Ghada Shakir is an Arabic from/into English translator, localizer and interpreter, born in Iraq and raised between Iraq and the United Kingdom. . Her early in life exposure to different languages and cultures drove her to pursue a career as a linguist. Ghada is the Administrator of the Arabic Language Division at the American Translators Association (ATA), former board member of the Midwest Association for Translators and Interpreters (MATI) and the president and founder of Gingkos Inc. Localization, Translation and Culture, a virtual language service provider.

 She deals with the challenge of  language barriers and cultural misunderstandings every day. Her ultimate goal is to ease communications, and to connect people. Ghada has a Tedx Talk on language barriers in the era of globalization under the name “Hobgoblins and Coca Cola: Beyond the Language Barriers” which can be found on Ted.com.

https://www.ted.com/talks/ghada_shakir_hobgoblins_and_coca_cola_beyond_the_language_barrier

https://www.ata-chronicle.online/highlights/bridging-the-language-gap-at-tedxniu-2/

Areas of Interest

Ghada Shakir is passionate about connecting people and help other communicate effectively. She is keen to extend her knowledge and expertise to the new generation of linguists and localizers. Ghada believes emotional intelligence is key to understanding others, particularly in a cross cultural environment. Thus, she has design her culture classes with that in mind. The courses help students enhance their emotional intelligence skills and prepare them to navigate through a multicultural environment freely.

In her technical classes, on the other hand,  Ghada enjoys helping students broaden their spectrum in technical issues they might face as localization managers. The classes are designed independent of the student’s background, whether it being technical or not.

Programs

Academic Degrees

M.S Computer Science, Eastern Michigan University, Ypsilanti, Michigan - 2006

B.A Linguistics, Translation & Interpretation Studies (Arabic/English, English/Arabic), Mustansiriyah University, Baghdad, Iraq - 1997

Entrepreneurial Training Program Certificate – University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee, WI - 2018

Ninja Selling Certificate in Sales, Milwaukee, WI - 2018