Benta Burato

I started my career as a biology teacher in Brazil, teaching science and math to middle school students. When I came to the United States as an immigrant, my English was very poor, so I initially worked in cleaning and at a coffee shop counter. I decided to improve my English and eventually chose to become an interpreter for Portuguese speakers because Portuguese is my native language. I've been working as an interpreter since 2009, about 16 years now. My main areas of expertise are medical issues and school-related work, particularly Special Educational Evaluations. What I most like is doing what I do as an interpreter. My typical work involves translating from Portuguese to English and vice versa, going to hospitals, clinics, schools, and clinical offices for disability evaluations. I was motivated to do social work since I was young, but because I couldn't do that, I chose interpretation because I feel like I'm still making some social work. I feel like I'm not only translating the language, but I'm helping people go through the language barrier. I believe that with this, I can have a positive impact and inspire people to go through their struggles like I did, because when I was young, I struggled with a lot of problems because of the language barrier.