I’m an audiovisual
translator specializing in dubbing script translation and subtitling, English
into Brazilian Portuguese. Most of the time, I translate comedy TV shows
episodes, but I also work with webinars and interviews given by actors. The
type of work I’m most passionate about is bringing stories of members of my
community - LGBTQIA+ - to Brazilians. I want other Brazilians to increasingly
appreciate and love minorities. And I’m personally motivated by this because
I’m bi. To perform this work, I need to use gender-inclusive language and/or
gender-neutral language.

But how
did I get here? I majored in Portuguese, English, and Literatures from the
Federal University of Rio de Janeiro. Then, for almost 6 years, I taught EFL -
English as a Foreign Language - in a variety of places, including schools and
private language learning institutions. Back in 2017, I had a major depressive
episode which led me to reconsider my priorities. I realized I needed to
decrease the stress my work was constantly putting me through by choosing an
entirely different occupation, one that made me happy. So, I decided to become
a translator.

With
loads of help from my family, I was able to take a translation course, become a
member of Abrates, and I met several other translators. This is how I ended up
getting my first job assignment, in the marketing field. For a couple of
months, I freelanced full-time. Then I joined a translation agency, where I
worked for 2 years. During that time, I was an in-house marketing and app translator
and reviewer. Near the end, I was a translation project manager, responsible
for the European Portuguese and Brazilian Portuguese teams which translated
content for a major client. Getting to work with high-profile clients has
helped me deliver complex projects.

At the
end of 2020, I decided to start doing what I really wanted to do - build my own
business. I’d already given audiovisual translation some thought because I’d
worked on subtitling projects (but in a CAT tool) when I was working in-house,
but I didn’t know the techniques. So, I took 2 subtitling courses and 2 dubbing
translation courses, and I saw I could do it! In my mind, the major
accomplishment would be to work directly for Netflix or any other major
streaming player, but I realized I needed something to make me stand out from
the crowd. I’d always been extremely empathetic, sensitive, and loving. In uni,
I got the chance to study a bit of sociology and the relationship between
society, politics, and language. This knowledge is something I carry with me to
this day and use in my everyday translation work.

There’s still a chronic lack of
representation in both movies and TV of characters from the LGBTQIA+ community.
And, when those histórias are portrayed, they are usually sad and filled with
suffering. I don’t want our lives to be seen as objects of pity or contempt
anymore. It’s hard to deal with the fact that, for years now, Brazil is the country with the highest number of
murders of trans people. And I
refuse to step aside and just watch life happen. My work is - and will continue
being - an instrument for social change. And don’t forget my pronouns: She,
her, hers.