Giulia Ballandi

Quality Control Manager | Proofreader | Translator

Born in Bologna, Giulia was already showing her aptitude for proper Italian grammar and style at the age of 12 – when she meticulously logged the linguistic errors of her family and friends in her book Il libro degli errori. She is active, fond of German and (almost) always in good spirits. After earning her BA at the Scuola Superiore per Inter¬preti e Traduttori in Triest and her MA in Translation at Heidelberg University, she moved to Switzerland, where she now ensures that Diction’s clients don’t end up in anyone’s book of error

Anne-Kathrin Böhnke

Customer Support Manager | Proofreader

Early on in life, Anne-Kathrin, who has chosen Switzerland as her adoptive home, discovered her passion for languages and other cultures. After several holidays with a host family in Normandy, she became certain that she wanted to study languages. Following her studies in Magdeburg (technical translation for science and technology in English and French) and a year abroad in Rennes, the nature-lover moved to Switzerland – almost 10 years ago now. She started off working in the language services department of a multinational industrial corporation, and now coordinates projects and takes care of terminology for the French team. In her free time, you’re most likely to come across her in the forest with her dog, in a cosy armchair with a great book, or on a trip – from short city tours to long road trips, and preferably in France, India or the USA.

Lukas Brauchli

Project Manager

The proud holder of FC St. Gallen season tickets and a defender for a company football club (unfortunately there is no FC Diction), Lukas has always been interested in languages. After completing his bachelor’s degree at the Zurich University of Applied Sciences in Winterthur, during which he had the opportunity to study abroad for a semester in Alicante on the southern coast of Spain, he began his career with an internship at Diction. He returned to university to complete a master’s degree in technical translation and, after a terminology internship at an industrial company, he found his way back to our offices – this time as a project manager.

Jérôme Choquel

Quality Control Manager | Proofreader

Jérôme has a very diverse range of interests. He studied chemistry and biology before discovering his enthusiasm for the intricacies of the French language, grammar and orthography. After winning a spelling contest he was hooked, and studied for a qualification as an editor and proofreader at the Centre d’Écriture et de Communication in Paris. He now uses his language skills to provide support to the French team. Besides his in-depth knowledge of the natural sciences, our living lexicon also never fails to find the right words for texts on politics, Greek mythology or cinema.

Bruno Ciola

Head of Language Technology

When it comes to terminology, Bruno seems to have an innate sense of precision – with an Italian father and a German mother, he has been familiar with the nuances in different languages and cultures since his early days at multilingual kindergarten. As far as his education goes, Bruno always knew what he wanted to do: he chose to focus on languages at school, before going on to study a degree in translation at the University of Innsbruck, where he also discovered his fascination for translation tools (back in the days when stone-age systems such as DOS were at the cutting edge of computer technology). After almost 20 years’ experience as a terminology expert, translator, lecturer and CAT tool trainer, Bruno is now Head of Language Technology here at Diction. When he’s not running the rule over our glossaries in the office, he can be found gliding across the tarmac on his in-line skates or pursuing his passion for middle-distance running.

Nadja Davatz

Quality Control Manager | Proofreader

Nadja has always had a passion for languages, taking lessons in English, French, Latin and Italian at school. After a short stay in England, she completed her bachelor’s degree in Applied Linguistics at the Zurich University of Applied Sciences, where she also studied Russian as a third language. She is now getting her first taste of the working world by joining Diction’s French team. Nadja plays the flute, and, alongside all those languages, always has a song playing in her head. She enjoys reading, writing, watching TV shows (in the original language) and going on relaxing walks.

Donatella Elia

Quality Control Manager | Proofreader

Coming from a multicultural background, Donatella was surrounded by different languages and cultures from a very young age – and she developed a love of travel and books early on as well. After finishing school, she took a break to travel through Europe and South America. At Diction, she has turned her passion for languages into a career, and works as a proofreader for the Italian team while completing her studies at the Zurich School of Applied Linguistics.

Christine Fassbender

Marketing Manager I Employee Success Administrator

Letters, numbers and colours have always played a major role for Christine, who’s originally from the Rhineland. Armed with her qualifications as a media designer and a degree in media and communication, she got to know and fell in love with agency life. Here at Diction, she is able to draw on her diverse experience and is the main point of contact for all HR, administrative and organisational issues. In her spare time, she can be found on or in Lake Constance in summer, and hitting the slopes in winter. She also loves hiking and getting out into the countryside around her home town of Lindau – always with her two children in tow.

