Hi, I love your site! You mentioned in a previous journal
entry that you are interviewing the Spanish translator for
the Miss Universe telecasts of past years. She was
excellent! Her Spanish translations were on the
money, and she dressed very classy during her
appearances. What has happened to her and can you
provide some bio on her? Also, I believe that was her
translating the live Miss Universe 2003 pageant on Telemundo. Her Spanish
was perfect, but I never saw her on TV, so I wasn't one hundred per cent
sure. I am looking forward to reading your update on
her. Thanks. - NELSON from New York City (July 23, 2003 e-mail)
Well, Nelson... You're lucky!
Because that translator is none other than MARIA CRISTINA DE LA VEGA, whom many pageant
fans admire for the qualities that you stated. For several years now, I myself have wondered
what had happened to Maria Cristina; like many fans, I was perturbed by her absence in the pageant
since 1999, because I have always thought that she was the best interpreter that the pageant
has ever had. Then suddenly, a few days after the Panama pageant last June, I received an
e-mail from Maria Cristina who stated that she had discovered my site by accident! She introduced
herself and even attached a digital photo of herself (I immediately recognized her face). I was
completely touched by her warmth and courtesy. Of course, the opportunist that I am, I seized the
chance of setting up an interview with her, to which she happily consented. So to all of the
pageant fans who have been wondering all these years who that good Spanish-speaking interpreter
was, I introduce to you Maria Cristina de la Vega!
Tell us a little about yourself (of your family, your educational background, your
work experience, etc.)
I am Cuban-American, married and have a nineteen year old daughter and a twenty three year old son.
My husband and I work together as co-owners of Professional Translating Services, the largest
language provider in the southeastern U.S., with offices in Miami, Atlanta and New York and
soon to open in Detroit.
I majored in Graphic Arts at Moore College of Art and then went on to study languages at
Boston University. My husband was the head of the French Department at the University of Massachusetts in
Lowell so I also audited language courses there.
We moved to Miami in 1973, when my husband got his Ph.D. in Languages, to start the business.
My husband's family had come to Miami from Cuba after the revolution, and he had lived and
gone to school here. He speaks nine languages and put himself through school partly by
doing free-lance interpreting work during his college years for the then only language
company in town.
I had never entertained the thought of making a career out of languages and communication
until I met my husband and he told me what he did as a part-time job. At 21 years of age,
I thought it was marvelous that you could actually be paid to talk. I was fully bilingual
and I started to undergo training with my live-in-tutor, as to court procedures to be
followed, specialized legal vocabularies, sight translation skills, etc… I took several
seminars and audited cases requiring a professional interpreter until I felt competent
to start doing the less demanding assignments. Subsequently I progressed to doing
more complex work and sat for the examination offered by the U.S. Administrative
Office of the Courts to become a certified Spanish/English interpreter.
Since that time, I have further developed my skills to do conference/simultaneous
interpreting which is what I currently do at the company, in addition to my administrative
duties. One of my specialties is interpreting for the media. I have done the simultaneous
interpretation of "live" broadcasts such as the Miss Universe Pageant, the Emmy Awards,
the Oscars, the Tonys, Golden Globes etc., for a number of years. I have also interpreted
at syndicated talk shows "El Show de Cristina", "Jaime Baily", and others. I have
interpreted for several U.S. presidents including Ronald Reagan, George W.H. Bush, Bill
Clinton and George W. Bush, Latin American heads of state and dignitaries such as
Violeta Chamorro of Nicaragua, Carlos Menem of Argentina, Oscar Arias of Costa Rica
and personalities such as Pope John Paul II, Deepak Chopra, Brian Weiss, Pelé, Bill
Gates,and Janet Reno.
How did you get the interpreting job for Miss Universe?
I got the interpreting work for the Miss Universe Pageant because MUO came to Miami
in 1985 and I contacted a client that was working with them as part of the Host
Committee for Miami, to express an interest in doing the language work for the
Pageant. He got me an interview with them, I made a presentation and we got the
assignment because we had worked with the media in the past and had a highly skilled
team of linguists available to cover the 15-18 languages they regularly need
interpreters for.
I entered more pageants and my poise and confidence improved.
