About

A career spent finding the story

Translator, former ministerial media adviser — 30 years of finding the story and telling it across languages.

The view from Aideen Rodrigues's childhood home in County Clare, Ireland, with the Cliffs of Moher on the horizon
The view from the house I grew up in, in County Clare — the Cliffs of Moher on the horizon.

I'm Aideen Rodrigues — Éadaoin, in Irish. My career has taken me from Irish television newsrooms to the offices of government ministers, and from founding my own PR consultancy to helping businesses across France and Ireland say exactly what they mean, in the right language.

The reporting years

I started out as a television journalist with TG4, Ireland's Irish-language national broadcaster, and went on to become Western Correspondent for TV3. Reporting from the field, you learn fast how to take a complex story and make it clear, compelling and concise — to deadline. Those years taught me what makes a story newsworthy, and how to find that story in almost anything. Translation was part of the work from then on — at TG4 I translated into Irish — and I have worked professionally as a translator and trainer since 2013.

Government at the highest level

As Media Adviser and Head of the Press Office for Ireland's Department of Community, Rural & Gaeltacht Affairs, I advised a Cabinet Minister, led a team of five, wrote speeches, managed crises and delivered bilingual national campaigns — including the launch of the Official Languages Act.

The Gulf of Morbihan seen through pine trees from the shore, near Vannes in Brittany
The Gulf of Morbihan, a few kilometres from home.

France, and a second craft

I moved to France in 2009 and built a translation practice alongside corporate language training — including ten years as in-house translator and language support in the chemical surface-treatment sector. In 2025 I completed an MA in Translation Studies at the University of Portsmouth with Distinction, and was awarded the prize for Best Academic Performance in Translation Studies.

Today

Avé Traductions is deliberately boutique: a small number of clients, work I do personally, and the judgment of a 30-year career in every line. Today, I translate into English only — my native language — because that is what best serves your text.

Qualifications & memberships

A grounding in language and in judgment

MA Translation Studies (French–English), University of Portsmouth — Distinction, and Prize for Best Academic Performance
Postgraduate Diplomas in Public Relations & Event Management — European Institute of Communications, Dublin
Postgraduate Diploma in Applied Communications (Broadcasting) — NUI Galway
BA (Hons) French & Irish — NUI Galway
Member, Société française des traducteurs (SFT)
Professional indemnity insurance in place
CAT tool: memoQ
Languages: English (native) · French (bilingual, in France since 2009) · Irish / Gaeilge (former working language: TG4, Department of Community, Rural & Gaeltacht Affairs)
Life beyond work

Rooted in two places

I live in Saint-Avé, just outside Vannes in Brittany. I married my French childhood sweetheart — and the real test of my French isn't technical translation: it's negotiating whose turn it is to put the bins out 🙂. My Irish heritage stays close all the same: family ties, professional connections, the Irish language, and the local Gaelic football club, where I serve as youth officer and write the club's press releases on a voluntary basis — the old job never quite leaves me.

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