NIGEL CLIFFORD Technical Translator, Editor & Writer

PERSONAL DATA
Name Nigel J Clifford
Nationality British overseas resident
Occupation Technical/Scientific Translator, Editor & Writer,
Screenwriter, Technical Dictionary Editor, Cross-
Cultural Consultant
Residence Phuket, Thailand / Hong Kong, China / Durham, UK
Timezone GMT + 8:00 hours; I can work until midnight and still
advantage deliver work by 5:00 p.m. UK time – advantageous
for urgent jobs
Phone +66-89-471-5210 (mobile; call 1st) +66-76-304393
(home #1; call 2nd)
+66-76-612814 ext. 427 (home #2; call 3rd)
Fax E-fax: +44-8701-3906051)
E-mail nigeljclifford@gmail.com (immediate notification of incoming mail!)
MSNMessenger nigeljclifford@hotmail.com (this is only used as a backup e-mail)
Software & SDLTrados Studio 2009 SP3, SDLX Professional, MemoQ 4.5, Across, Windows 7 Ultimate with
versions Service Packs, MS Office XP Professional 2007, Acrobat 8.0 Professional,
Pagemaker 7.0, Photoshop 7.0, InDesign CS3, Framemaker 7.2, Illustrator 10.0,
Quark XPress Passport 6.1, Dreamweaver 8, Star Transit 3.0 Satellite, WS_FTP Pro, et cetera.
Ready and willing to purchase any other software required.

LANGUAGE PAIRS & PRICING

Native language: British English, equally well-versed in US English and possessing a solid mastery of
written German, French, Spanish, Portuguese, Italian, Dutch, Romanian and Catalan.
Doubtful about
my ability to Productivity: 6,000 words per day, 40,000 words/week. (If pushed: Up to 9,000 words per day.)
perform well French  English €0.08/word (US$0.10 ₤0.07)
in so many German  English €0.10/word (US$0.12, ₤0.09)
languages? Then Dutch  English €0.10/word (US$0.12 ₤0.09)
feel free to send
me a short
Spanish  English €0.08/word Prices converted to $ and
test translation ₤ will vary.
of no more Catalan  English €0.09/word All prices are negotiable,
than 500 words depending
in any language.
I don’t charge
Italian  English €0.08/word on the size and regularity
anything for a of the
test translation. PortugueseEnglish €0.08/word translation or editing
projects.
US English  UK English conversion €0.02/word (aware of all differences)
English Editing: €0.02/word. No minimum charge. 30-day payment, cheque/bank transfer.
I can also accept payment per line or per page or a fixed sum for the whole job, if it is equivalent.

AREAS OF SPECIALIZATION
Though a polymath, I’m especially experienced & knowledgeable in the following fields:
• medicine, pharmaceuticals, medical devices, biotechnology, biochemistry,healthcare
These are the • information technology / Internet / computer systems / hardware / software /
areas I generally games / telecommunications / wireless / mobile telephony (MMI localization)
feel most • automotive engineering, aerospace engineering, mechanical engineering, railways
comfortable • business and commerce in general, accounting (annual reports & financial
with, but I’m statements), business software (e.g. SAP), finance and banking, management
willing to try my • international/US/European patents, no matter how technically complex
hand at almost • legal contracts, letters, corporation law, corporate finance, international law
any subject. • psychology / psychiatry / biopsychology (the focus of my BSc degree course)
The more
• science (many fields, unless the material is extremely specialized in nature)
challenging a job
Nigel J Clifford / Technical Translator, Editor & Writer / Résumé: April 2011 / Page 1 of 3
is, the more – I take a keen interest in most aspects of science and technological subjects
I’ll research it. • advertising / PR / marketing – I can produce professional-quality, creative and witty
copywriting for corporate press releases, promotional product literature, etc.
• NOTE: I do not do any interpreting or on-site translation work; strictly freelance.
• Key strengths: Fast worker, very long experience and very high attention to detail.

