Penticton, British Columbia, Canada
David Warriner is a professional and creative French-to-English translator with more than two decades of in-house and freelance experience serving prestige clients. David also works as a literary translator for clients and publishers around the world. He has translated more than twenty fiction and nonfiction titles for publishers in Canada and the UK so far, and the list keeps growing. David's translation of Roxanne Bouchard's We Were the Salt of the Sea was awarded runner-up for the Society of Authors 2019 Scott Moncrieff Translation Prize, and his translations have also been shortlisted for the CWA Crime Fiction in Translation Dagger Award two years in a row. David's recent translations include Icelandic author Ragnar Jónasson's Winterkill (a bridge translation from the French version tr. J-C Salaun), Québécoise author Roxanne Bouchard's Whisper of the Seals and French author Johana Gustawsson's The Bleeding (all with Orenda Books). Forthcoming translations include Jean-François Beauchemin's poetic Archives of Joy (Greystone Books), Vigg's fabulous picture book Lost Inside My Head (Orca Books) and Paul Serge Forest's debut sensation Everything is Ori (QC Fiction). David's long-standing membership as a Certified Translator of the Ordre des traducteurs, terminologues et interprètes agréés du Québec (OTTIAQ) is a hallmark of professionalism and careful attention to detail in all his work and interactions with clients and colleagues.
I'm thrilled to have joined Desjardins's Linguistic Services department as an English Translator and Reviser to open a new chapter in my career with a dynamic team of like-minded professionals.
I owned and operated my own boutique bilingual communications business, and served clients in French and English from Quebec City to Vancouver in areas including corporate communications and major sporting event management. As my interests and priorities evolved, I transitioned away from commercial and corporate translation to focus on the more dynamic aspects of event management translation and literary translation. My largest client organized major sporting events in and around the Quebec City area, including the UCI Mountain Bike World Cup at Mont-Sainte-Anne and the FIS Cross-Country World Cup in Quebec, and I was responsible for the English side of all website and marketing copy, sponsor relations, and press releases. In parallel to this, I spoke at a number of conferences at home and abroad and translated a variety of novels and children's books for publishers in Canada and overseas, acting in part as a bilingual literary agent and scout connecting French-speaking authors and publishers with English-speaking publishing professionals. Now that I work full-time in-house, I only have time to accept select literary translation projects and am only able to work directly with commissioning publishers. Please see my website at davidwarriner.com for information about my published translations.
Before I incorporated my business, I branched out on my own as a freelance French-to-English translator specializing in insurance, financial and corporate communications texts, with a healthy interest in winter sports and all things nautical. As a Certified Translator (OTTIAQ) with a decade of in-house experience, I had no trouble attracting and retaining high-end clients.
I moved out west for this prized position in provincial government, where I planned and managed all phases of the translation process, from dispatch to contractors through to quality control, proofreading and desktop/internet publishing. I built strong relationships with copywriters, translators, revisers and graphic designers to create high-quality documents, including provincial exams, curriculum documents, media releases and correspondence from the Premier. I also managed tendering processes, drafted and managed contracts with qualified suppliers, established translation budget needs and managed all aspects of the client/supplier relationship.
I was headhunted from my previous role by a rival Pan-Canadian company to build an internal translation service from scratch. In this role, as well as translating, revising and proofreading annual reports, marketing texts and insurance policies, I was responsible for creating English product names and marketing slogans. I also acted in an advisory capacity to senior management on language matters. The position involved constant teamwork with copywriters, editors, graphic designers and marketing advisors to create high quality corporate documents. As head of a small developing team, I recruited translators and interns and managed a broad network of freelance language professionals and translation agencies.