A bilingual upbringing gives Dena Bugel-Shunra an edge of linguistics. Hard-pressed to identify her actual native language, she stumbled into her profession by mistake, in 1989; since then she’s Translated nearly 10,000,000 words into English and Hebrew, including more than 25 published books. Her initial focus was technical documentation and how-to books, but legal material (contracts, wiretaps, testimony, patents, and so forth) have become her main passion.
Bugel-Shunra has interpreted in conferences, negotiations, depositions, and focus groups. She has presented ATA seminars for translators about issues ranging from homeland security to knitting, and writes in trade publications such as Multilingual Computing and The ATA Chronicle as well as more general publications.
In her spare time, Bugel-Shurna knits and spins and translates poetry for fun: “Translation is not just a career – it’s a lifestyle”.