I was born on the 20 October 1969 in Eldamar, River Nile State, Sudan. I grew up there until I graduated from high school in March 1988. Between 1989 and 1992, I lived and worked in Khartoum.

From 1992 to the 2014, I lived and worked in Saudi Arabia. I spent most of these years in Riyadh, but I also lived and worked in Jeddah, Jubail, Dammam and Khobar. During this long stay in Saudi Arabia, I understood and appreciated the heritage, culture, literature and music the Arabian Peninsula.  

I spent most of the years 2011 and 2012 in Alexandria, Egypt. It was an amazing experience to live in this ancient and culturally rich city and to come closer to the Egyptian’s vibrant sprit.

From January 2014 December 2015, I lived in Port Elizabeth, South Africa. It is a worthy life experience too. Port Elizabeth is one of the most beautiful cities in the world and its inhabitants are friendly. 

From January 2016 until now, I live in Pretoria, South Africa. Pretoria is a fast-moving city and a place of a serous life: whenever one goes, there are conferences and workshops about the political and economic issues of the day. Having said that, the city is still full of cultural and entertaining activities, besides its unique heritage and historic buildings.

In addition to these places, I also spent some times in Jourdan, Eretria and Ethiopia. Living and working in all these areas enables me to realise the common and appreciate the differences between us, the people. Furthermore, this experience gives me a strong background for critically analysing and researching Arab and Africa societies.

 

I have a long and diverse working experience that extends from the 1990’s to this day. During this period, I worked in many fields that include publishing, contracting, commerce, diplomatic, government and charity; and in jobs such as translation, editing, managing translation agencies and business. In the following paragraphs, I will highlight some of the jobs.

From January 2014 to the present. I work as a freelance translator and researcher. My main clients live in South Africa but I also have some clients in the Middle East.

From January 2010 to December 2013. I worked as a full-time and part-time translator in Middle East Translation Agency; Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. In the Agency, we translate for the general public. However, our main clients are the business, education and media sectors for whom we translate quotations, contracts, correspondences, catalogues, legal papers, certificates, researches and journalistic articles.  

From March 2006 to January 2010. I worked for King Khalid Foundation; Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. I was the administrative assistant of King Khalid Autobiography Department. The work of the Department focuses of the history of the Arabian Peninsula particularly during the reign of king Khalid Bin Abdulaziz.

From March 2003 to March 2006. In this period, I worked as a freelance translator and editor for many clients in Dammam and Riyadh. I also worked for a broker as an assistant and for a financial consultant as office manager.

From September 1999 to March 2003. I worked for al-Afandi Establishment as an administrative secretary. I was responsible for the accounting, personnel, inventory and public relations in addition to the ordinary secretarial work.

During the 1990s. I worked in many jobs such as office management, translating, designing and editing. The most important experience in this period was working for a publishing house as books designer and typist. This job taught me the secrets of the publishing industry from commissioning an author to write a book to distributing the book in the market. I also had my own business during this period. I owned a translation and student services agency that provided services such as translating, editing, copying and typing.     

MA Translation and Interpreting Studies; Faculty of Humanities, University of Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa; June 2017. The degree, which was awarded with distinction, is an MA by research. My topic was “Designing and Developing a Model for Quality Management and Best Practice for the Translation Unit of the Pan-African Parliament”. The research concentrated on three subjects: namely, translator’s competence, managing translation organisations and translation quality management.

BA Honours Applied Language Studies; Faculty of Arts, Nelson Mandela University, Port Elizabeth, South Africa; April 2015. The degree was a BA Honours by coursework and research. The coursework consists of four units: general linguistics, applied linguistics, translation theory and practical translation. The research paper was titled “A Review of the European Translation Standard (EN15038) as an Instrument for Assessing the Quality of Translation”.

BA English; Goldsmith College, University of London, London, United Kingdom; May 2012. The degree was awarded with second honour. The course consisted of 12 units: one unit explored Western Literature from Homer to Shakespeare; two units were about literary theory; two units concentrated on the methods of textual analysis and linguistics; the remaining seven units were about British Literature from the Middle Ages to the present time. 

