Interpreters

Kayo Adachi-Rabe was born in Hirosaki, Japan, in 1961. She studied German language and literature in Tokyo, Drama Studies and Art History in Berlin, and received her doctorate in Marburg. Kayo Adachi-Rabe is a film critic and academic associate at the Institute for Japanese Studies, part of the Humboldt University in Berlin.  

Georg Aescht, born in Zeiden, Romania, in 1953, taught at a German grammar school after studying German and English language and literature at the University of Klausenburg/Cluj. In 1984 he immigrated with his wife and daughter to Germany and in 1991 he took on the position of editor at the Bonn Foundation for East German Cultural Counsel, where he presently edits the »cultural and political correspondence«. Along with his work as a journalist he has translated books by Banciu, Manea, Papilian and Sebastian from Romanian and French, of which he was also editor.

Tanja Barbian received her degree as interpreter from the University of Mainz-Germersheim and is a member of »AIIC«, the largest international association of interpreters. The thirty-six year-old has been working as an interpreter for the past eight years. 

Barbara Chisholm, AIIC, has two mother tongues, German and English, and a degree as interpreter (English, German, Russian) from the University of Vienna as well as a Master's with a minor in psychology and economic and political history. She works for government departments, private enterprise and economic affairs, and her focus includes business, energy, human rights, the automobile industry, the environment, air and space travel, art and culture. 

Christin-Chirin Cibis received a degree as translator and interpreter from the English Institute in Heidelberg. Today she lives and works as a freelance interpreter and translator in Berlin and is also a coach, addressing in particular a focus on nonverbal communication. 

Carola Dinklage-Görsdorf has a degree in interpretation and has been a conference interpreter and translator for the past fifteen years. She studied in Heidelberg, Milan and Berlin and for over ten years lived in Italy, where she specialised in art history and Architecture. She is a member of the association of interpreters VKD and works with the languages German, English, French and Italian. 

Caroline Elias studied literature and politics in Paris from 1985-1990. She then worked as a volunteer for the radio broadcast »Freies Berlin« and at »France Culture« and »Cahiers du Cinéma« before working as radio editor, journalist and production director for »ORB«, »ARTE«, »Canal+« and »Radio Canada«. She has been an authorized instructor at the Film School »Konrad Wolf« and other local universities since 2002. Caroline Elias is currently preparing her doctorate in Media Studies. She has worked as interpreter since 1994, amongst other things for the Berlinale and the French Film Days in Tübingen. 

Richard Gardner, born in North Carolina, USA, studied French literature in New York City and has lived in Berlin for the past twenty years. He works as a language instructor, editor and translator of critical, academic texts (from German into French and English), as well as of literature, among others of Marivaux's »Die falsche Zofe«, Wilde's »Salome« and »Ein idealer Gatte«, and John Cage's »For the Birds«. He contributed concepts, texts and translations to the exhibitions »Amerikaner und Berliner 1945 bis 1994«, »Arab Book Art« and »Fraktale IV – Tod«, and has repeatedly collaborated with the internationales literaturfestival berlin. 

Marianne Gareis, born in South Germany in 1957, studied Latin American studies, drama and language and cultural studies in Portugal. She has been translator and editor of Portuguese and Spanish-speaking literature since 1989, translating among others José Saramago and Miguel Sousa Tavares. Marianne Gareis lives in Berlin. 

Lilian Astrid-Geese works as an interpreter for conferences (AIIC) in English, French and Spanish, translates and also writes literary reviews. She specialised in literature, art, culture, theatre and design and has worked for many years for international cultural institutions such as the Haus der Kulturen der Welt, Literarisches Colloquium, documenta, kunstwerke, HAU and ITI. She is also an interpreter consultant for the ilb. 

Niki Graça, born in Berlin, studied drama and German language and literature as well as acting. She lived and worked in Portugal for several years and is currently a translator and interpreter for Portuguese, focusing on the areas of literature, art, theatre and film. She lives in Berlin and has published texts by Paulo Teixeira and Rivka Basman. 

Marcus J. Grauer is a freelance conference interpreter (VKD and AIIC) for English and lives in Berlin. After a short period working as staff interpreter for the Ministry of the Interior he opted to go freelance in 2002. His clients today, apart from the Federal Ministry and various embassies, include international corporations, NGOs and nonprofit foundations. His topics are as far-reaching as economic and international politics to music, film and literature, to technical matters and academia. 

Valérie Kunat, who lives in Berlin, is a freelance interpreter and translator with a focus on German-French collaborations. Apart from diplomacy and politics her domain at conferences, conventions and events includes culture, economy and law. 

Günther Orth, who hails from Franconia, began his studies in Arabic in 1983. Grants led him to Egypt and Syria, and he later completed his degree in translation in Leipzig. He has written on modern narrative literature from Syria and Yemen, where he lived for a long time, as well as corresponding publications and translations. Orth currently works as an official inspector, translator and conference interpreter in Berlin. 

Jessica Pedrielli, born in 1973, studied Scandinavian languages and literature at the Free University in Berlin and the Universitetet i Bergen in Norway. Upon finishing she was offered a position at the Norwegian Embassy, where she was employed as a translator and interpreter. Jessica Pedrielli currently works as a freelance interpreter, translator and language instructor and has also worked for Norwegian television (NRK) and the Norwegian protection of the constitution (POT). 

