Luciano O. Monteiro MITI

My name is Luciano O. Monteiro, and I am a professional translator, journalist and copywriter. I am an ISO 17100:2015 Qualified Translator and a Qualified Member of the Institute of Translation and Interpreting (ITI) in the United Kingdom. I am also the author of TRANSLATING FOOTBALL, a pioneering book on football translation. 

I began my professional career as a journalist in the 1990s and became a full-time translator in 2001. From 2009 to 2014, I was the Portuguese chief translator and editor for what was then the world’s most popular football (soccer) website. Besides translating and editing football news stories, I also managed a team of translators and authored the Fifa.com Brazilian Portuguese official style guide.

Currently I provide freelance translation, editing and copywriting services mostly regarding football and other sports, but also in different areas such as corporate communications, marketing, tourism and finance. I am the sole proprietor of DELETRA, a Tallinn-based translation studio that specialises in multilingual projects for European Union institutions.

On the Pitch

My experience in football goes well beyond being an avid fan, as I started working as a reporter covering local sports news and gradually made my way through to provide services on a regular basis for top-tier football players, clubs, agents, federations and media outlets worldwide. I have worked as a translator and editor in most major international soccer competitions since 2006. In 2010 and 2016, in two separate projects, I also translated into Brazilian Portuguese the voice commentary used for the world's two most popular football video game franchises. 

You will find out more about my football expertise by reading two cover stories in which I was interviewed for the ITI Bulletin in May 2008 and in May 2016. Also, my work has been included in the best-selling book Found in Translation, by Nataly Kelly and Jost Zetzsche. In addition, I was interviewed for a Wall Street Journal piece during the 2014 World Cup in Brazil. More recently, I wrote a cover story for the ITI Bulletin describing the five-year-long project involving the Fifa.com website.

Words in Style

I have a strong linguistic background, and I like to say that I specialise in producing impeccable copy in my native language. My commitment to style and accuracy can be seen in an article published in the ITI Bulletin describing my meticulous quality-assurance workflow, consisting of four steps involving draft translation, review, editing and proofreading.

I have a clear professional focus, but I do accept work in other areas for which I feel qualified, including:

• In 2008 and 2009, I translated news articles on geopolitical affairs that involved not only translation, but also double-checking the original information to make sure any articles to be published were fully accurate. 

• In late 2010 and early 2011, I coordinated the localisation efforts of a hugely popular social game, a job that entailed plenty of creative thinking in order to make sure the game would be as successful in Brazil as it had been in other markets.

• In early 2016, I was responsible for translating almost a dozen training modules for law enforcement officers in a highly demanding and time-sensitive project.

• Between 2021 and 2023, I translated and edited over 2,000,000 words in clinical trials and medical protocols for a global company that provides healthcare data, analytics and technology services to support decision-making across research, development and commercial operations.

• Since 2023, I have been in charge of most of the Portuguese translations for an international federation of trade unions, translating internal communications and public-facing reports.

From a language perspective, I am a Brazilian Portuguese native speaker, and I translate exclusively into my native language. My source languages are English, Spanish and Italian. If you need football translation involving other language pairs, please contact me, and I'll be glad to refer you to a qualified colleague.