Translator Henry Laine

I am a freelance translator living in the city of Joensuu in eastern Finland. Since I am a translator, my professional interests lie in such topics as communication, translation theory, and languages and cultures. However, during my free time, I mostly read novels, tinker with computers and spend time outdoors in the Finnish nature.

Academic Background

My educational background is formed by two master's degrees from the University of Eastern Finland (UEF), as I have majored in both Swedish Language and English Language and Translation. The Swedish degree has helped me to assume the role of a language specialist, whereas the English degree has qualified me to work as a professional translator.

Besides Swedish and English, I have also taken courses in Translation Studies, Japanese Language and Culture, and Finnish for Translators and Interpreters. In fact, I have successfully combined these major and minor subjects in my two master's theses, which deal with the indirect translation of Japanese literature. Hopefully someday in the future, I will be able to write a doctoral dissertation on the same subject. You can find my current theses on the UEF eRepo service^{[1] [2]}.

Professional Background

During and after my studies, I have been working as a self-employed translator and offering language and translation services through a cooperative formed by fellow translators. My main areas of expertise are translation, editing, proofreading, and content production, but I also know the principles of transcription, terminology work, and usability testing.

The years studying translation and practicing my profession have taught me how to translate different kinds of texts, including prose. Over time, however, I have specialized in translating non-fiction texts. These include both general and special-field texts, such as texts related to technology, commerce, and medicine. In addition, I have the right to make authorized (or certified) translations from English into Finnish. These often concern legal matters.

I am constantly trying to learn something new. For instance, after graduating, I have taken some courses in law and human biology. My own interests, in turn, have taught me new skills, such as programming with the Python and HTML languages. These have proven to be very useful in localization. Recently, I have been learning how to program using the C++ language, as it would allow me to create faster and more efficient programs, such as corpus tools.