Rita Eustace heard English, Danish and German on a daily basis as a small child and at age nine, was at a "prep" school in N. Ireland where French was taught charismatically.
She spent two months a year abroad, totally immersed in French/German/Danish throughout teens and early twenties.
She went on to read Joint Honours French and German at Trinity College Dublin, and obtained a double first. This was followed by an M.A. in Romance Languages and Literature at King's College London.
After this, she became a translator for a pharmaceutical firm, and took up Spanish studies, eventually becoming qualified by examination.
She now has nearly forty years experience of translating from French, German and Spanish, as well as from Danish, Norwegian and Swedish into English. Many other activities, mainly involving travel and people.

Vera Costea graduated in 2005 from the "Babes-Bolyai" University in Cluj-Napoca, Romania, specialising in English and Japanese. In 2006 she took her MA degree in Irish Studies from the same university, while also teaching English at a local high school, and collaborating as a teaching assistant with the Oriental Languages Program, of the Department of General Linguistics and Semiotics at the Faculty of Letters. During her time as a student at this university she also received scholarships that offered her the opportunity to study at the Institute of Oriental Languages and Civilizations in Paris, and at the Faculty of Crosscultural Studies of Kobe University, Japan. She is interested in issues related to identity in the context of globalization as reflected in contemporary exilic literature. She is married, and has recently become a mother, which has made her work for HappyChild even more meaningful. Whenever she can find the time, she enjoys reading South-American novels, playing bridge, and watching comedies.

Anca Greere holds a PhD in Translation Studies and is currently Reader in the Faculty of Letters at the 'Babes-Bolyai' University of Cluj-Napoca, Romania. With three active languages (Romanian native, English near-native, German advanced), Anca is a Romanian state authorized translator and has considerable experience in working as a translator, translation trainer, and examiner. In addition to her professional interest in contemporary translation theory (especially in the legal domain), Anca also researches in English linguistics and the development of English grammars for non-native users (primarily Romanian users). She has held an attachment overseas, at the University of Southern Denmark, as part of the EU-sponsored Socrates/Erasmus programme, and has actively participated in several international (Argentina, South Africa, United Kingdom) and national symposia, with translation as their core theme. In addition to numerous articles, Anca has published six books on translation theory and English grammar. She is currently researching in Romanian/English for Specific Purposes (Law and Education); Functionalist Approaches in Domain-specific Translations; Intercultural Communication for Translation Purposes (Adaptability), and Management of Translation Reality. Anca is married with two children, and four dogs ; she is also a keen gardener – when she is able to find the time!

Joanna Poplawska was born in Poland, and graduated from Warsaw University (law), but has been living in the UK for ten years now [at the time of completion of the translation of the Polish-English vocabulary worksheets].

She is currently employed as a Polish/German tutor by an Adult Learning Centre, and has two children.

Magda graduated from The University of Arts and Nature in Kielce, Poland in March 2006 with a B.Ed. degree. She moved to the UK shortly afterwards and attained a QTS in February 2008. Her speciality is Integrated Early School and Pre-School Education with Teaching English.

She will begin to study for her CELTA-TESOL certificate in January 2010. Magda enjoys good literature, collecting films and books, long walks, photography and cooking for her friends. She likes to be busy.

Rosa Ramdour grew up in Austria, where she gained a Diploma in Nursing. She also studied several languages - English, French, Dutch, Flemish, some Italian and some Spanish - and of course German, which was her mother tongue.
In 1997 she left Austria and moved to England, where she met her husband, and they now have two children. Rosa's husband is from Mauritius and also speaks several languages, including Hindi. Rosa has been studying Hindi with their children, as well as teaching them German, Dutch and French. She believes that languages are very important because their family comes from different countries, and encourages her children to learn all these languages because she wants them to be able to communicate with their uncles, aunties, cousins and grandparents .... she says that both children enjoy this very much!
She first discovered this website when she was looking for worksheets for her own children. She liked what she saw, and then discovered the request for volunteers to help by translating and checking German vocabulary and verbs. That's when she decided to get involved! and offered to work on both. She hopes the German-English worksheets may help to make language-learning easier for other families.

Cornelia Bullen-Smith grew up in East and then West Germany as Conny Stein.

