Robert Ottogalli ’07, ’14

Robert Ottagalli, BA 2007, double major in Italian and Classics (Summa Cum Laude, 3.970), second BA 2014, Spanish with concentration in Translation (Summa Cum Laude, 3.977), currently completing the Certificate Program in Spanish Translation and Interpreting, recently became certified by the American Translators Association as a Spanish to English translator.

The American Translators Association is an organization founded to advance the translation and interpreting professions.ATA certification is a professionally recognized credential and requires passing a rigorous 3-hour exam in which candidates translate 2 short but specialized texts.

In addition to completing the Certificate Program, Ottagalli currently works full time at a translation agency that serves healthcare and life sciences industries. In his role as a project coordinator, he receives requests from clients, places those requests with freelance translators, and finalizes the translated files before delivering them to the client.

Sometimes he must update previously translated files — a complicated task if the job was a translation into six languages. He’s also been involved in quality assurance and webcasts. These webcasts are meetings broadcast over the web and simultaneously interpreted into other languages over the phone lines.

Ottagalli also translates freelance on the side. He feels that his studies of Spanish, Italian, translation, and interpreting at Montclair State prepared him well to sit for the exam.

Updated April 30, 2015