Name: Alexia Klein
Where you live: I live in the Bronx, New York, with my husband and two kids.
Email: aklein@onwordtranslations.com
What you’re doing these days: I’ve been translating a lot of medical and pharmaceutical texts and working as the Program Director for the New York Circle of Translators (a chapter of the ATA), where I am responsible for organizing all webinars and other events.
Something you’re proud of: I will always be very proud of my blog “O Autismo em Tradução,” through which I had the opportunity to connect with incredible autistic authors and make their words and ideas available to a Portuguese-speaking audience.
A bit of your background: I have a degree in Pharmaceutical Sciences from UFMG, in Brazil, and I worked as a pharmacist for many years before becoming a translator. Translating was something that happened naturally. It was not planned. I started helping old college friends, at the time working toward their Ph.D. degrees, with some English texts. Later I enrolled in the Translation Certification program at NYU.
How long have you been with ATA? And PLD member? I first became an ATA and PLD member when I attended my first ATA Conference in Chicago in 2014
What did the ATA membership ATA and/or the PLD bring to you? The ATA, and especially the PLD, gave me a community. I can safely say that I would not be where I am professionally had I not gotten involved with the ATA.
Current project (or last/future interesting project/activities): I have been working in the Life Sciences field for quite some time now. Translating in this field has become almost second nature to me, which is good, but now I feel it is time for me to branch out again and face new challenges. I am considering a number of new possibilities, but I am still deciding.
A major challenge(s) in your career: I see our career as a challenging one because we are never ready; we are always learning. Moreover, we navigate an ever-changing industry that requires a great deal of adaptability from us. I see this constant effort to learn and adapt to the times as a perpetual challenge that is part of the profession. I think all the major challenges I have had in the past—and the ones I will have in the future—are related to this.
Do you have a hobby? I have rotating hobbies! Sometimes I am obsessed with watercolors; sometimes, I am obsessed with cinema. Right now, I am entirely fascinated by plants and trying to grow a small jungle in a New York City apartment.
What is your favorite book in Portuguese Language literature? I wouldn’t be able to answer that. Like with my hobbies, my book preference is constantly changing. However, whenever I start feeling disconnected from Portuguese language literature, I return to my cornerstones: I rely on Machado de Assis’ novels and short stories or Carlos Drummond’s or Fernando Pessoa’s poems.
Currently on your reading list: The next book on my Public Library waitlist is Travels in Hyperreality by Humberto Eco, translated into English by William Weaver. I love Humberto Eco’s non-fiction, and this is supposed to be a sort of travel journal with his first impressions of American society.
Speaking of Eco, he wrote an excellent book about his experiences as a translator and a writer who has been translated into many languages, which I always recommend to anyone who works in our field.
Thank you.
We really appreciate the opportunity to learn a little more about you.
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