After some studies in psychology in Strasbourg, Germanistik and Romanistik in Heidelberg, she left Germany to live in the South of France for several years. In 1980 Cornelia moved to South Africa, where she worked as a language teacher for adults. She was responsible for company in-house training and led language 'immersion courses'. Passionate about the importance of communication and inter-cultural understanding, Cornelia not only taught German and French in the 'direct method', but also wrote some language courses.

A resident of Muizenberg, Cape Town, since 1981, Cornelia who is married and the proud mother of two children, today works as a freelance journalist and photographer. She likes laughing, cooking, walking, reading and enjoys life.

Agnes Boddington is a Dutch national, married to an Englishman and living in East Yorkshire in England.

In the Netherlands, she did a teaching degree in English language, and for many years she taught Dutch, German, English, EFL and ESOL at a large inner-city College.

She still does some PT teaching on a self-employed basis, and works as an interpreter and translator for Police, Court and Solicitors, and works as an examiner and moderator for an examination board.

Tom Marreel grew up in Gent, Belgium where he obtained his university degree in mechanical engineering. There was, since childhood, an interest and ability in languages. Although his profession is in the field of engineering, he speaks five languages, namely Dutch (mother tongue), French, English, German and Italian.

This last language is due to the fact that he has lived in Italy since 2007 with his Italian girlfriend.

Edward Blankenship III has grown up loving languages and being interested in the diversity of the world. At a young age, he began to study foreign languages and learned as much as he could of whatever languages interested him.

Later, in High School, Eddie studied Roman languages both at school and on his own. Now preparing for college, he hopes to study East Asian languages and then to continue exploring globally.

His eventual aim is to go into political translation for governments or the UN, and to spend the rest of his life travelling and learning about the languages and cultures of the world.

Manuela has had an interest in languages from an early age, an interest she developed during her studies (she has a diploma in Foreign Languages, a Master's Degree in International Politics and the TOEFL).

She became interested in Translation whilst working on her Degree Thesis which involved translating texts from English and French into Italian.

Last year she decided to obtain a professional qualification in Translation and after following a preparatory course at Westminster University she has taken the IOL Diploma in Translation exam and passed 2 Units with Merit (she will sit the third and final Unit in January 2009).

She strongly supports making educational resources available free for children and is pleased to have been able to help with the content of the Italian-English worksheets.

Amgad Hassan Aly gained his Master of Arts degree [Faculty of Arts, Ain Shams University, English Department] in 2005 and is currently preparing for the Viva (Ph.D.).

With extensive translating experience and having recently acted as Interpreter at UN and governmental events in Oman, Amgad's specialties whilst lecturing at CACE-American University in Cairo (AUC) included using different media in teaching and translating, resulting in him being listed four times on the AUC Honor Roll.

His spare time interests are wide-ranging and include not only charitable work but also translation of literary works by Chekhov, Harold Pinter and Peter Shaffer, amongst others, teaching English and French at the Social Club of the Egyptian Society in Oman, writing poetry, and learning new languages.

Ayub was born & raised in Karachi, Pakistan and completed Intermediate Science there (A level equivalent) and then switched from science to arts for his B.A. degree after which he took a secretarial position.

In his spare time, he studies webpage and software development, and translates web pages, software language interfaces, documents etc. from English to his mother tongue, Urdu.

He is currently compiling a modest online/offline English to Urdu dictionary which is to be launched as soon as the set-up and database are accomplished.

Riffat Khan was born and raised in Karachi, Pakistan, in a middle-class family. After her primary and secondary education, she gained a BSc degree from Karachi university.

Later, she married very happily, and is now the mother of two children. Currently she is also doing part-time lower-level educational teaching. Her spare time is spent on the computer, watching television, and with her family.

Nicole studied both Spanish and French at University before following a career in the UK, firstly in financial services and afterwards running her own family history business, which she found fascinating. She is married with two sons, and two years ago the family emigrated to southern Germany.

She quickly learned German through necessity, and now works as a translator for a computer software company. As part of her role she also teaches English as a foreign language to the firm's employees. In her spare time she volunteers at the local primary school teaching English to the children there, which she enjoys greatly.

Eva Bernal was born in Seville, Spain in 1973, and obtained her diploma in Solfeggio from the Conservatory of Music when she was 15 years old. She gained her university degree in Arabic Philology at the University of Seville.

She learned Italian in Palermo, Sicily for a while, after which she spent several years travelling through Morocco, undertaking various language courses and gaining familiarity with the Moroccan-dialect versions of Arabic and French, as well as collaborating in the Spanish translation of some French lectures for publication.