Tanja Rasmussen, born in Berlin in 1966 as a Dane, grew up in both countries but has lived in Berlin since 1987. She has an official degree as interpreter for English and is an accredited interpreter for Danish and English. After twelve years as co-owner of a translation agency for all European and a few non-European languages she has focused since early 2006 only on activities which involve her own languages, with a focus on economy, law, the building industry, film and medicine. 

Natália Rózsa has a degree as interpreter and is certified in German, English and Hungarian. The Hungarian-born Rozsa studied at the Humboldt University and has worked as conference interpreter since 1998. In 2003 she was elected to the first presidential association of translators and interpreters e.V., and has been advisory member of the International Federation of Translators since 2005. 

Snježana Sadikoviae-Šubat, born in Sarajevo in 1959, is a certified interpreter and social worker who moved to Germany with her mother at age ten. She works as a freelance interpreter for Serbian, Croatian and Bosnian (Serbo-Croatian) and is also director of pedagogical courses. 

Alena Ságlová, born in Prague in 1968, studied to be an interpreter and translator (for Russian and German) at the Charles University in Prague. She has translated Peter Handke and Christoph Ransmayr from German into Czech as well as Nabokov from the Russian. She lives in Regensburg today, where she works as a freelance interpreter. 

Hinrich Schmidt-Henkel, born in Berlin, translates French, Italian and Norwegian literature and theatre (Céline, Echenoz, Reza, Benni, Fosse, Ibsen). He often appears as presenter at literature houses and institutions, and his linguistic and cultural contributions can be seen on »Karambolage«, on the »ARTE« channel. 

Silvia Schreiber has a diploma as translator and interpreter for German, English and Russian, and has worked for many years as a freelance conference interpreter. Among her specialties are film and media (Forum of Young Film, Jewish Film Festival) as well as conferences for the Berlin House of World Cultures, the Academy of Arts and the Centre for Literary Research. She has collaborated with the international literature festival berlin since 2005. 

Nguyen, Duc Thang studied literature and language theory at Leipzig University in the early seventies and received a degree by correspondence from the Commercial College in Hanoi. He has lived in Berlin since 1995, and works as a freelance conference interpreter and certified interpreter and translator from Vietnamese. His clients include the German Parliament and many federal ministries as well as various affiliated groups and cultural institutions in both Germany and Vietnam. His specialties embrace everything from international politics, economy and law to film and media and from literature to technical affairs and academia. 

Marcel Vejmelka, born in 1973, received a doctorate in literature with a focus on Latin America, translation and interpretation (Portuguese and Spanish). He works as assistant at the Institute for Romance Languages and Literatures at Potsdam University and is a guest lecturer at the Latin American Institute (LAI) of the Free University in Berlin. 

Suse Vetterlein, born in 1972, studied Italian, German and Communications in Berlin and Rome. She now lives in Berlin, where she works as a translator and freelance journalist. Apart from countless films, she has translated books by Valeria Parrella, Luca Bianchini, Giorgio Falletto, Martino Gozzi and Tommaso Pincio. 

Sebastian Weitemeier, born in Berlin in 1963, lived in France from 1974 to 2003, where he studied German language and literature, music and business management. He has worked as a freelance simultaneous interpreter, translator and dubbing artist since 1987, and has been increasingly involved in public and private projects for television channels (Canal +, Antenne 2, TF1, ARTE, ZDF) since 2002. 

Markus Wirnsberger, born in 1960, grew up in Austria, Germany and Chile. He studied Spanish language and literature, political theory, sports and business management. He has worked as translator and interpreter for Spanish and German since 1983, and his strengths include culture (literature, theatre), politics, economy, law as well as non-technical subjects.

Vincent von Wroblewsky studied philosophy and romance languages and literature. Since 1991, he has been editor and translator of the work of Jean-Paul Sartre (published by Rowohlt), and is also president of the Jean-Paul Sartre Society in Germany and coeditor of the society's annual publication. He has published numerous essays, among them in »Les Temps Modernes«, »Magazine littéraire« as well as in anthologies of »Existentialismus heute«. Vincent von Wroblewsky lives in Berlin and has worked as a simultaneous interpreter since the sixties.

Martina Würzburg studied to become a conference interpreter and translator for five years in Moscow. After student residencies in Great Britain, Ireland and California she worked as an interpreter and translator for German-Russian-German, English-Russian and English-German. Martina Würzburg is a member of AIIC and lives in Berlin. 

Yan Shi was born in 1962 and grew up in China though she has lived in Berlin since 1980. She received a doctorate in material sciences at the Technical Institute in Berlin, worked as an employee in the economic sector and has been a freelance translator and interpreter in German and Chinese since 1997. 

Zhang Rui, born in Xi'an, China, in 1970, studied German Language and Literature and Sinology in Xi'an, Peking and Berlin. She has lived in Berlin since 1997 and works as a freelance translator and interpreter in Chinese and German. She is, in addition, an editor of the German-speaking cultural magazine »das neue China«, in which she regularly publishes interviews with Chinese writers as well as articles on China.