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Ciaran O Faolain

Translator, Writer, Editor

Works remotely from Amsterdam

  • 52.37243
  • 4.89973
  • Suggested rate £435 / day
  • Experience 7+ years
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Location and workplace preferences

Location
Amsterdam, NH, Netherlands
Remote only
Primarily works remotely

Verifications

Freelancer code of conduct signed
Read the Malt code of conduct

Verified email

Languages

  • English

    Native or bilingual

  • French

    Fluent

  • Dutch

    Fluent

Categories

Skills (10)

Ciaran in a few words

Textabulous is all about excellence in writing, editing, and translation. For writing, that includes technical documentation, help procedures, long- and short-form marketing copy, press releases, and communications.

I edit in each of the areas I write in, and also do academic and legal editing. To see how I edit, and for a few thoughts on what makes for good editing, please see my short video.

I am also a translator from French to English and from Dutch to English (sworn), and translate regularly for the Dutch Ministry of Health, Welfare and Sports/RIVM, ABN AMRO, ING, and Gasunie, among others. I have appended to my CV a list of the books I have translated or copy-edited since setting up Textabulous.

I have over 20 years’ experience as a writer and editor, and regularly produce long- and short-form copy for organisations in the private and public sectors—blog posts, commercial brochures, press releases, articles for corporate magazines, internal communications, one-pagers, social-media posts, Web pages, and intranet content. Clients include Smurfit Kappa, a world leader in the production of paper-based packaging; Delf Hyperloop (now Hardt Hyperloop); SEUSS+, a life-sciences consultancy; the Institute for Sustainable Process Technology; EXIN, an exam and certification institute; Mammoet World magazine; Euroports, a provider of maritime supply-chain solutions; and Europol.

Over the years I have produced a range of style guides and communications strategies for organisations such as the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons, the European Patent Office, the National Bank of Belgium, Philips, IKEA, KPMG International, and IBM, and have trained staff in the do’s and don’ts of drafting.

I never outsource assignments. As I say on my website: if you hire me, you get me.

Experience

Sakura Finetek Europe

Founder and Director

September 2013 - Today (9 years and 5 months)

www.textabulous.com Textabulous is all about excellence in writing, editing, and translation. For writing, that includes technical documentation, help procedures, long- and short-form marketing copy, press releases, and communications. I edit in each of the areas I write in, and also do academic and legal editing. To see how I edit, and for a few thoughts on what makes for good editing, please see my CLICK TO VIEW short video. I am a translator from French to English and from Dutch to English (sworn), and translate regularly for the Dutch Ministry of Health, Welfare and Sports/RIVM, ABN AMRO, ING, and Gasunie, among others. I have appended below a list of the books I have translated or copy-edited since setting up Textabulous. Over the years I have produced style guides and communications strategies Translation in progress, forthcoming from Oxford University Press as "The Three Regional Human Rights Courts in Context" for organisations such as the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons, the European Patent Office, the National Bank of Belgium, Philips, IKEA, KPMG International, and IBM, and have trained staff in the do's and don'ts of drafting. From October 2021 to December 2022 I worked at Sakura Finetek Europe, which produces a range of medical devices for histology laboratories: I was the sole Technical Writer on a project that certified all of the company's devices under the In Vitro Diagnostics Regulation (IVDR). My duties included the following:
•Creating IVDR and other technical documentation, including a number of standard operating procedures (SOPs) required under the IVDR o Creating or adapting and maintaining documentation templates, with input from QARA and other departments:
▪Instructions for use
▪Annex I: General Safety and Performance Requirements
▪Annex II "backbone" o Creating instructions for use based on materials from OEMs and on specifications in safety data sheets
•Liaising as needed with subject-matter experts from QARA and other departments in Central Office
•Editing and finalising SOPs required under the IVDR
•Editing and finalising SFE IVDR and other technical documentation other than materials provided by OEMs: o Documents produced in-house o Documents submitted by Qserve, a consultancy with expertise in IVDR certifications
•In the later going, establishing and maintaining a definitive list comprising:

European Space Agency

Senior Editor (editing and content management)

Noordwijk Binnen, ZH, Netherlands

March 2008 - October 2008 (7 months)

Overhauled the Human Resources intranet site for all ESA locations in the Netherlands, France, Germany, and Spain, ensuring consistency in standards across the board, including in terminology and look and feel; on request, wrote and edited articles for ESA's intranet and Internet sites.