Currently she is working in administration management for a family business, and in her spare time is putting together a small project to create Arabic learning material for Spanish children

Aurora was born in Arequipa, Peru (South America) and currently works for the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (NGA)/ United States Embassy in Lima. Previously, she worked for the British Council as the English Language Teaching and Exchanges Co-ordinator for over 13 years. She has also gained experience teaching English and Spanish and speaks basic Quechua. Aurora holds a Diploma in Administration of Small Enterprises and a Certificate in English Language Teaching to Adults (CELTA).

She is very enthusiastic about free educational websites for learning languages, and whilst looking for material for her son found the HappyChild website and signed up to collaborate with translations. Aurora's hobbies include dancing, crafting, travelling and sharing tourist information about Peru, and cooking Arequipenian and Peruvian food. She is married with two teenage children.

Jim Porter is a qualified and experienced language teacher who has lived in Spain for many years. He is one of the founders and creators of Speekee - www.speekee.co.uk - which he describes as one of the world's leading Spanish language courses for children. Jim most enjoys spending time with his family.

Lilyana P. Parashkevova graduated from Veliko Tarnovo University St Cyril and Methodius – Bulgaria in 1981, MA in Russian and English Philology with a QTS. Possesses also a Diploma in TEFL and ESOL, Diploma in teaching Esperanto, Level 4 Certificate in Teaching Adult Literacy, Level 1 in BSL Taught English Language and EFL in Bulgaria till 1977. Between 1986 and 1992 taught Esperanto in Pissanitsa, Bulgaria. Director of an amateur children's singing group 'Nuances' which took part in many national and international events between 1984 and 1992.

Between 2000 and 2008 taught English Language, ESOL, EFL and Adult Literacy in England. Being a sworn translator worked as a translator and interpreter for different Government and private bodies in Bulgaria and the UK such as the Bigword, the LLINK, CINTRA, NHS, etc. Cambridge ESOL and IGCSE marker. From January 2009 till now a teacher of English for the British Council, Romania.

Interested in developing own teaching materials and tests for different levels, in music, psychology and parapsychology, likes travelling and exploring the world.

Pavlina was born and raised in Bulgaria but has been living in England since 2003. Since moving to England she has worked for various interesting employers, managed to complete a Bachelors Degree in Psychology through the Open University, and has got engaged.

She currently volunteers for four different organisations in the areas of mental health and youth work. In her spare time, she loves to exercise (running, interval training and yoga), cooking from scratch, and reading books (urban fantasies and science fiction) and research articles (nutrition, mental and physical health).

She believes in the act of giving and gratitude, and recently registered as a bone marrow donor through the Anthony Nolan Trust.

Randy Sanders has been fascinated by language all his life. He learned three dialects of the Runic alphabet when he was 12, and became immersed in Cuneiform (the earliest documented form of written language and expression, pre-dating Aramaic) at the age of 14.

He studied Latin and three years of German and Russian in high school, followed by four years of Russian Language at Arizona State University.

He has now added some Mandarin, Portuguese and Spanish, and compulsively collects language books. His future plans may include teaching English as a foreign language when he gets his Bachelor's degree.

Gleb was born in Minsk, Belarus. At the age of 13 his parents migrated to Sweden where he finished high school and decided to dedicate himself to the only thing he was sure about - Russian.

He currently studies languages at the Institute of Slavic Languages of Stockholm University. His interests are computers, late-night gaming and everything that has to do with language.

Shalem was born in Hong Kong, where she learnt how to read and write Traditional Chinese characters. She then studied Simplified Chinese characters after she moved to Australia.

She is expecting to graduate with a degree in Statistics, Electronic Systems Engineering and Chinese. Currently, she is a Chinese teacher at an Ethnic school and a Robotics mentor in a secondary school.

She is planning to study a degree in Education and start a career as a Mathematics/Science and Chinese teacher.

Ági Horváth-Szász was born in the South-West of Hungary and studied English since the age of six.

She graduated at University of Pécs as a Master of Arts in Teaching English Language and Literature and she also completed a specialization entitled "English for Academic Purposes".

In her free time she likes reading books about languages and her plan is to continue studying Spanish and German.

NEWSLETTERS - this website has been on line since 1998 - there have been a lot of Newsletters! The archive is here and the very last Newsletter is here.