I chose translation as my lifelong
career, not just a job because I enjoy reading and learning.

I first studied nursing at
university, and after graduating I worked as an oncology nurse in the oncology
ward of the National Taiwan University Hospital for three years. I quit my job
in 2004 because I wanted to work and study in the USA. I started applying for
jobs translating nursing books (English to Traditional Chinese) while preparing
for the RN exam. Although I passed the RN exam, I failed the English language
requirement, and my final IELTS score was 6.0 in 2007. I returned to work in
2006 and worked for a year. I then went on to study for a master’s degree in
nursing at the university from 2007 to 2010.

When I was studying at the graduate
school, I read a lot of English medical and nursing literature, and I had to
translate the literature into Chinese because of academic requirements. I also took
advanced English courses to improve my English skills. At the same time, my
teacher introduced me to other publishers and I continued to translate books. I
found myself more interested in translation than in nursing or research, so I
decided to leave school in 2010 after completing most of the courses for the
Master’s degree. Incidentally, I also learnt a curriculum
related to clinical trials when I was in graduate school.

Since then, I have expanded my practical experience as a freelancer in almost every clinical area within the medical and pharmaceutical fields and clinical studies/trials, not only in nursing books. What I have done includes medical charts, clinical trial protocols, subject consent forms, clinical trial reports, drug prescribing information, medical equipment/device user manuals, medical advertisements/brochures, medical related video subtitles, veterinary/animal drugs, biotechnology related, medical software/equipment interfaces and so on.

In the future, I will continue my translation-related training through self-study or by attending translation courses.