I founded my one-woman translation boutique—Cathleen Poehler Translations—some twenty-five years ago. Prior to that, I pursued university studies spanning a number of liberal arts disciplines across three countries. If anything, I’m a renaissance woman with a bent for words. If we rewind to my teenage years, in Connecticut, United States, you may have seen me madly hammering away at a typewriter (yes, that does reveal my age bracket) or leafing through a thesaurus that was falling apart from overuse. Ever the explorer, I then ventured to Germany (where I have roots), to study art history, philosophy, English literature and linguistics. Fastforward another ten years, and I found myself yet again on the North American continent, this time in the French-speaking part of Canada, in Quebec. There I obtained a BFA (fine arts, art history and English literature) from Concordia University, followed by a graduate diploma in translation (Concordia University) and a diploma in environment (McGill University).

As a “jack of all worlds,” I’m well poised to translate, which means: to grasp a writer’s ambitions and motivations, to intuit cultural nuances and to apply critical and abstract thinking skills. Finally, thanks to my forays, in my pre-translation-days, in the business world, the contemporary art world and academia, I have an understanding of diverse workplace environments and the importance of reliability, confidentiality, consistency and on-time delivery when fulfilling or delegating a task.