Diploma in Translation; Chartered Institute of Linguists, London, United Kingdom; August, 2016. This is a postgraduate level certificate in practical translation. The diploma is the “gold standard for anyone wanting a career as a freelance translator or to work as a translator for international corporations worldwide and meets the need for a high-level professional translating qualification.” The examination tests the candidate’s “professional translating skills at a postgraduate level of competence.”

Diploma in Freelance and Feature Writing; London School of Journalism, London, United Kingdom; 2011. This diploma was awarded with distinction. The course was about writing feature articles and freelancing. Each one of the lessons consisted of discussing one topic or genre of journalism and writing an article about this topic. The tutor gives the student comment about the article.      

Diploma in Music and Art Journalism; London School of Journalism, London, United Kingdom; 2012. Building on the above course, in this diploma, I specialised in music and art journalism. I studied topics such as covering theatre and music events, music criticism and writing about fine arts. This diploma was awarded with distinction too.  

International Computer Deriving Licence (ICDL); The European Computer Deriving Licence Foundation, Alexandria, Egypt; 2012. This is the basic ICT competence certificate. It tests the candidate skills in MS Windows, MS Office, computer safety, information searching and communication.

Certificate in Web Designing; New Horizon Institute; Alexandria, Egypt; 2012. This is a web designing package. It teaches the student markup languages such as HTML, web designing programs such as Dreamweaver, in addition to two computer graphic programs: Adobe Flash and Adobe Photoshop.   

Certificate in Arabic Music; Arabic Music Institute Association; Alexandria, Egypt; 2012. This six-month programme gives the student instruction in music theory and practice. I studied lute playing during the programme

The membership of professional associations is an important method of signalling the competence of a profession, in addition it provides the members with platforms for continual professional development.

I am a qualified Member of the UK Charted Institute of Linguists. This is one of the oldest and most prestigious institutes for translators and linguists. My membership category enables me to certify my translation and also the translations of others. 

I am member of The South African Translators Institute. This institute is “a professional association for language practice in South Africa” and I am a member of it since 2014.

I am a sworn Translator of the High Court of South Africa.

Arabic is my mother tongue. I know the standard (classic) Arabic and I can read and write accordingly. I am well read in contemporary Arabic literature and intellectual debate. Living in many Arab countries enables me to understand and communicate with almost all Arabic vernaculars.

English is the instruction language of part of my secondary education, my undergraduate and postgraduate education, and my journalism training. I am totally master of the classic and the contemporary English and familiar with the spoken English of UK, USA, Canada and Africa.

French is my third language. I have a basic reading competence, but most importantly I know the grammar and the structure of the language and this is important to my linguistics and translatology scholarship.  

I am committed …

TO the values of human rights as stipulated in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights

TO abiding by the codes of the Professional Conduct of the South African Translators’ Institute and the UK Chartered Institute of Linguists, when translating

TO the highest standard in form and content, journalism ethics and established norms, truth in editorial and honesty in commentary, when writing  

TO quality, excellence, novelty, development and evidence-based decision making, when doing my job

TO respect, inclusion and equal opportunities for all regardless of race, gender or religion, when dealing with people

I have many hobbies and interest that include reading in mathematics, humanities and social sciences; writing and corresponding; listening to the BBC World Service and classic music; playing lute; walking and swimming. I also like to engage in social and cultural activities and to volunteer whenever my experience is needed. There are some of the communal and cultural activities that I have engaged in lately.

Volunteer, Translators without Border Organization, May 2017. This organisation provides free translation services to the NGO’s and the needy communities. It is main goal is to bridge the knowledge gap between people. 

Volunteer, Unity of Africa Foundation, I volunteered with this charity organisation during 2014. We have done many amazing activities such as cleaning the beach and helping other NGO’s. However, the most important project I worked in was to help school pupils with their homework in Port Elizabeth Township.

Peer Helper, the Students Counselling of Nelson Mandela University; I volunteered with them for two years. During this period, I helped in issues relating to employment considering my experience. I was awarded the Golden Certificate of the Students Counselling as an acknowledge of my services.    

Drama workshop, NMMU, April-October 2014; I participated in this 6-month workshop and our training and rehearsal was ended by producing and staging a play on the university’s theatre.    

Poetry workshop, NMMU April-October 2014; I participated in this 6-month poetry writing workshop and two of my poems were published in the University Annual Poetry Book.