Email:
-
Address: Apartment 5, 2rd floor, Almoazzam School Bldg.,
Lehtrar Road, Thanda Pani
Islamabad, Pakistan
Phone: -
Abid Riaz
Career Summary:
After starting as a corporate/academic English language instructor, I moved into writing and text
editing after 3 years. After a year as an editor at Pakistan's NUST working with prospectuses,
manuals, developing newsletters, and proofing research papers, I started freelancing as a
Pashto<>English translator. The diversity of assignments in the academia and as a freelancer
familiarized me with various types of texts including social sciences, marketing, technology,
engineering, finance, law, current affairs, government, healthcare, etc., all of which have helped
hone my skills not only as a translator but also as a writer. I am currently engaged in translation
and interpretation for the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees and on a freelance
basis.
Experience:
Freelance Translator (Present)
Latest completed project is subtitling of a Farsi/Pashto documentary on the mining sector of
Afghanistan, focusing especially on copper mines in Mes Aynak.
Subtitled a documentary on widows’ lives in Kandahar. The documentary is made by a US
Army veteran.
Subtitled 2 Pashto and Urdu documentaries on Aqeela Asifi, a Farsi/Pashto-speaking Afghan
refugee teacher in Kot Chandna refugee camp in Mianwali, Pakistan.
Subtitled an Urdu documentary on the underground life of women dancers, stage actors,
and the transgender community in Lahore.
Completed translation of an academic course on Hydrology for the University of Nebraska
Omaha. The course focused on water resources in Afghanistan and Pakistan.
Worked with Appen Butler Hill, an Australian company, as part of their machine translation
project where I maintained translation quality of over 90%.
Translated the Afghanistan laws on drug and human trafficking for the United Nations
through translation.pk, an old client of mine.
Last year I translated annual report and related documents of ISAAA , an organization that
promotes biotech applications in agriculture, especially genetically modified seeds.
In 2014, I worked with Thesiegers, a research organization, as a translator of Afghan
newspapers from the 1990s. I was interviewed and selected by the well-known Afghanistan
expert Alex Strick Van Linschoten and later I also worked with Anand Gopal from the same
team of researchers. I can provide references from both the distinguished scholars. This was
the biggest freelance project I’ve ever done. Over a period of six months, I translation
240,000 words from Pashto to English.
Translated marketing research interviews for Mashaal Radio (Radio Free Europe) that
assessed their audience preferences in the Pashto-speaking areas of Pakistan.
Pashto-English interpreter for Medicins du Monde, a French organization, when the INGO
imparted training to its employees in KPK and FATA on providing better medical care
especially to the Internally Displaced People (IDP’s). This was my very first consecutive
interpretation in my carrer.
Translated Pashto news bulletins and current affairs debates broadcast by different
TV/Radio channels such Ashna TV, Shamshad TV, Mashaal Radio, etc. for a French machine
translation project. My translation were retranslated to French.
Volunteer Work
Regular contributor to the work of Translators Without Borders.
Along with commercial and development sector projects, I am a volunteer translator for
Pashto Google Translate. I am a registered volunteer and commercial translator for
Amara.org. I have translated several TedTalks and Scientific American magazine videos. I also
contributed to Pashto translation of Facebook and Apache OpenOffice.
Translator and Interpreter with the UNHCR -)
At the moment I also work with the United Nations Higher Commissioner for Refugees, BOI
Islamabad as a consecutive interpreter and translator.
Translating Urdu and Pashto documents submitted by refugees to English. Documents
include identification papers, education and work certificates, refugees appeal applications,
police reports, birth/marriage/death certificates, support evidence submitted by refugees,
etc.
I am also a translation coordinator managing and reviewing translation by three other
interpreters/translators.
Translation of UNHCR mass information content in Pashto and Urdu. My translations are
regualarly published/aired in Pakistan newspapers and radio stations to reach Afghan
refugees in Pakistan.
Academic/News Editor with National University of Sciences and Technology (NUST), Islamabad
•
•
•
•
Annually published three prospectuses for the university (Engineering, Medicine and Social
Sciences) which involved editing, writing, updating, rewriting and proofreading.
Report and publish news stories of University conferences, seminars, project launches, etc.
Develop brochures, press releases, news stories for NUST NEWS (newsletter), write/edit text
for NUST.edu.pk and student magazines
Edit/proofread research journals of various disciplines, mainly Engineering, Business and
Medicine. Worked on NUST Journal of Engineering Sciences (NJES) comprising ten research
papers by researchers from various educational and research institutions. NJES will be
available online by the end of August.
Edited NUST Annual Report 2010 and NUST Faculty Handbook 2011.
Editor/ Proofreader /Translator with Transmedia Communications Lahore
•
•
•
Edited four books for a Dubai-based company, a Transmedia client. The books have now
been published.
Proofread Fatawa Arkan-ul-Islam by Shaykh Muhammad ibn Salih Al-Uthaymeen (two
volumes) for errors caused during its scanning.
Work also included proofreading all types of translated work done by company translators
and supervising composers.
Theses Editor/Instructor Business Communication with Air University, Islamabad
•
•
Edited business students’ BBA/MBA theses/research papers
Lectured to business students on linguistic mechanics such as sentence style, sentence
structure, word choice, punctuation, pronunciation, etc.
English Language Trainer with Touchstone Communications, Islamabad
•
•
•
Conducted a 40-hour English communication course for all new salespersons. Training
course was chiefly based on American Accent Training by Ann Cook
Gave customized training to on-the-phone sales representatives
Communication trainer at Touchstone Learning Academy where I trained prospective
employees to meet Touchstone hiring criteria.
•
English Language Trainer with The Resource Group, Lahore
•
•
Evaluated and graded existing employees’ English language proficiency.
Conducted training courses on language skills enhancement for less proficient users.
Software:
MS Office, Adobe Indesign, Aegisub (subtitling software), Memsoure, Wordfast
Anywhere, Trados Studio.
Typing Speed: Pashto 50 wpm, English 55 wpm, Urdu 40 wpm
Education:
Masters in English (Peshawar University).
References:
1: Yasir Bhatti, Founder of translation.pk, the largest translation vendor in Pakistan
Phone: (-
Email:-2: Qaisar Khan Afridi, Media Officer with the UNHCR-Pakistan,
Phone: -
Email:-
