About

My name is Alice and I am an experienced British-German editor, translator and proofreader living in Berlin.

I have always had a fascination with and love of languages, studying French and Spanish at college. I then went on to study Latin American Studies and Spanish at university in the UK, which led me to spend a year in Colombia (home of the mejor español del mundo and famous for the literature of the likes of Gonzalo Arango, Gabriel García Márquez, Evelio Rosero and Laura Restrepo), where I carried out research for my undergraduate dissertation.

How I went from the laid-back city streets of Bogotá to the cold and grey of Berlin I am not 100 % sure. But I do know that 10 years ago Berlin’s easy-going style and poor-but-sexy flair grabbed my attention I haven’t looked back ever since.

It was in Berlin that I cultivated my love of the German language and managed to achieve my C1-level German certificate. My understanding of the German language was also helped by my teaching English to adult German speakers and I developed a special understanding of the similarities and differences between the two languages.  

Over the course of six years I worked as a CELTA-qualified freelance EFL (English as a foreign language) teacher to adults. I taught a range of topics including business, academic, medical and conversational English.

It was also during this time that I took my master’s in Gender Studies, for which I undertook an internship at ESNA European Higher Education News. At ESNA I carried out journalistic research (which included writing articles, sourcing news and researching and reporting on academic research projects), writing book reviews and proofreading texts.  My final thesis for my master’s degree was awarded an A grade and was finally published by Routledge in a book on Critical Event Studies.

Since 2018 I have focused on developing my skills as a translator, editor and proofreader, both as a salaried and a freelance worker. I have carried out a number of large and small projects that I am extremely proud of, working with texts from a variety of fields but with a focus on academia, education, marketing, documentary film and museums.

In translation, editing and proofreading, I have found a job that ticks all the boxes on my dream job check list: it is fun, intellectually stimulating, varied and allows me to connect with cultures that are different from my own. No day is the same as the last. One day I might be editing and translating a press release about provenance research, the next re-writing an article about international diplomacy, or even creating the subtitles for a political documentary.

With each project I learn something new, and not just content-wise (although that is a plus!). I also get to learn more and more about language… it never ceases to amaze me how language can be bent and molded in different ways to express different things to different people. I love how with language we are able to build bridges between cultures and enhance our understanding of the world. I also love how English – today an international language used as a global means of communication – can be used to make vital information more accessible as well as ensure that services are made available to those in need.

In my free time I love everything baking-related, listening to (and producing my own) podcasts, (attempting) photography and great fiction. As a side project I create my own English learning resources for my site Hot Take English, which provides resources for teachers and students who are interested in social justice/political topics.

Interested in collaborating with me? Just get in touch! Together we can discuss your goals, target audience, deadline and budget.