Erasmus University - Erasmus University

Freelance writer, editor, and translator

Rotterdam, Netherlands

March 2009 - August 2010 (1 year and 5 months)

Carried out a range of assignments, writing, editing, and translating course descriptions and various marketing and promotional materials for an English-language audience.

Shell Telecommunications Organisation

Technical Writer, Editor

Leidschendam, ZH, Netherlands

November 2007 - March 2008 (4 months)

Updated and revised in-house documentation standards and a full set of documentation templates, and wrote and edited system documentation, user guides, and technical procedures. Senior Editor (P-4 on the United Nations scale; staff position) December 2002 to October 2007 Technical Secretariat of the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) The Hague, the Netherlands The OPCW is mandated under the Chemical Weapons Convention to ensure, through international verification, the destruction of all existing chemical weapons, and the non-proliferation of new ones. Responsibilities:
•Edited under my own revision, or revised, all major official-series documents in English issued by the Technical Secretariat, including: o technical and policy papers, and the annual reports of various divisions and of the OPCW as a whole o all major classified documents, including the annual Verification Implementation Report and supplements to it o the report of each session of the OPCW's policy-making organs CV January 2023 o the report of each session of the Advisory Body on Administrative and Financial Matters, the Scientific Advisory Board, and the Validation Group (which makes recommendations regarding the inclusion of analytical data in the OPCW Central Analytical Database) o the quarterly financial statements of the OPCW o draft decisions of the OPCW's policy-making organs covering the range of issues that came before Member States o the opening statement by the Director-General to each session of the policy-making organs o speeches by the Director-General to the First Committee of the United Nations General Assembly, the UN Security Council, and other bodies
•Edited press releases, as requested
•Established and revised editorial standards for the Secretariat (including the new OPCW Editorial Manual, an overview of which I presented to staff from all divisions)
•Provided training to staff as required, on OPCW style and usage, and on the do's and don'ts of drafting
•Provided editorial services during meetings of delegates of OPCW Member States, as requested
•Provided advice to delegates on editorial matters
•During each Session of the OPCW Executive Council and the Conference of the States Parties, worked on the report of the Session in the chamber, with the text projected on-screen for delegations, as final report language was being negotiated
•As requested, created drafting tests for candidates for various positions, including Senior Policy Officer (P-4), and evaluated the test results along with hiring managers

Agilisys

Technical Writer

Rijswijk, ZH, Netherlands

October 1999 - August 2002 (2 years and 10 months)

Wrote online documentation, including installation manuals and help procedures, and designed and wrote courseware for the company's supply-chain-management software packages.

IBM Knowledge Factory

Senior Editor, Project Editor

La Hulpe, BW, Belgium

October 1999 - November 2002 (3 years and 1 month)

Edited courseware and documentation for a wide range of projects, both in-house and for IBM customers, including:
•As Editor on a project for the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), finalised 800 pages of courseware and documentation on WIPONET, a virtual private network developed by IBM for WIPO Member States
•Provided training to project writers on the do's and don'ts of drafting as well as on the Knowledge Factory Style Guide (on which see the next position)

IBM Knowledge Factory

Editor, Senior Editor

Atlanta, GA, USA

January 1998 - October 1999 (1 year and 9 months)

Edited documentation for a range of in-house and client projects, such as courses on SQL; overhauled the Knowledge Factory Style Guide, bringing it into line with the IBM Style Guide; trained staff in Atlanta (and, later, in Paris) on the application of Knowledge Factory style; and wrote the writer's guides for individual projects as required. CV January 2023

Georgia Institute of Technology, Department of Literature

University Instructor (Brittain Fellow)

August 1995 - December 1997 (2 years and 4 months)

Communication, and Culture Designed and taught courses in cultural studies, literature, technical writing, and public speaking.

College of Arts and Sciences, Cornell University

University Instructor

Ithaca, NY, USA

September 1992 - May 1994 (1 year and 8 months)

Taught beginning and intermediate French; designed and taught introductory writing courses in Comparative Literature.

Education

  • Master of Arts

    Cornell University Graduate School

    1995

    Master of Arts in Comparative Literature

  • Bachelor of Arts

    Cornell University, College of Arts and Sciences

    1990

    Bachelor of Arts,