There is something astonishing and liberating about being able to slip into a different language, understanding the stream of what previously sounded to be gobbledygook. It’s like diving in a tropical coral paradise, invisible from dry land. The learning process reveals every facet of human character: fear, courage, shyness, need, generosity, impatience, gratitude, elation. You have to run the gauntlet to learn another language, but you also learn a lot about humanity – and yourself – in the meantime.

After studying French at school (to A level) and then Swahili at University (BA hons), I decided to learn Spanish from ground level, so to speak – just living, working and a lot of talking in Spain. (They do the last bit very well.) Having moved back to Spain, my birthplace, I’m now working as a Spanish-English translator. Some of my reent projects include the following:

Subtitling for forthcoming documentary called Travelling Light about Al-Ghazali by MATMedia

Abridging and translating short pieces about Andalusian saints Sidi Bono and Ibn Jafar al-Qunji for forthcoming book about the historical sites of Moorish Spain

Short autobiographical piece by Madagascan musician Kilema (you can read it by clicking here)

Website for engineering business group Comeya Ltd.

While living in Tanzania I also conducted research for the British High Commission on Islam in Tanzania, for which I had to interview numerous Tanzanians in Swahili and subsequently translate their statements.

For all commission enquiries please contact me via my email address, mail(@)medinatenour.com (remove the brackets).