Satyam Varma
Freelance Translator, English-Hindi
Native language: Hindi
I am working as a professional translator since more than 15 years. I have translated almost 10 million words in areas as diverse as Literature, IT, Medical, General Legal Documents, Patents, Business and Journalism.
Learning and mastering the style, nuances and vocabulary of new fields is my passion. Experience of translating literary and academic books has honed my writing skills in Hindi and translating news copy of agencies like Reuters, AP, DPA, Xinhua, Tanjug-pool and IPA has enriched my knowledge of culture, society, politics, economy, religion, law and ethics of a large number of countries which helps me to grasp the true meaning of a wide variety of source texts.
Specialization
Literature: Novels, short stories, drama, poetry.
Software localization, Phone manuals, Websites.
Medicine: From medical consent/discharge forms and clinical trial documents to research papers.
Legal documents, Patents, Political Writings, Economics, History.
Advertisements, Brochures, User Manuals, Training guides, Press Handouts.
Film/TV Scripts, Sub-titles.
Background
Work experience: Resigned in 2003 as Chief Sub-editor in the premier Hindi news agency United News of India-Varta, New Delhi after 12 years of service.
Translation:
Journalism: Translation from English to Hindi. Over 5,500,000 words of news reports, features and articles. Translation from Hindi into English for various organizations.
Covererd national science beat for India's premier Hindi newsagency UNI-Varta for 11 years. Edited UNI's weekly popular science feature Vigyan-Varta and contributed regular articles to it.
Literature: Translation of 2 novels, numerous short stories and poems, 2 plays. More than 1,500,000 words translated from English to Hindi.
More than 2,500,000 words of IT, medical, scientific, business, legal and general documents for various Indian and overseas agencies and direct clients.
Working for major national and international agencies including The Big Word, Sajan, Crimson Languages, Aquent, Acclaro, Aset International Services, Comms_multilingual, Lexxicorp, International Language Bank, Edge Translations, Ultra Translate, ATT, Crystal Hues, Cosmic Global and several others.
Creatively translated and edited numerous posters, brochures, booklets, advertisements and other publicity materials for several organizations and ad-agencies.
Co-Editor of Translation Project of World Classics brought out by premier Hindi publisher Rajkamal Prakashan Pvt. Ltd., New Delhi.
Translated books:
1. The Peasant (Novel), by Honore de Balzac
2. D’Alembert’s Dream (Dialogue), by Denis Diderot
3. The Jungle (Novel), by Upton Sinclair
4. Love of Life and Other Stories (Short Stories), by Jack London
5. The $30,000 Bequest and Other Stories, by Mark Twain
6. Communication, by Raymond Williams
7. Television, by Raymond Williams
8. Somnath: Many Voices of a History, by Romila Thapar
9. Fundamentals of Political Economy, Self-Education Series, China
10. Coriolanus (Play), by Shakespeare (soon to be published)
11. Nazim Hikmet: Selected Poems (soon to be published)
12. Pablo Neruda: Selected Poems (soon to be published)
13. Science in History (4 volumes) by J.D. Bernal (Translation in process)
Edited books and journals: (Hindi)
1. Arrowsmith (Novel) by Sinclair Lewis
2. Rameau's Nephew (Novella) by Denis Diderot
3. The Scarlet and the Black (Novel) by Stendhal
4. Selected Stories of Maupassant (Three Volumes)
5. Anna Karenina (Novel) by Leo Tolstoy
6. And Quiet Flows the Don (Novel) by Mikhail Sholokhov
7. The Subjugation of Women (Essay) by John Stuart Mill
8. Vindication of the Rights of Women by Mary Wolstonecraft
9. Jail Notebook of Martyr Bhagat Singh (A rare document of Indian history)
10. Songs from India's freedom struggle
11. Dayitvabodh - A quarterly magazine committed to social change in India.
12. Ahwan Campus Times (Youth Magazine - 1987-91)
Personal reference library:
General Dictionaries:
Webster's Encyclopedic Unabridged Dict. of English
Oxford Advance Learner's Dictionary
Dictionary of Foreign Words & Phrases in English
Oxford Dictionary of Slang
Roget's Thesaurus
Glossaries (Administration, Banking, Science & Technology, Agriculture) published by Central Hindi Institute, Govt. of India
Merriam-Webster Dictionary and Thesaurus (on my PC)
Chambers English-Hindi Dictionary
Bahri's English-Hindi Dictionary
Bulke's English-Hindi Dictionary
Hindi Thesaurus by National Book Trust, India
Brihat Hindi Kosh (Hindi-Hindi Comprehensive Dictionary)
Urdu-Hindi Dictionary
Hindi-Urdu Dictionary
Black's Law Dictionary
English-Hindi Dictionary of Legal Terms
Medical Dictionaries:
Black's Medical Dictionary
Medical Dictionary (Merriam Webster) hosted by NIH
English-Hindi Dictionary of Scientific and Medical terms published by Govt. of India
Websites of NIH, WHO, [login to view URL], and other online resources.
Professional associations:
Member of Translators Initiative (a newly constituted forum of Indian translators).
Member of email group powwow India
Member of email group transjobs India
Subscriptions to industry publications:
The Desktop - SDL Newsletter
TRADUguide newsletter
Ezine from [login to view URL]
Translation Today, Central Institute of India Languages, Mysore.
Computer:
Hardware: Pentium IV, 80 GB Hard disk, 512 MB RAM, CD Writer, 56 Kbps Modem, Laser Printer, Scanner.
Software: Windows XP & 98SE, Office XP, PageMaker 7, Quark Xpress 4.1, Adobe Photoshop 7, CorelDraw 11, Encyclopedia Britannica 2004, MS Encarta, English and Hindi fonts, Unicode fonts.
Broadband Internet connection with dial-up connection as backup.
References:
Ashok Sharma, Editor, Varta, (United News of India, Hindi Service)
Kevin Hendzel, COO, ASET International Services, USA
Jim Gleeson, Business Support Coordinator, Lexxicorp Pty. Limited, Sydney, Australia
(Satyam Varma)
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