About me

My first encounter with foreign languages was at The English School preschool in Helsinki when I was five. The only phrase I knew in English was "thank you very much", and that's how it all started! Thanks to our wonderful teacher we kids quickly picked up the language. A child's ability to learn a new language is truly amazing.

As the school years went by, I became fluent in English. At the same time, also Finnish grammar rules were hammered into my head forever, thanks to our teacher Mrs Ojamo.

School years were followed by studies at the Turku School of Economics, from where I graduated in 1989 (M.Sc. Economics and Business Administration). During 1991−2003 I worked for an American IT company in Finland, The Netherlands and Australia, with English as my working language. Already at that time I was drawn to translation work, and while living in Sydney became accredited as a certified translator.

In 2007 I set up Sanalipas Oy and worked as a translator for five years. Although I enjoyed working as an entrepreneur, I returned to financial administration and worked in two PR Agencies during 2012−2022. Luckily, I was also able to do translations and proofreading during that time, e.g. press releases, training materials, presentations, quotations and award entries.

At the end of 2022 it was time to return to being a full-time translator, thus Sanalipas is at your service again!

Photo: Lari Heikkilä

• Member of The Finnish Association of Translators and Interpreters
• Certified translator / en-fi                       (National Accreditation Authority for Translators and Interpreters, Australia)
• Translation studies                                           (The University of Helsinki Language Centre)