My name is Daniel Dolenský and I am an interpreter and translator. My working languages are Czech (my native language) and English.

Education

I have a master’s degree from The Faculty of Arts of the Charles University in Prague, where I studied the English module of the Translation Studies programme (specialising in interpreting) and Czech Studies. The Institute of Translation Studies is the best and most prestigious institution training translators and interpreters in the Czech Republic; in combination with the study of Czech language and literature, this means I am not only proficient in both languages (which is, of course, natural in my mother tongue), but also well versed in their theory. And because I don’t want to lose contact with the academia, I remain active at the Institute of Translation Studies as an external teacher of both translation and interpreting classes.

Interpreting

The most public-facing part of my experience with interpreting has been my collaboration with the Easytalk translation agency as the supplier of interpreting services for Czech TV since 2014. This entails dozens of hours of interpreting political speeches made by the leaders of English-speaking countries, including many addresses made by Barack Obama (such as this speech at the UN assembly in September 2015), the US presidential debates or the inauguration of Donald Trump (both with Karel Janů). For Czech TV, I also interpreted many interviews with important people from the spheres of politics, such as this interview with the British journalist Peter Pomerantsev and the Israeli ambassador Gary Koren, and science and culture for Hyde Park Civilization, a show for which I interpreted for example these taped interviews with the 14th Dalai Lama or Jamie Andrew, a quadruple amputee mountain climber, this exceptionally fast live interview with theoretical physicist Lawrence Krauss (again with Karel Janů) and many episodes with Nobel laureates.

Besides my work for TV, I provided simultaneous and consecutive interpreting at many conferences and seminars in humanities (incl. the National Institute for Education, CEVRO Institute, Motiv8), natural sciences (incl. the Faculty of Architecture and Faculty of Civil Engineering of Czech Technical University, JMM Consulting, Profess), politics and public affairs (incl. the Representation of the European Commission in Prague, Oživení, Rubikon, TEDx Prague) and culture (incl. Prague Spring, Prague Pride). I believe that with good preparation, an interpreter can provide a good service even in the most complicated fields of human activity.

Translations

As a translator, I have translated thousands of pages of texts in many fields. I particularly specialise in creative translations, typically for advertising, in which it is possible (and even necessary) to have some fun with the target language, and in the world of IT which has been my life-long interest, allowing me to quickly find my bearings even in its more obscure corners.

Admittedly more as a hobby than a job, I have always been interested in literary translation and translation criticism. I have translated Josef Škvorecký’s essay on film, originally written in English for American audiences, for a volume of the author’s complete works, two Mark Twain stories for a selection called Jak zahnat splín (A Cure for the Blues) and edited the second edition of a collection of Native American folk tales translated by Jáchym Topol, called Trnová dívka (Splinter Foot Girl). As part of my teaching activities at the Institute of Translation Studies, I have helped create two student translations – a selection from the works of the British writer Saki called Vůl v chryzantémách (The Stalled Ox) and a short story collection by contemporary American author Aimee Bender Tvrdohlavá stvoření (Willful Creatures). My main contribution to translation criticism was this article (in Czech) published in the Plav magazine.