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Bilingual editor awarded the McGill Associates Prize in Translation

Published: 27 June 2017

What better way to become an experienced translator than to work one’s way up from the bottom. Hélène Roulston is living proof of the adage that one becomes a good translator by producing good translations and having the knowledge base to produce quality work. That sums up Hélène Roulston’s recipe for success. She is the 2017 recipient of the McGill Associates Prize in Translation (English-French). Ms Roulston received this distinction at the spring graduation ceremony when she was awarded her Certificate in Translation in the English to French option.

Ms Roulston earned her first degree in biology and environmental sciences from the University of Waterloo in 1990. Then in 1992, she added a Bachelor of Education from the University of Toronto to her credentials.  

After graduating a second time, she started a career in editing and proofreading in Ontario, where she worked with a wide variety of organizations in both the public and private sectors, including various ministries and Canada’s National Library and Archives.

A self-starter, she has worked for twenty-five years as a freelance bilingual editor and proofreader. Yet, Ms Roulston also realizes that networking is also a key to professional success. Consequently, she is an active member of the Editors’ Association of Canada and the Language Entrepreneurs Forum, more commonly known in Quebec as the Carrefour des langagiers entrepreneurs  (CLEF).   She is living proof that language professionals with this set of skills are active participants in Canada’s fast growing language industry.

“Ms Roulston’s functional bilingualism, her translation skills and her business acumen will surely allow her to contribute in a meaningful way to Canada’s language industry,” said James Archibald, Director of McGill’s Translation and Written Communication unit.

McGill’s undergraduate certificate in translation meets the needs of aspiring translators interested in the language industry.

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