, third world development, and arts and culture.
I have subsequently worked for almost 20 years in arts management, in roles encompassing cultural policy, business and financial management, legal compliance and human resources. I have also worked extensively, in both paid and unpaid roles, in the voluntary and community sector.
I have an MA Hons (Class I, 1984) in Swedish and French and an MA in Arts Management (1997).
I am an Associate Member of both the ITI and of the Swedish Association of Professional Translators.
Within the arts, my particular areas of interest are literature, dance, classical and folk music; other areas of interest include human rights and disability.
Recent translation work has included a financial services website, a book about whisky, an insurance complaint and a university evaluation document.
Please contact me for my CV; I look forward to being of assistance.
Keywords: Swedish, Swedish to English translation, arts, culture, management, business, cultural,
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