I always knew that every time
I competed, Grandma was on stage with me in spirit. She taught me how to set goals, to
never be satisfied because there’s always something bigger and better, and most importantly
that doing my best at that time would only put me in a better place in the future.
Why did you stop translating for Miss Universe?
It was a combination of things. In 1999, after Donald Trump
took over, his representative Maureen Reidy made the decision to change several of the vendors
and professionals that had worked for the Pageant for many years.
This year, after Telemundo acquired the rights to broadcast the Pageant in Spanish,
they hired me and my company to supply the interpreting talent for the show.
They had the scripted part of the show translated so that their hosts could read
it off the teleprompter, while a male interpreter and I did the unscripted portions simultaneously.
As a Miss Universe interpreter you have been to some of the world's
most exotic places. Which countries did you enjoy visiting and why?
The country I enjoyed visiting the most was the Philippines because it was very exotic
and the people were very warm. In addition, we took the opportunity of being in Asia
to visit Hong Kong and mainland China on our own. We also loved the Pageant held
in Hawaii. The islands are indescribably beautiful, with a geography and culture
that is totally different from all the other states I have visited.
You are the President of your own translation company, Professional Translating Services,
whose CEO happens to be your husband, Luis de la Vega. For a while your company
was mentioned as De la Vega Translating Services and then later as Precision Translating Services.
What prompted the name changes?
Originally, there was a technical reason that I can't recall, why the credit couldn't
be in the name of Professional Translating Services, for which reason we opted for
De la Vega Translating Services. Then they hired another company, Precision Translating.
That firm is a new company formed by my husband's younger brother, Vicente de la Vega,
when we had a parting of the ways in 1997. It has nothing to do with our company,
Professional Translating Services, Inc.
Do you have any memorable or funny experiences to share with us about when
you were a Miss Universe interpreter?
One year, our Polish interpreter who did not work full-time as an interpreter,
requested time off from her regular job to travel to the Pageant. When the company
denied her, she made up a family emergency to be able to come on the assignment,
thinking no one would ever know.
That year the Polish delegate was among the finalists so our
interpreter was forced to go on air. She quickly donned a wig to change her hair color and
was a smashing success!
We also used to bring a Japanese interpreter who was herself a young, beautiful
Eurasian. She was so attractive that the judges would automatically assume she
was the contestant rather than the delegate herself, and address her directly
during the interview sessions.
I also enjoyed meeting classy celebrities such as Dick Clark, of American Bandstand,
whom I had watched on TV when I was a kid. He really impressed me with his professionalism,
warm personality and consideration for everyone working with him, in spite of the fact
that he didn't know many of us from Adam. I also enjoyed meeting Gloria and Emilio
Stefan who were very genuine. There have been hosts and judges throughout the years,
who will go unnamed, that did not have the persona to match their fame.
Who are your role models and why?
I don't have role models as such, however I do admire people with firm convictions
who are not afraid to state them and who go beyond superficiality to discover
their spiritual essence, and express the genuine goodness in mankind, without
fear of being defined as naïve and idealistic. Some of the authors I have
read and admire and who embody these traits are: Deepak Chopra (The Path to Love,)
among many others); Eckhart Tolle (The Power of Now), Wayne Dyer (There is a
Spiritual Solution to Every Problem), and Ann Coulter (Slander and Treason).
What is your view on bilingual education? Do you think it is important
that everyone know more than one language?
I think it is infinitely important that people speak more than one language.
The world is becoming increasingly smaller through decreasing travel costs, technology,
communication and the opportunity to do business globally because of these advances.
It is more difficult to promote this concept in the U.S., in comparison to other
countries, because we are comprised of such a vast territory that is monolingual
and because English has been considered the international business language for so
many years. However, in order to strengthen our contacts abroad and establish
more meaningful and enriching personal and business relationships, we must make
an effort to meet other cultures on their terms by learning their language.
We must demonstrate that life is not a one-way street.
Thinking back on my personal history, had I not been taught English in school in Cuba
since an early age, I would have missed out on a significant advantage to developing that
knowledge when I came to this country, which might have impacted my ultimate career decisions.
I also studied French and Italian and although I do not work professionally with those
languages, that knowledge has given me tremendous enjoyment over the years in my travels
and because of the access it gives me to literature and music in those languages.
MARIA CRISTINA DE LA VEGA