Nigel J Clifford / Technical Translator, Editor & Writer / Résumé: April 2011 / Page 2 of 3
PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE
May 1990 – now Self-Employed Freelance Translator / Editor / Technical Writer / Marketing
(mostly on a full-time Copywriter working for various American, European & Pacific Rim companies,
basis, but sometimes
translating, editing & writing documents in a wide range of technical subjects. I’m
part-time)
also a USUK English localizer/cultural consultant & style advisor.
May 1999 – European Languages Team Leader of a former translation agency, Hong Kong
April 2001 • Headed up the very busy European Languages Department of the agency
• Responsible for hiring and testing of linguists in Hong Kong and overseas
• Allocated resources for localization projects of major HK/China Web sites
• Supported sales by identifying clients’ linguistic requirements and defining
empowering linguistic strategies to help them achieve their multilingual goals
• Generated sales leads by researching Hong Kong companies on the Web and
coordinated and executed direct mail/email/fax and print ad campaigns
• Assisted in setting up projects and addressing ongoing production issues
• Translated, edited, proofread and built glossaries from French, German,
Spanish, Italian to UK/US English & helped assure the quality of deliverables
• Converted text from US to UK English for corporate Web localization projects
(orthography, grammar & punctuation, variant words & cultural references)
• Designed the corporate Web site and wrote the English Web site content
• Worked with demanding world-class clients like Prudential Asia Ltd, Concord
Camera Corporation, Minolta, Cushman-Wakefield, Sony Corporation of Hong
Kong, Lemon-Asia.com, Chinese Television Network (CTN, Star TV), Cable &
Wireless Hong Kong Telecom (Pacific Century Cyberworks), Hongkong Land
(biggest property developer in Hong Kong), ESDlife.com (HK government site).
1998 Literary Critic / Project Manager, The Pentland Press Ltd (London, England). At
an independent UK publishing house, I reviewed manuscripts submitted by authors,
created storyline synopses (for works of fiction) or subject synopses (for works of
nonfiction), penned cover blurbs and drew up reports discussing the book’s
desirability for publication. I conducted author liaison for the purposes of discussing
the book publishing process, or to explain delicately why our company decided to
decline publication. I additionally informed the authors about issues of length, style,
structure, grammar, punctuation and spelling in their manuscripts and made
suggestions for possible improvements in these areas. In these roles,
I learned much about editing, literary criticism and diplomatic client relations.
1995-1998 English Dictionary Editor, Bloomsbury Publishing (London). Project: Encarta
World English Dictionary (EWED), an ambitious joint
venture undertaken by Bloomsbury and Microsoft, the most significant entirely new
dictionary published worldwide in the past 20 years. I conducted research into
scientific neologisms in burgeoning fields like genetics, biotechnology, information
technology, et cetera, and compiled and managed a large electronic text corpus of
current English.
1994-1995 English-French Dictionary Editor, Larousse Editorial (London and Paris). I was a
contributing editor to the Larousse Unabridged French-English English-French
Dictionary (known as the Grand Dictionnaire). While primarily a contributor of
neologisms and technical terminology in English, I also conducted research into the
adoption of ‘de-Anglicized’ medical and scientific terms in French; interesting!
1993-1996 English Dictionary Editor, Oxford University Press (Oxford, England). I was
involved with various encyclopedic English dictionary projects, assisting primarily
on enhancing coverage of science and technology fields. The publications I
contributed to include The Oxford Dictionary of the English Language (ODEL), The
New Oxford Dictionary of English (NODE), The Oxford Dictionary of Computing and
The Oxford English Dictionary (OED) Revised 2nd Edition (in print and on CD-ROM),
inter alia, and I also did general linguistic research work, including discovery and
submission of neologisms (newly coined words), a very important task which was
not, however, directly related to any specific project.
1992 and earlier Full-Time University / High School Student, Oxford/Durham, UK

