I'm a 37 year old male ( previously full-time, now ) freelance T&I practitioner ( Persian/Farsi <-> English ) recently moved to Australia ( Sydney ) from Iran, with 14+ years experience with Radio, Television, Gov't, Print media, Cinema industry, Diplomatic missions, Sports Federations and as freelance language service provider to Int'l conferences held in Iran, NGOs, Embassies, and private research institutes.

I've been used to specializing in translation as well as interpreting ( Consecutive & Simultaneous ), with certain niche areas of preference, if not expertise. I suppose as a bilingual person, I'm better in rendering Farsi into English but depedning on personal liking of subject, I'd appreciate the reverse also.

I've been a voice-over talent of dubbing for a long time and have been involved in rendering source material into English for Movies & T.V programs, directed at overseas viewership, both as script translator and dubber. Together with a group of terrific people we delivered the 1st major Iranian movie- " Hamsar " - into English ,12 years ago, among others. On all these accounts, there's been an intent to re-dialogue and render most situation-pertinent equivalents as possible, as would a native speaker appreciate. But then the majority of well-known Iranian films are so content-wise different from mainstream world cinema that perhaps it's best to have them subtitled and not dubbed at all. Of course, recent productions would disagree with that; as they're more commercial-minded and thus probably better to dub, if there's an order for it out there, which I honestly suspect. The notion of targetting a foreign viewer is mostly in reaching out to an elite group - & I'm not referring to art-house festival films, where you invariably get the pictures subtitled - and not the general public, save a few exceptions. So there's an inherent catch there, with Iranian movies.

As regards Australian accreditations, which are required to work in this region, I'm guilty of enjoying NAATI level 3 Translator's certificate, and have a level 3 Interpreter's endorsement coming up shortly. As there are no Advanced Translator's / Interpreter's accreditation available for the language combination with NAATI / AUSIT in Australia, this is apparently the highest level of professional practice accreditation open to this region for time being. But, the ironic truth is that NAATI accreditation among certain others from elsewhere, are not necessarily the ultimate authoritative quality benchmark for assessing level of expertise in T & I sector, for several reasons, which I suffice with 2 here : The people behind creating these exams, i.e respected examiners, are themselves prone to mistakes and many of whom, technically speaking , have less professional T&I experience in certain specialized areas, than the people they're supposed to test, try and evaluate. This can be readily noticed in the testing material, the manner of it's preparation, the content and even the funny mistakes it occasionally contains. But then, who's there to care and/ or even listen to these remarks anayway. As long as most are happy with it, then presumption is, it must be O.K. !? So, all in all, we can be assured of the curious catch within Iranian collective pscyche, that seems to continue wreacking havoc, almost everywhere, even with purely technical professions as this. The 2nd reason , regrettably so however, debunking NAATI authority, including my own accreditation, is that by having a simple Bachelor's degree in English Translation from Azad University ( Tehran Branch ) you automatically qualify for a Level 3 ( Preofessional Translator's ) Certificate / Stamp...Which is yet another good reason why it's validity and authority need be technically questioned. Not because I never majored in English in Iran - with Azad Uni or any other for that matter - and nor because I inherently harbor any particular grudge or bias against Azad Uni, but simply because experience has demonstrated ample samples of Azad ( & non- Azad ) university graduates in English Translation, that evidently do not measure up to the minimum expectations, i.e qualifications. Who's fault is it ? Surely the student is not to blame !! Admittedly not everyone who graduates with a B.A in English Translation or literature, really knows how to professionally pull the job - I know many who passed the dumb entrance exam and barely scraping their way up through credits just to get that damn piece of paper & .go..., you tell me !? Needless to remind, it takes more than just flashing a proclivity for prolixity and funny phoney native-like accent, to be a good professional translator. The same, albeit with a rather more delicate note goes for Interpreting; which even at the highest Conference Levels in Iran, sometimes becomes excruciatingly embarrasing, that is outright unprofessional & mediocre. But, isn't this exactly what's been going on in our beloved country for the past good many years. The outcome of which are numerous people who think they know the craft and even get credit for that from peers, earn a decent living with that...- understandably so because they've been brought up at school with that assumption - but may even lack the primary essentials ! Who is the rightful authority to measure T & I practice within Iran and what are their criteria really ??!! In a country where skills are evaluated based on ideosyncratic arbitrary, slightly emotional & prejudicial interpretations, what else could one expect ?! So I take, it's quite O.K .