
Mr Christopher Vidler MITI
***No longer freelancing at present - see below for details***
I am an experienced language professional with master's degrees in translation studies and computational linguistics, and a qualified member (MITI) of the Institute of Translation and Interpreting. In addition to my knowledge of various foreign languages and expertise as a translator, proofreader and post-editor, I have gone on to expand my skills in IT and programming (Python, JavaScript, SQL, VBA), first through my compling/NLP degree at the University of Wolverhampton and subsequently at a web development bootcamp in Thailand. As of August 2025, I have moved to Geneva to take up a new role as a translator within the PCT translation division of the United Nations World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO).
I have over eight years of experience as a translator working primarily from German to English, the first three of which were spent in-house at various companies in the private sector before running my own business for five years as a freelancer. My main areas of specialism include technical subject matter, programming documentation, contracts and legal information, press releases, and marketing and tourism material. Other services I've provided professionally include translation from Russian and French into English, as well as English-only editing and localisation work (e.g. US to UK).
I have a good understanding of Spanish (DELE B2 level) and Swedish and varying levels of working knowledge in other languages, including Brazilian Portuguese, Modern Standard Arabic (through two years' study in my BA Modern Languages degree) and Mandarin Chinese (HSK3/HSKK Elementary level). I am enthusiastic about exploring other languages and cultures and have spent extended periods studying and working abroad in Sweden, Austria, Russia and Thailand.
Outside of my work, I’m also a distance runner and martial artist with a keen interest in sport and healthy living. I'm always on the lookout for opportunities to combine the skills I've gained – whether in language work or computing – with my other passions in life, be it music, travel or fitness activities. Notably, I've written articles for the ITI Bulletin that explore translation and terminology in various fitness pursuits, including parkour (Jan-Feb 2023 pp.18-19), calisthenics (Jul-Aug 2023 pp.13-15) and jiu-jitsu (Jan-Feb 2025, pp.20-22).
My parkour article was also published online for all to read at the following link:
https://www.iti.org.uk/resource/from-traceur-to-traducteur.html
ITI membership category: MITI
Specialisms
- Automotive engineering
- Business
- Computer software
- Health and fitness
- Information technology
- Internet
- Journalism
- Law
- Machine tools
- Marketing
- Mechanical engineering
- Sport
- Tourism and travel
- Website localisation
Associated skills
- Editing
- Machine translation - post editing
- Proofreading
- Revising
- Software localization
- Subtitling
- Transcription
Technology
- Deja vu
- Memsource
- SDL Trados Studio
- Star Transit NXT
- XTM Cloud