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Working languages:
Catalan to English French to English Spanish to English German to English English (monolingual)
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Freelance translator and/or interpreter, Verified member ProZ.com Kudoz editor
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De nouvelles espèces apparaissent sans cesse, à partir des anciennes, en s’adaptant toujours plus étroitement à leur environnement. Mais ce processus – la spéciation – est souvent très lent.
De mutations en mutations
Depuis l’apparition de la vie sur terre il ya plus de 3,5 milliards d’années, le nombre d’espèces vivantes n’a pas cessé d’augmenter. Cet accroissement a été ponctué de vagues d’extinctions qui ont brutalement réduit, à plusieurs reprises, la diversité de la biosphère.
La phalène du bouleau (Biston betularia) est un papillon européen que sa couleur claire dissimule parfaitement des prédateurs. La révolution industrielle ayant noirci les arbres, les mutants à ailes noires, très rares autrefois, se sont répandus.
Toutefois, la tendance globale à l’accroissement du nombre d’espèces, qui semble être une propriété de la vie, n’a pas été inversée. Aujourd’hui, notre planète porte plus d’êtres vivants différents qu’à aucun moment de son histoire.
Mais comment se forme une nouvelle espèce? Ce phénomène se fonde sur les mutations - rares, mais régulières – qui se produisent de façon aléatoire dans les gènes des individus. La plupart des mutations – qui sont des accidents – s’avèrent nuisibles ou inutiles, mais certaines confèrent un avantage aux individus qui les portent. Ceux-ci survivent plus facilement, par exemple parce qu’ils courent plus vite, disposent d’un venin plus toxique ou de sens plus aiguisés que leurs congénères. Leurs descendants sont ainsi plus nombreux, la mutation leur est transmise et elle se généralise à une population entière. Si le processus se répète pour un nombre suffisant de mutations, une espèce nouvelle apparaît, nettement différenciée de celle dont elle est issue.
Translation - English The birth of species
New species are constantly appearing.
They evolve from old species by becoming ever more closely adapted to their environment.
But this process – speciation – is often very slow.
One mutation after another
Ever since life first appeared on Earth over 3.5 billion years ago, the number of living species has increased steadily. This rise has been punctuated by several waves of extinction, which have had the effect of drastically reducing the diversity of the biosphere.
The Peppered Moth (Biston betularia) is a European moth whose light coloration provides a perfect camouflage against predators. When trees became darker during the industrial revolution, dark-winged mutants, until then very rare, became widespread.
Nevertheless, this global and seemingly inevitable tendency towards an increase in the number of species has not been reversed. Today, there is a greater variety of living organisms on Earth than ever before.
How do new species come about? This development of a new species is based on a series of infrequent mutations, which occur randomly in the genes of individuals. Mutations are accidental changes in the hereditary information present in genes. Most turn out to be harmful or neutral, but some are beneficial. Animals or plants with helpful mutations find it easier to survive: they can run faster, they have a more toxic venom, they have keener senses than other members of their species, and so on. Thus, they have more descendants, their mutations are inherited and are spread throughout the whole population. If the process is repeated for a sufficient number of mutations, a new species appears, clearly differentiated from its predecessor.
French to English (University of Edinburgh, M.A. Hons 1985) Spanish to English (Escuela Oficial de Idiomas) German to English (University of Edinburgh, M.A. Hons 1985) Russian to English (Escuela Oficial de Idiomas)
Memberships
N/A
Software
Adobe Acrobat, Adobe Photoshop, Microsoft Excel, Microsoft Word, Powerpoint, Trados Studio, Wordfast
Originally from North East Scotland, I have lived in Spain since 1985 and in Barcelona (Catalunya) since 1990.
EDUCATION
1985: M.A. Honours in French and German, (2:1 – Upper Second), University of Edinburgh, Scotland. Spent third year of degree course studying at the University of Nice, France. Also studied Fine Art in first year.
1985: Preparatory Certificate in T.E.F.L. (Teaching English as a Foreign Language).
1987: Postgraduate Certificate in Education – modern languages, Thames Polytechnic, London.
E.O.I. (Escola Oficial d’Idiomes de Barcelona) certificates in Spanish and Russian.
PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE
Freelance translator and editor with broad experience. Although I have worked with many different types of texts, I am particularly experienced in the fields of natural history (ornithology, botany, zoology), ecology, photography, geography, art and wine.
11 years' experience in natural history and educational publishing. Worked on an ornithological encyclopaedia ("Handbook of the Birds of the World") for 9 years and the Catalan natural history encyclopaedia "La Biosfera". Familiar with most aspects of book publishing.
Experienced copy-editor and proofreader.
BOOKS TRANSLATED
Handbook of the Birds of the World, Volume 1 (Lynx Edicions) - (with 1 other translator)
Iguazú-Iguaçu - The Forest of Waterfalls (UNESCO) - (with 2 other translators)
UNESCO World Heritage Guide to the fauna, flora, history and culture of this beautiful area
Moroccan Gardens (Feierabend Verlag)
Salads (Feierabend Verlag)
Endangered Species (Chambers Harrap) - (published Nov 2004)
Seas and Oceans (Chambers Harrap) - (published Nov 2004)
Chambers Reference Atlas (Chambers Harrap) - (published June 2005)
Babel (Taschen) - (published Oct 2006)
On the set with Mexican film director, Alejandro González Iñárritu - the making of the final film in his acclaimed trilogy
The Agile Rabbit Visual Dictionary of Fruit (Pepin Press) - (published Sept 2006)
The Agile Rabbit Visual Dictionary of Vegetables (Pepin Press) - (published Aug 2006)
Marbles and Stones of Hispania (ICAC) - (published 2009)
Terminologia Forestal (Generalitat de Catalunya) - (published 2010)
SOFTWARE
MS Word, Excel and PowerPoint 2004 and 2011 for Macintosh, Adobe Acrobat, Adobe Photoshop 6.0, Nikon Coolscan 3.1
CAT TOOLS
Wordfast
HARDWARE
Macintosh MacBook Pro with OS X
HP DeskJet 815 C printer, Epson C44UX printer
Iomega Zip CD 650
LaCie 1T External hard disk
DAILY OUTPUT
2000-2500 words depending on the subject matter
If you would like a copy of my CV or to discuss any projects, please e-mail me at:
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