I am a Canadian native English speaker, but have lived most of my adult life abroad-13 years in Guatemala, two in Mexico; one in France, and two and a half years as a child in Belgium. I now make my home in beautiful Guelph, Ontario.

I hold an Honours B.A. in Spanish from the University of Guelph, as well as the French Baccalaureate and two diplomas from the Sorbonne in Paris, France.

I work as a freelance translator and interpreter, translating into English from French and Spanish, and doing interpretation in both my language pairs (simultaneous interpretation in Spanish only). I am a government-accredited interpreter, having completed the TIPS certification and passed the Spanish/English interpretation test with an average score of 95%.

While living in Guatemala, I worked as an interpreter in the organic coffee, environmental and development sectors, as well as translating for the Organic Crop Improvement Association throughout 1998.

During my undergraduate studies, I became a published author when I co-authored 900 quiz questions for the 15 chapters of a linguistics textbook, An Introduction to Language, 4th Canadian Edition, which are now published on a CD with this linguistics textbook. This extensive training in linguistics, especially semantics, has truly given me a deep understanding of the daily language conundrums I encounter in my work translating and interpreting.

I work with agencies in the United States, France, Canada, and Belgium, as well as clients from around the world, doing mostly legal translation. In 2015, I successfully completed the United Nations Language Competitive Exam and later worked at the United Nations Headquarters in New York City for almost three months in fall 2016.

After six years as a full-time translator and many years as a part-time translator, I have now completed over 1,000,000 words of legal translation in each of my language pairs.

Please feel free to visit my website at www.lisamaldonado.com. I am now also the Director of Translation at Guildtree Global Language Services. Website coming soon!