About Karen Marston

I loved words and language – this began from a young age with a love of reading and writing, then I became inspired by foreign languages when I learned French from my passionate native French teacher, who gifted me my accent. 

The opportunity to spend time in France with my penfriend enabled me to experience the joy of communicating with people in another language, which gave me motivation to learn more and improve. I knew I wanted a career in which I could truly use my language skills, and while German did not agree with me, I wanted to learn another language so took up Spanish at university. Time spent in Spain during my year abroad brought me fluency in Spanish too and I achieved a first class honours degree in French and Spanish from the University of Southampton, which I still live close to now. A year at the University of Bath brought me an MA in Translation and Interpreting and the professional skills to begin a career as a freelance interpreter and translator in 1998.

I love being able to work with words and language, and to convey written and spoken language to an audience that could not otherwise understand it, removing language barriers. My work brings me a great contrast between spending time selecting words and phrases to convey meaning and style in written translation, and the fulfilling task of helping people to communicate and ensuring voices are heard and understood in interpreting.