Patrick Fassbender

CEO

Patrick is driven by a passion for providing excellent service. After studying business administration at universities in Germany and the USA, he gained a wealth of experience in management positions in the hotel and hospitality industry. His roles in sales and marketing took him as far afield as the USA, as well as to Belgium, Germany and finally to Switzerland, where he now heads up the management team at Diction.

Brigitte Finnegan

Accounting Manager

Brigitte is a cheerful soul who hails from Germany and has a particular weakness for beautiful landscapes, which may have had something to do with her decision to move to Switzerland in 2004. When she isn’t busy thinking about her next holiday in Scotland or planning a trip to Edinburgh or Basel to watch the military tattoo, she is responsible for project accounting at Diction.

Martina Fürlinger

Head of Language Consulting

An Austrian by birth, it was wordplay during German class that laid the foundation for Martina Fürlinger’s future career. She came across the field of terminology management while completing a degree in translation studies in Innsbruck, a field that led to a fascination with technical language and the immense, constantly growing vocabularies used for it. Now calling Switzerland home, she has been a translator, terminology specialist and language consultant for more than 20 years. She is the chief guardian of terminology at Diction and helps our corporate clients in a wide range of industries to find solutions for linguistic challenges surrounding their corporate language. In her personal life, Martina enjoys exploring Switzerland and foreign countries and scaling her new home country’s mountain peaks.

Silvia Grützner

Project Manager

Driven by her passion for travel, Silvia decided to study tourism after finishing school. After that, she worked in the hotel business for several years, in countries as far afield as Germany, Ireland and Canada. Silvia has called Vancouver home since 2012. For her, it’s the perfect starting point for trips across North America – and for pursuing a career in the language industry. As commander-in-chief of the Diction “night shift”, she uses her organisational and communication expertise to ensure that our clients and the Diction Canada team are always happy. To relax, she loves taking long walks or going in-line skating along the seawall in downtown Vancouver.

Adrian Haefelin

Chief Sales Officer

Having grown up with four brothers, Adrian is used to being with people. He was always the first to make new friends on every family holiday, and would happily go off to do the shopping, armed with just a few phrases in the local language. It was this easy-going, sociable nature which drew him to a career in sales and client relations, and after finishing his degree, Adrian set about putting his natural talents and academic skills to good use in the world of work, gaining valuable management experience on the way. Now part of the Diction family, he feels very much at home managing new and different projects for our clients every day. Away from the office, Adrian is a keen squash player and violinist; depending on the day, he can be found playing on the squash court or rehearsing with the orchestra. He is also quite the rum connoisseur, and is always on the lookout for a bottle or two to add to his collection.

Maria Huber

Head of Quality Management

Proofreader, translator
Although the Ostallgäu native can have no complaints regarding the beauty of her home in the foothills of the Alps near Neuschwanstein Castle, she is still a passionate traveller. Her first longer trip was to Mexico City. After getting over the initial culture shock, she soon realised that she didn’t just want to travel the world – she wanted to understand it. She decided to take her first step towards this goal with a degree in translation studies at the University of Innsbruck. She then returned home to Bavaria, where she pursues her two biggest passions: perfecting texts and playing ice hockey – though not necessarily at the same time.

Magali Jordan

Project Manager

Born to a German father and an Argentinian mother, Magali has discovered that the love for languages runs in her blood just as strong as the passion for travelling. She spent her childhood in northern Germany, punctuated by numerous trips to Argentina, before taking up residence in Spain. During the 10 years she spent there, she studied translation and interpreting in German, Spanish and English at the University of Alicante and also developed a love for Spain, its people and its culture. Today, applying her knowledge and experience to multilingual projects at Diction, she has the chance to delight our clients with her German–Argentinian–Spanish charm.

Patrizia Marchetti

Chief Quality Officer

Born in Zurich, Patrizia spent 13 years in Italy before returning home to Switzerland – and to Diction – with an MA in Translation and Interpreting. Her role as Head of the Italian team led Patrizia to discover her talent for organisation, which she now puts to good use as the Chief Quality Officer. Whenever she’s not busy responding to queries, coming up with solutions to thorny problems, tackling challenges head-on or providing moral support, Patrizia can be found engrossed in a good book or whipping up her latest culinary masterpiece in the kitchen (or sometimes even both at the same time).

Miriam Molinaro

Quality Control Manager | Proofreader | Translator

Born in Zurich and then raised in northern Italy, Miriam returned to her native country after 20 years. At home she speaks Italian and Spanish. During her studies in international cultures and languages at the University of Udine, she conducted in-depth research on the works of Rilke and Shakespeare.
After gaining experience as a freelance translator and language teacher, she worked in the airline industry and was able to pursue her only real hobby – travel – to her heart’s content. She now supports the Italian team at Diction.

