Theresa Fettes
Why Work with Me
I am a qualified professional translator of French and Spanish into English, and would love to help your product land in an English-speaking marketplace. You’ve already put so much work into creating the perfect aspirational marketing in your brand’s voice, but that won’t matter to an English-speaking audience if it isn’t written with them in mind. Retail translation isn’t just about the words but the feeling—I’ll work with you to make sure your messaging is just as authentic and aspirational in English, so your customers know what makes your brand special.
丨Qualifications
I hold an MSc in Translation Studies with distinction from the University of Aberdeen, and a first class MA (hons) in French, Spanish and Latin American Studies from the same institution.
￫ During my studies, I put together translation portfolios in French and Spanish comprising a range of literary texts and retail texts. Additionally, I undertook classes in the fields of editing, literary translation, translation theory and professional skills. For my final project, I completed a translation of an excerpt of Young Adult novel Cada seis meses by Clara Duarte from Spanish into English.
I have successfully completed Level 1 training courses in both SDL Trados and memoQ.I was recently accepted to Oxford Translates, a literary translation summer school hosted by the University of Oxford, where I attended an intensive programme of practical literary translation workshops and seminars with experienced professionals. In 2023, I attended Bristol Translates, an earlier iteration of the same programme hosted by the University of Bristol.
丨Experience
￫ Co-Translation into French of Utan Bonus by Monica Larsson for the publisher Victor Stone Förlag. Originally written in Swedish, we worked with English as a relay language to bring this piece to the French market. Publication due AW 2026.￫ I currently teach Conversational French at Beginner, Improver and Intermediate level to adult learners at North East Scotland College.￫ Sensitivity read of Truthfully, Yours by Caden Armstrong prior to its publication in 2024.￫ Liaison interpreting (ENG <> ES) at Scottish Golf Tourism Week
'We were extremely impressed with Theresa’s work—she was punctual, professional, and kind throughout the two-day event. In preparation, she took the initiative to learn more about the event and even asked about specific golf terminology to enhance her translations. Her communication skills and dedication made her a pleasure to work with, and we would highly recommend her. We hope to collaborate with her again in the future.'
Emma Braidwood, Event Coordinator at Scottish Golf Tourism Week
I also have significant retail experience, which allows me to remain up-to-date with ever-changing trends and grants me a wide range of knowledge to draw on in translation.
￫ I currently work part-time at The White Company as a Supervisor. I am constantly developing my knowledge of fashion, fragrance and homeware retail in this role, ready to apply to translation and proofreading work. As part of the management team, I also have the opportunity to flex my strong organisational skills, make commercial decisions and see the results play out in real time.￫ Previously, I worked as Assistant Store Manager at my local branch of the popular Danish homeware store, Søstrene Grene. This brand was my entry-point into retail and where I learned about the importance of commerciality, merchandising and positioning—skills which I now apply to marketing copy.
A reader, before anything else.
￫ I began sharing my love of reading on social media as a teenager, and over the years this evolved into Sappho's Library, amassing over 10K followers on all major platforms along the way. Through this, I am lucky enough to work with publishers to be able to read and review books before publication and have been invited to events and to interview authors.￫ This platform has also allowed me to develop skills such as video and photo editing, social media management and communication, in addition to amateur copywriting, SEO and website design.
'Theresa's content was creatively filmed and excellently showcased the book. She was responsive and professional throughout, and we hope to work with her again soon!'
Emily Cameron, Creative Marketing Lead, BookMachine Creative Agency.
I am a passionate advocate for uplifting marginalised voices through this platform, with a focus on queer stories given my own lesbian identity—something I’m aiming to continue in my professional work.
Theresa Fettes
Services
I am a qualified, professional translator of French and Spanish into English. I offer general translation services, with preference to literary and creative texts in the following specialisms:
￫ Literary works (with particular interest in the romance genre and LGBTQ+ stories)
￫ Retail (with particular interest in fashion, beauty and homeware).
ㅤ￫ E.g. Marketing copy (social media, email marketing, brochures); product descriptions; internal documents, such as training or product knowledge briefings.
In addition to translation, I also offer proofreading services, as well as reader’s reports for French and Spanish language books and sensitivity reads for texts with LGBTQ+ and Scottish themes.
丨Rates
My rates vary depending on the length, complexity, timescale, format, etc. of the project.Please contact me with the project details for a quote.
Theresa Fettes
Now Pitching
I am currently seeking a publisher for a translation of the following texts into English. Please get in touch for further details.
丨Cada seis meses by Clara Duarte
￫ New Adult sapphic romance with a speculative twist that fans of ONE LAST STOP and THE SEVEN YEAR SLIP will adore.
￫ Translation from Spanish
￫ Elastic Books (2020)
Hana’s perfect summer romance with Ro comes to an abrupt end when Ro disappears—and only Hana remembers her. Combining grounded speculative elements with a sapphic romance and punchy narration, this novel grapples with identity and memory, and asks, “what would life be like if you only existed for six months of the year?”.EVERY SIX MONTHS is well-positioned as the perfect entry point to translated fiction for romance lovers with a unique mystery to keep readers guessing. The narration is told in a witty stream of consciousness from our quirky narrator, Hana, as we follow her star-crossed romance and life in Madrid with her misfit friend group.CADA SEIS MESES was translated into French by Hachette Livre in 2024 (SIX MOIS PAR AN) and has been well received in both this new market and its home market. It has a 4.06 average star rating on Goodreads across 2,885 readers, 4.16 on The StoryGraph and 4.4 on Amazon. A film adaptation is also currently in development with Amazon Spain.
