I grew up speaking English and Spanish and learned Nepali in college. Since then I've become a professor of Asian Studies, specializing in Nepali folklore, music, popular culture, and politics. This academic background serves me well in literary, social science, and journalism translation, and I am particularly good at subtitles. 

My PhD is in Ethnomusicology, or the anthropology of music, from Columbia University. I've been doing research in Nepal for 20 years, focusing on song and sociopolitical change. These projects have shaped my expertise:

Song and Poetry:

I wrote an award-winning book on Nepali folk song, rural-urban migration, and changing issues of gender, class, and caste, based on two years of ethnographic and archival research. This included my own extensive translations of oral poetry, conversations in various forms of rural speech, and also academic writing. In the process, I learned how to perform traditional improvised sung poetry, and I now do that professionally as well. As you might imagine, this involves lots of slang, idioms, and poetic expressions, so I have a rich knowledge of Nepali, colloquial to academic. 

Politics/Political Economy

Nepal's politics are another aspect of my work, as seen through the lens of politically-oriented performing arts. I'm writing a book on the progressive songs of leftist movements from the 1960s through the present, and a documentary film on revolutionary singer-songwriter Khusiram Pakhrin is in post-production. 

I have traveled extensively in Nepal throughout my decades of research, and speak some of the following languages: Doteli, Tibetan, Tamu Ke (Gurung), Nepal Bhasa (Newari). 

I'm experienced as an interpreter in legal and social work, and as a liaison. I have done Nepali-Spanish interpreting but am rusty. And, I teach courses in Nepali language, tailored to individual students' needs whenever possible.