Founders of the Berkeley Language Institute

Francine Kuipers founded Linguatheque of Los Angeles, a language school and translation service. She is also the founder and principal of Accent on Languages and Access Language Services in Berkeley, since its inception in 1992. She received a Masters Degree in Psychology and a BA in Sociology in France.

Ms Kuipers was the Principal of the French American School in Los Angeles. She taught at the University of Peru, in Russia, and in various schools in the United States. She has been a language consultant to School Districts and various companies and organizations. She has been producing language tapes since 1986. Ms Kuipers has been conducting workshops on translation since 1995.

Mateo Rutherford, M.A.T.T.I. holds a Master's Degree in Spanish - English Translation and Interpretation at the Monterey Institute of International Studies, and an MA in Biology from UC Berkeley. He has worked as a translator and interpreter in Asia, Latin America, Europe, and the United States. Among his clients are: The University of California San Francisco, the Federal Communications Commission, the Environmental Protection Agency, the Women's Foundation, the Tropical Science Center, and the Organization for Tropical Studies.

He has taught Discourse and Text Analysis, Translation I and II, Sight Translation, Consecutive Interpretation, Computer Assisted Translation, and Technology for the Translator at the Universidad de Especialidades Espirito Santo in Guayaquil, Ecuador.

Angela Zawadzki, PhD. has over 20 years of experience as an English - Spanish interpreter, as well as an English - Italian interpreter in the private sector. She has worked in a variety of settings such as administrative hearings, State and US Federal courts, depositions, technical and business meetings, training seminars, press conferences, bilateral/multilateral negotiation talks, and film festivals, among others. She is a State and Federal court certified interpreter. In addition, she is an experienced language and literature instructor in Spanish, French, and Italian, as well as a legal community interpreter, and bilingual staff trainer.