Birgit Wahl-Peters

Graduate translator for English and Spanish

Born in 1967, I decided – after finishing school and completing an apprenticeship in a bank – to study languages at the Johannes Gutenberg University of Mainz, FASK Germersheim, Germany (with semesters in Barcelona, Spain, and Bristol, UK) and graduated as “Diplomübersetzerin” for English and Spanish, specialised in medical translation, in 1994.

Since then, I’ve been working as a free-lance translator with focus on English translations, first in the Nuremberg-Fuerth area in Bavaria and since February 2020 located in Wuppertal. I have further specialised in translating documents in the fields of medicine, pharmaceutics and medical engineering as well as in the translation of contracts/agreements or software (localization and manuals).

I am a member of the German association of interpreters and translators – Bundesverband der Dolmetscher und Übersetzer e. V. (BDÜ) – in the Bavarian section.

I’ve gained professional experience and linguistic knowledge in various further trainings in creative writing, psychology and medical translation (German/English) and still use every opportunity to expand my medical and translation knowledge.

In 2008, I completed a training to be an ILP coach (ILP = Integrierte Lösungsorientierte Psychologie; integrated solution-focused psychology) extending my knowledge in the fields of psychology and coaching.

Since I’ve always loved writing, I already published some articles on sports-related (particularly basketball and alpine skiing) or health-related topics (heart and sports, anxiety disorders and phobias, etc) in local newspapers while I was at university.

But life’s not only working and recreational phases are as necessary for the best translation performance as concentration on work. I’ve learned that sports and music complement a brainworker job best. For sports, after many years of playing basketball I finally learned to love jogging and hiking in addition to skiing in winter, I do power training and started dancing (Salsa). And for music, I play the piano and sing in a gospel choir in Nuremberg which is called George and his lost sheep and where I write the lyrics for our choirmaster’s own compositions – which brings me back to language and translation.