Mohamed Farah
Somali<>English Translator and Interpreter
“Working with Respond Crisis I have an independent working schedule, good income. Translation is becoming a good career. I am also proud that I am helping with my knowledge and skills with the people that need it.”
Mohamed Farah is a Somali native translator, fluent in English. He has 10+ years experience in the translation industry working with communities to bridge the gap between language and culture and conveying critical information. He has provided communications and empowers relationships by providing translation, proofreading, voice over, and transcription services. In today’s ever-increasing multicultural environment my proofreading, transcription and translation services play an increasingly vital role for the clients he serves.
Mohamed shares how he feels about working with Respond, “One thing I really like being part of Respond Crisis are the project managers. A competent project manager cares about their translators and knows that happy translators are the foundation of every project being successful. All of the project managers I have worked with in Respond Crisis are sympathetic and willing to make adjustments when required.”
When asked about the Somali language, Mohamed says, “One thing I can say and many people don’t know about my native language is that the Somali language has been influenced linguistically by other languages like Italian and Arabic. (Italy colonized Somalia and Arabic is the second language spoken in Somalia).”
We are so grateful to have Mohamed on our team and he tells us about the impact this work has had on his life, “Living in a refugee camp is always challenging. One of my ambitions was always to study at a university and sponsor myself. Currently, I am studying for my bachelor of education by using the money I have earned from working with Respond Crisis and other companies. Respond crises is one of the organizations I like most to work with.” He also tells us that, “Translating idioms is the most challenging part for me. Although I have still not taken part in any project related to Idioms in Respond but as a whole it challenges me too much.” He also shares this about himself, “I was born in Somalia and fled from my loving country with my parents while I was 4 years old and currently I live in one of the largest refugee camps in Kenya, and my professional point of view is that my previous supervisor described me as reliable since I regularly submitted high-quality works by his respective deadlines.”
Language justice and democracy is one of our core beliefs at Respond. Mohamed describes it this way, “From my understanding, language justice is respecting every person’s fundamental language rights. Language justice is about the choices we make to imagine and create a more just world by making sure we translate every information we have so that others can understand it also.”
We always want to know how our team cares for thier mental health while doing this work. Mohamed says, “I take a rest after working for long hours by going out and playing football so that I get a rest and leisure.”
When asked what his favorite word in any language is, Mohamed tells us his is—peace. “Peace is my favorite word because I fled from my loving country and I know how peace is important.”
