Chinese interpreting, Lisbon area
Portuguese is my first language, my English is fluent, and my Chinese is good enough to get you through the appointment. I come with you to the viewing, the counter, the school or the clinic, and I make sure both sides actually understood each other.
No sworn or legal translation. Everyday situations, spoken, in the room with you.
What this actually is
Most of the trouble people run into after moving to Portugal is not legal, it is conversational. The letting agent talks quickly, the clerk asks for a document nobody mentioned, the school secretary explains a form that has no English version. None of that needs a certified translator. It needs someone standing next to you who speaks the local language natively and can tell you, in Chinese, what has just been said and what they want from you.
I come to the viewing, ask the questions people forget to ask — what is included, what the condominium costs, how long the contract runs, what happens to the deposit — and tell you afterwards what I would want in writing before signing anything.
Finanças for a NIF, the parish council, the town hall, the water and electricity companies, an immigration appointment. I explain what is being asked, check that your answer landed the way you meant it, and write down what you are supposed to bring next time.
Enrolment, the meeting with the teacher, the sports club sign-up, the endless forms. Parents usually cope fine with daily life and get stuck exactly here, because school Portuguese is its own dialect of bureaucracy.
Booking at the reception desk, explaining a symptom, understanding what the follow-up is. Also the small things that eat a week: a repair, a delivery that never came, a bill nobody can explain. I do not interpret medical procedures or anything a hospital would want a certified interpreter for.
The honest part
HSK 4, score 210. I studied in Hubei and competed in the Chinese Bridge language competition. That is a solid everyday level: enough to explain what a clerk wants, to catch it when an answer went wrong, and to keep a conversation moving instead of dying at the counter. It is not conference or legal interpreting, and I will not pretend it is.
If a job needs a sworn translator, I will tell you that in the first message rather than after you have paid me.
What I do have that a translation agency usually does not: Portuguese as a first language, so the local side of the conversation is effortless, and English as a working language, so we always have a fallback when my Chinese runs out. Between the three of them, we get through the appointment.
What it costs
Evenings and weekends, because this runs alongside teaching. That also means I take on a small number of jobs, so it is worth asking early rather than the night before.
On location
45 €
I come to you. Travel inside Lisbon, Oeiras and Cascais is included; further out, transport at cost. Most viewings and counter appointments fit inside the two hours.
Remote
25 €
A phone call I join, a letter or form explained, a message drafted in Portuguese so it actually gets answered. Often this is all you need.
Not offered
0
No certified document translation, no court or police interpreting, no medical procedures. If that is what you need, I will say so and you keep your money.
Where I work
I live in Paço de Arcos, between Lisbon and Cascais, which is the strip where most people who write to me have just landed. Each area has its own pages in Chinese, with the situations that actually come up there.
Immigration and tax appointments, city rentals, hospitals, university admin. The heaviest bureaucracy is here.
里斯本陪同翻译International schools, family relocations, seaside rentals, clubs and activities for the children.
卡斯凯什陪同翻译Where I live. Taguspark and the office parks, quiet family neighbourhoods, everything within a short drive.
奥埃拉什陪同翻译The person you are hiring
I am Renata. Brazilian, living in Oeiras, teaching Brazilian Portuguese in the evenings and interpreting when someone needs a hand getting through Portuguese officialdom. China is not a line I added to look interesting: I studied there and I still use the language.
Quick answers
No. Sworn translation, contracts, court work and medical documents are not offered here, and Portuguese authorities usually require a certified translator for them anyway. What is offered is spoken help in the room.
HSK 4, score 210, plus study in Hubei and the Chinese Bridge competition. Solid everyday level: enough to explain what is being asked and to catch a misunderstanding. Not a conference or legal interpreting level.
Portuguese native, English fluent, Chinese as the bridge. In practice: Portuguese to Chinese, Portuguese to English, English to Chinese — whichever combination gets us through the appointment.
A few days if you can. I teach in the evenings, so I take a small number of jobs and the good slots go first. If it is urgent, still write — sometimes it works out.
Sometimes, with transport at cost on top of the hourly rate. Sintra and Amadora are usually fine. Ask and I will give you a straight yes or no.
Often it is, and I will say so. Where it reliably fails is formality, Portugal-versus-Brazil vocabulary and rental terms like caução or condomínio. I wrote that out in Portuguese here, with the phrases worth carrying on your phone.
That is the main job, yes — Brazilian Portuguese, in the evening, online or in person. Lessons and prices are here. Teaching happens in English, not in Chinese.
Get in touch
Three lines is enough: what the appointment is, where it is, and what time. I will tell you straight away whether I can do it and whether you actually need me.
Use the form and it lands in the same inbox.