Team_Ressourcenmanagement_Patricia Prado Varela

Patricia Prado Varela

Resource Manager

Patricia has always been fascinated by languages and cultures, perhaps due to the fact that she was always surrounded by people from different countries from a young age. After finishing her degree in translation, she wanted to try something new. This desire led her to do an internship in the communications department of a non-profit organisation. The work was varied and rewarding, but she soon started to miss the world of languages, and applied for a position as a resource manager at Diction. She enjoys spending her spare time with family and friends, cooking, exploring the great outdoors (especially anywhere near the sea) and, occasionally, escaping into the fictional world of a great TV series.

Rebecca Raith

Customer Support ManagerProofreader

Ever since she was a child, the nature-loving book worm has split her time between Italy and Germany, which has allowed her to become familiar with both cultures. She honed her skills while studying translation and interpreting at the Faculty of Translation Studies, Linguistics and Cultural Studies in Germersheim, Germany, as well as during an exchange semester at the SSLMIT in Trieste, Italy, and now puts them to use supporting the Italian Team at Diction.

Bianca Reischmann

Project Manager | Resource management assistant

Born in Berlin, with a German and Portuguese background, Bianca has been immersed in the world of language and culture from an early age. She quickly developed a particular love for all things Spanish, later moving to Spain to pursue a degree in translation and interpreting. In her spare time, she also enjoys dancing flamenco. Bianca has been working as a project manager and resource manager assistant at Diction since 2015.

Elisabeth Rettelbach

Content Manager

Copywriter, translator
After spending time abroad in France, Sweden and Australia, the globetrotter with an advanced degree in translation had settled down in Boston. For almost 10 years she kept students in good spirits in their German classes, while also teaching German (apparently unsingable) to opera singers. In spring 2013, however, a curious mixture of homesickness and wanderlust drew her back to Europe and straight to Diction, where she spent years translating and copywriting before taking over content creation in 2018. But also out of “office hours”, when the amateur author in her awakens, it’s all about the most unusual of words.

Andreas Rissi

Head of ICT

Andreas has been fascinated by technology since he was a child, and has turned his passion into his profession as an adult. After an apprenticeship as an electronics technician and a number of IT training courses, Andreas has had the opportunity to put his extensive IT knowledge to good use in a number of positions as a system technician and help desk manager. He particularly enjoys solving tricky, complex problems – which is why he is happy to make sure that things stay (relatively) quiet on the Diction IT front. His second great passion is photography – a hobby he considers to be the ultimate combination of art and technology.

Céline Rodriguez Barbur

Head of Project Management

Born in Zurich, Céline has always been fascinated by other languages and cultures, so it’s easy to see what drew her to the translation industry. Various language placements and trips gave her the chance to improve her language skills and immerse herself in different cultures. She would mainly choose warm, sunny destinations, and Céline’s time in Cuba left a particular impression on her – in fact, she still likes nothing better than dancing to Cuban music. Now head of the Client Relations and Project Management teams at Diction, Céline puts her passion for languages and cultures and years of experience in the language services sector to full use on a daily basis.

Cécile Roffler

Senior Project Manager

Cécile has always wanted to work with languages, a desire that led her to study at the Zurich University of Applied Sciences. But her bachelor’s degree only fuelled her fascination, so she followed it up with a master’s degree in applied linguistics, specialising in technical translation. After her studies in Winterthur, a few language holidays and an internship in Lucerne, she returned to the Rhine Valley. She now works for Diction’s Client Relations team. Cécile relaxes by curling up with a good crime novel or watching a TV series – in German, English and Spanish. In her spare time, she likes to meet up with friends, play board games or take part in one of her favourite sports – athletics, competitive shooting and hiking.

Isabelle Schenkel

Customer Support ManagerProofreader I Translator

Isabelle knew from an early age that she wanted to pursue a career which would allow her to work with languages. Setting out on her travels from her home in Zurich, she spent time broadening her cultural and linguistic horizons in England, France and Australia, before returning to Switzerland to study for her master’s degree in applied linguistics (specialising in technical translation) at the Zurich University of Applied Sciences. She now uses her linguistic talents in the Germanand English teams, and also works on Russian translation projects here at Diction. She likes to spend any free time she has discovering foreign countries and their cultures, taking photographs, cooking or playing the piano – and somehow also finds the time to read the occasional book or two.