Nigel J Clifford / Technical Translator, Editor & Writer / Résumé: April 2011 / Page 3 of 3
EDUCATION HISTORY
1982-1988 Straight A Student in the English “O”-Level exams (at age 16) achieving Grade A
in the following subjects: English Language, English Literature, French,
German, Biology, Chemistry, Mathematics, Geography, Accounting.
1988-1989 (Exception: Grade C in Physics.)
Straight A Student in the English “A”-Level higher exams (at age 18) in the
following subjects: English Literature, French, German.
Distinction in German in the English “S”-Level special advanced exam (at age 18)
– which is equivalent to first-year university exams.
Merit in French in the English “S”-Level (Special level) advanced examination.
1989-1992, B.A. Bachelor of Arts (Honours), German/Linguistics
Oxford University St John’s College, University of Oxford, England
1993-1996, B.Sc. Bachelor of Science (Honours), Psychology/Biopsychology
Durham University St Aidan’s College, University of Durham, England

INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY
Highly computer-literate
in general, and an
enthuiastic, daily user
of the Internet since the
Web's infancy in 1992,
I’m always willing to
acquire and master new
software and hardware.
Just don’t ask me to do
any programming or
Web design...
Operating System:
Windows 7 Ultimate with international language packs
Software: (will purchase any others on request)
Microsoft Office 2010 Professional, Trados 7.5, Adobe Photoshop 8.0, Adobe
Pagemaker 7.0, Adobe Framemaker 7.2, Illustrator 10.0, Acrobat 8.0 Pro,
InDesign CS3, Quark XPress 6.1, Microsoft Proofing Tools in English, French,
German, Spanish, Italian, Portuguese, Catalan, Dutch, Danish and Romanian.
Hardware:
Two notebook PCs, one desktop PC.
Laser printer, scanner, fax machine, etc... I can purchase anything else required.

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION
Reference Materials: I’m an avid — you might say obsessive — buyer of dictionaries and other
reference works in both print and digital formats. I currently own around 80 dictionaries in nine
languages! There are definitely worse addictions than this... If I’m not 100% sure how to translate a
word or phrase, I always consult several references, in addition to many online dictionaries,
glossaries and other resources, so as to render the translation as fluently, accurately, concisely,
unambiguously and stylishly as possible. I consider myself to be the consummate perfectionist.
Media Use/Travel: I enjoy reading foreign-language media (newspapers, magazines, books,
movies & websites) to remain well-informed about the ever-developing society and culture of the
languages I translate, and to ensure I’m always as well-versed as possible in the up-to-the-minute
written style of these languages. I also travel widely throughout Europe and Asia whenever possible.
I have also lived in the USA (California) (5 years), Spain (2 years), France (1 year), Mexico (6
months), Hong Kong (2 years), Thailand (3 years), the Philippines (1 year) and, of course, England,
where I spent my formative years until I began travelling the world at the age of 21.

PROFESSIONAL REFERENCES
As a professional service provider, I have a duty to preserve the confidentiality of my clients, and
I’ve entered into non-disclosure agreements to this effect. I therefore do not provide the phone
numbers or e-mails of reference contacts. However, I have a continuously growing client base of
currently around 25 corporations in Europe, North America and Asia/Pacific Rim which provide me
with regular translation, editing or writing work. I’m confident that these customers would vouch for
my accuracy, terminology know-how, writing style and respect for delivery deadlines – their cont-
inuing loyalty to me over several years is proof of that. Instead, I can provide samples of my work.

Legal Disclaimer. My liability for errors and/or omissions is restricted to correcting the work undertaken, which will be performed free of charge. My
financial liability shall in no event exceed the invoiced value of the work undertaken. All liability for indirect, incidental or consequential damages is
expressly excluded. My liability shall in no event extend to damages resulting from errors or omissions on my part incurred by any third-party user of
documentation I directly translated or any future documentation adapted from my original translation.

Nigel J Clifford / Technical Translator, Editor & Writer / Résumé: April 2011 / Page 4 of 3