About
Nick Faulkner
Native British English proofreader and translator.
Warsaw-based since 1995.
Native British English proofreader and translator.
Warsaw-based since 1995.
There are people who fall into their work and people who find it. After arriving in Warsaw in 1995 and spending a few years teaching English — to classes, businesses and individuals — I was approached by the British law firm CMS Cameron McKenna to become their first in-house English proofreader. I knew immediately that I had found my place.
I stayed at CMS for ten years. In that time, I moved from proofreader to co-ordinator of an eight-person translation team, managing workload and quality across a busy legal practice. It was there that I developed a deep familiarity with Polish legal language and culture — learning not just the terminology, but the way Polish lawyers think and structure an argument, and how that translates into English.
In 2007 I registered my sole-proprietorship FLC and moved to work in-house at my main client — the Warsaw office of the French law firm Gide Loyrette Nouel. There I managed the translation department, proofread all outgoing English and translated increasingly complex documents from Polish to English. It was also during this period that I took a formal Polish language exam and obtained Polish citizenship — a decision that allowed me to stay European after Brexit. Now I am taking the next step and moving to full freelance.
As a freelancer, I have taken on a range of projects over the years that I am proud to have been part of.
The legal publisher C.H. Beck asked me first to proofread several English translations of Polish legislation, and then to undertake full translations of my own: the Family and Guardianship Code and the Polish Criminal Code. Translating a criminal code is among the most demanding tasks a translator can face — every word carries legal weight, and there is no room for approximation. I am proud of both.
Working with a translator from the Andrzej Wajda Film School, I contributed to scripts and subtitles for a number of Polish productions, including two Academy Award nominees.
Królik po Berlińsku ("Rabbit à la Berlin")
Academy Award nominee — Best Documentary Short
Wszystko co kocham ("All That I Love")
Poland's submission — Best Foreign Language Film, 83rd Academy Awards
Demon
Acclaimed Polish horror film, TIFF Official Selection 2015
I work regularly with academics and researchers from the University of Śląsk, the University of Warsaw, the Polish Academy of Sciences (PAN), and universities in Germany, Spain and Portugal, as well as CIOP — the Central Institute for Labour Protection. When peer review is at stake, the English has to be right. Topics have ranged from law and computer architecture to urban design and protection from electromagnetic fields.
I do a great deal of work with the Ujazdowski Castle Centre for Contemporary Art, checking and correcting brochures and wall texts for exhibitions and various cultural books. I also work with a translator for IPN — the Institute of National Remembrance — checking several books and brochures.
Most recently, I copyedited the English translation of two Polish thriller novels — The Copernicus Codex Quest by Izabela Szyłko — a mystery built around the life and works of the astronomer Copernicus, in the spirit of The Da Vinci Code. An unusual brief, and a genuinely good read.
Every document I work on gets the same attention: careful, experienced eyes, a native speaker's instinct for what sounds right, and a professional's understanding of what is at stake.
The work has evolved — AI-generated text has become a significant part of what lands on my desk — but my approach has not. Get in touch if you would like to discuss a project or have any questions.