Team_Praktikantin_Kim Soriano

Kim Soriano

Senior Resource Manager

After completing her master’s degree in translation technologies in France, Kim decided to move to Switzerland – a country she fell in love with during a language placement in St. Gallen. And she returned whenever she had the opportunity, holidaying in Berne and Appenzell and working in Zug and Lucerne. She has a passion for languages and communications, and spent some time teaching French at secondary schools and as a homework tutor for primary school children. She now wants to expand her knowledge of the world of translation in her new role as a resource manager at Diction. At the weekend, she loves looking for antiques and unique pieces at flea markets, and she also enjoys long hikes while listening to music on her headphones.

Annina Spinelli

Quality Control Manager | Proofreader | Translator

After studying translation at Zurich’s Schule für Angewandte Linguistik (SAL) and completing a semester abroad in Perth, Australia, Annina now edits German texts at Diction. In addition to reading a wide range of books in English and German, she spends her spare time relishing Italian, Japanese and Thai cuisine, or pursuing new artistic paths.

Natacha Szkudlarek

Customer Support ManagerProofreader I Translator

Natacha was born in Poland, and, after growing up in France, went on to study in Germany. “Intercultural” is a word with which she has always had a special affinity. Baden-Baden has now become her second home, but with every visit to Buchs, she relishes the change of scenery from the beautiful views of the Black Forest to the charming mountain panoramas here in the Rhine Valley. This nature-loving multilinguist, who has been supporting the French team at Diction since spring 2014, can’t get enough of either! In her free time she enjoys experimenting in the kitchen, heading out for a hike or immersing herself in an exciting crime thriller.

Katja Tenhaeff

Project Manager | Resource management assistant

While trying to trace her German and Baltic roots, Spanish native speaker Katja discovered her interest for the German language and culture. After five years in Freiburg, the avid reader (who you will never find without a Borges book) decided that it was time to return to Spain, where she continued to improve her language skills with a degree in translation and interpreting. She now provides support to Diction’s project management team from Madrid.

Martina Tramonti

Customer Support ManagerTranslator

Martina was born in Desenzano del Garda, and made the decision to attend a specialist language school when she was 14. She has loved learning foreign languages ever since, and developed a fascination for German while studying translation and interpreting in Trento. After graduating, she moved to Munich with the aim of perfecting her German and gained her master’s degree in conference interpreting – and fell in love with the Bavarian capital. After gaining some experience as a resource coordinator and project manager in the translation industry, she grasped the chance to work as a translator at Diction and make the best use of her language skills. Besides foreign languages, her hobbies also include photography, music, travel and sport.

Karen Wick

Project Manager

Karen was raised bilingual thanks to her Ecuadorian and Swiss roots, and was passionate about the diverse world of languages and new cultures from a young age. With her open and communicative manner, she decided on an initial Federal Diploma of Vocational Education and Training to become a retail professional at Import Parfümerie. After gaining years of experience as a beauty consultant, she dived into the world of marketing in the telecommunications and energy sectors and went on to join Diction, where she now looks after our clients’ projects. Additionally, she is currently completing an Advanced Federal Diploma in Marketing Management at Akademie St. Gallen. When off work, she spends time with her family and friends, reads a great deal and likes losing herself in films and TV series. Music is important to her, whether pop, hip hop, the oldies or techno, as long as it is varied and suits the mood. 

Franziska Winkler

Project Manager

The qualified management assistant always knew that she would one day turn her passion for languages into a career. And she did precisely that, studying translation at the Zurich University of Applied Sciences in Winterthur with a semester in Belgium, before taking on the task of ensuring smooth order processing at Diction. In her free time Franziska, who comes from Werdenberg, can often be found reading a French crime novel in a cafe or flitting over the Rheindamm on her inline skates.

Xuesong Wu

Resource manager | DTP

Her roots are in China, her home in Switzerland. In addition to studying German philology in Shanghai and economics in Mannheim, Xuesong has worked internationally as a translator, interpreter and market researcher. At Diction, Xuesong takes care of Chinese translations and helps to coordinate multilingual projects and DTP tasks.

Franziska Zeintl

Quality Control Manager | Proofreader

To walk in the footsteps of predecessors. For Franziska – progeny of a teaching dynasty – this almost became a reality. She definitely carries a red pen, but not to the classroom, oh no, that red pen rather accompanies her each day as she makes her way to Diction.
After her studies in international cultural and business studies, a year abroad in England and a two-year stay in Paris, she worked in the distribution of paints and tiles. Now employed at Diction, she is thrilled at the opportunity to turn her lifelong passion into a profession, dem-onstrating her mastery of French on a daily basis – much to the satisfaction of Diction’s clients.