MICHAEL NEIL BROOKS
10 Silver Lace Court, San Rafael, California 94903
Phone: 415-686-9990 (Mobile) or 415-499-3526 (Home)
email: michaelneilbrooks@gmail.com
CURRENT ACTIVITY
Freelance Translator (English to Japanese, and Japanese to English) (full-time or part-time from February 1993 to present)
Actively accepting translation assignments from several major translation/localization agencies.
Assignments have included:
 Clinical study reports for biomedical device manufacturers
 Academic papers on pharmaceutical field studies
 Business contracts
 Web pages for consumer product manufacturers such as Suntory, Sephora, and wineries
 Editing/quality control of other translators’ work
Lecturer
San Francisco State University (from January 2001 to present, part-time)
 Semester courses I have taught include:
 Japanese 350: Introduction to Translation (Upper Division)
 Japanese 690: Introduction to Consecutive Interpretation (Upper Division)
 Japanese 710: Current Topics — Translation Workshop (Graduate)
 Japanese 710: Current Topics — Radio and TV (Graduate)
 Japanese 710: Current Topics — Interpretation Workshop (Graduate)
 Advise graduate students on their theses
PAST ACTIVITIES
Localization Linguistic Reviewer
Autodesk, Inc., San Rafael, California (full-time contractor from September 2007 to August 2008)
 Reviewed vendor translation and provided feedback for improvement on translation of the software user interface, readme
files, help files, training documentation, and user manuals of Autodesk’s many architecture-, civil-engineering-related, and
other designing software products.
Director of Localization/Translation Seminars
Aisei Japanese Language Services, Inc., San Francisco, California (part-time from June 1995 to March 2009)
 Created E-to-J and J-to-E translation seminars, and an interpretation seminar for future translators/interpreters
 Built curricula for all five courses
 Authored five course textbooks (Beginning, Intermediate, and Advanced E-to-J; Business E-to-J; J-to-E; and ESL)
 Evaluated, trained, and managed up to six seminar instructors
 Taught translation seminars
Linguistic Quality Assurance and Vendor Management Lead – Japanese Market
Apple Inc. (AppleCare Global Online Support), Cupertino, California (from December 2003 to February 2007)
 Managed localization-related resources such as style guides and glossaries for Japanese projects
 Managed localization projects requested by internal clients
 Managed vendor relations on outsourced localization projects
Training and Development Consultant – Japanese Market
Apple Inc. (Service Training), Cupertino, California (from May 2003 to December 2003)
 Translated training materials on IT-related subjects for Apple service vendors
 Managed own schedule, quality, process, and procedures
 Managed two contractor translators (scheduling, editing, and providing feedback)
Page 2
Senior Localization Manager – French, German, and Japanese Markets
eTranslate, Inc., San Francisco, California (from March to August 2001)
 Managed localization projects for the leading provider of globalization technology and services for the Fortune 1000
 Assessed incoming multi-language website translation projects for translation fitness, risks, and required resources
 Answered linguistic inquiries from translators
 Built master glossaries for multi-language Web translation projects
 Maintained project glossaries in German, French, Spanish, Portuguese, Chinese, and other languages by consulting subject
experts, translators, and clients
 Translated and edited project-critical documents from English to Japanese
 Evaluated translation vendors and translators
 Clients included Apple, Compaq, eBay, and General Electric Polymer
Localization Services Project Manager
PeopleSoft, Inc., Pleasanton, California (from December 1996 to August 1997)
 Managed five translators for localization of HR-related business software
 Assessed project progress and assigned tasks to a team of five translators
 Evaluated new translators
 Solved inquiries from translators by collaborating with systems engineers
EDUCATION
Master of Arts in English with a concentration in TESOL
San Francisco State University
Bachelor of Arts in Linguistics
University of California, Los Angeles
Department of Foreign Languages (Spanish)
Sophia University (Jochi Daigaku), Tokyo, Japan
LECTURES/PRESENTATIONS
 Lecture on translation theory at the University of California at Berkeley
 Seminar entitled “Living English for IT People” presented in Tokyo in cooperation with Mainichi Shimbun, a leading newspaper
 Presentation on English participial construction at the 1st MA-TESOL Conference, San Francisco State University
BOOKS AUTHORED
 Essentials of English-to-Japanese Translation, a textbook for beginning translation students
Adopted as the textbook of a course entitled Comparative Studies of English and Japanese at Kansai University, Osaka, Japan.
 Practical Strategies for English-to-Japanese Translation, a textbook for intermediate translation students
 Proficiency Upgrade Workshop, a textbook for advanced translation students
 Translation of Business Documents, a textbook for translation studies
 Fundamentals of Japanese-to-English Translation, a textbook for translation studies
 Living English Clinic, a textbook for Japanese learners of English