Fatma Galal
Start a project
Fatma Galal
About Services Process Work FAQ Contact
Translator EN↔AR — Senior DTP Specialist — Localization PM

From manuscript to print-ready file, in one pair of hands.

Ten-plus years translating and typesetting multilingual publications for UNICEF, UNDP and UNV. Translation, QA and the final InDesign file all come from the same desk — no relay between separate teams.

0
Years in translation & DTP
EN↔AR
Native-level, both directions
0
Words managed, one MTPE project
0
Non-Latin scripts typeset
Publications delivered for
UNICEFUNDPUNVUNESCO
ISO 17100 & ISO 18587 certified
01

Why one person, not two teams

"Clients get an accurate, culturally sound translation and a publication-ready file — no back-and-forth between separate translation and design teams."

Most translators hand a finished Word file to a separate designer, and something always gets lost in the relay — a mistranslated caption that never gets flagged, a Burmese font that doesn't render, an RTL paragraph that breaks under a title box. I close that gap myself.

I work end to end: translating and reviewing English–Arabic content, then producing the final print-ready and digital layout in Adobe InDesign — sourcing non-Latin fonts, solving non-standard layout problems, and running post-translation QA before anything ships.

My work reaches readers through direct freelance commissions and through agency partnerships, on publications for UNICEF, UNDP and UNV — from national household surveys to child-poverty policy briefs, in multi-script layouts spanning Arabic, Burmese, Devanagari, Cyrillic, Kayah Li and more.

End-to-end production
Translation through final print-ready file.
Complex scripts
RTL Arabic and non-Latin typesetting.
QA-first process
Every file reviewed before it ships.
International orgs
UN-standard publications, on deadline.
ISO certified
ISO 17100:2015 — Translation Services · ISO 18587:2017 — Post-Editing of Machine Translation. Valid through September 2028.
Verify certificate
02

Services

Translation & QA

English–Arabic translation, proofreading, revision and post-translation QA on every file before it leaves my desk.

DTP & typesetting

Expert Adobe InDesign production — typesetting for LTR and RTL languages, multilingual formatting and print-ready packaging.

OCR & reconstruction

Rebuilding scanned or damaged source documents into clean, editable, publication-ready files.

Accessible PDF (PDF/UA)

Tagged, structured PDF accessibility that meets PDF/UA standards for screen readers and assistive technology.

Project management

Running multilingual translation and DTP projects end to end, from scoping through delivery.

03

How a file moves through my desk

01

Translate

Source text translated English↔Arabic with attention to register, terminology and cultural fit.

02

QA & proofread

A dedicated review pass catches linguistic and consistency errors before layout begins.

03

Typeset

LTR and RTL multi-script layout in InDesign, non-Latin fonts sourced and fitted to the design.

04

Package & deliver

Final layout QA, then export to print-ready PDF or packaged InDesign files.

04

Selected work

Household survey

Socioeconomic impact of armed conflict on Sudanese urban households

Full translation and multi-chapter DTP for a national urban household survey report.

UNDP
Policy brief

The state of multidimensional child poverty and deprivations in Addis Ababa & Dire Dawa

Translation and typesetting for a policy brief on child poverty and deprivation.

UNICEF
Research report

Impact of conflict on child education in Ethiopia

End-to-end production from source manuscript to print-ready report.

UNICEF
Research report

Multidimensional child poverty in Ethiopia (2024)

Translation, QA and layout for a national child poverty assessment.

UNICEF
Research report

Multidimensional child poverty in Ethiopia

Translation and DTP for a national assessment of multidimensional child poverty.

UNICEF
13-chapter book

Multilingual book production via InDesign Book panel

Chapter-linked .indb workflow across Burmese, Kinyarwanda, Nepali, Russian and Ukrainian.

Agency partnership
Large-scale OCR

Multi-file OCR, formatting & composition project

Reconstruction and formatting across a large batch of scanned source files.

Agency partnership
05

Tools & skills

DTP & design

Adobe InDesign Illustrator Photoshop CorelDRAW Premiere & After Effects

CAT & QA tools

SDL Trados MemoQ SmartCat XTM Memsource Xbench

Project management

Plunet XTRF MS Word advanced Google PM Certificate
06

Frequently asked

English and Arabic translation, with DTP and typesetting support for RTL Arabic plus non-Latin scripts including Burmese, Devanagari, Cyrillic and Kayah Li.

Packaged InDesign files, print-ready PDFs, and translated source files in the format you provided — Word, InDesign or otherwise.

Per-page or per-word, depending on the project. Send the source file and I'll come back with a scope and quote within a day.

Depends on length and script complexity — a short brief can turn around in days, a multi-chapter book is scoped as a weekly workplan.

07

Have a file that needs to speak Arabic well?

Send the source file and a word or page count, and I'll come back with a scope and timeline — translation, DTP, or both.

Time zoneEET · UTC+2
Availability9 AM – 10 PM
LanguagesArabic · English