Dr. Rey Romero
Dr. Rey Romero
Associate Professor of SpanishHistory, Humanities, and LanguagesBiography
Rey Romero is Associate Professor of Spanish Linguistics at the University of Houston-Downtown, where he directs the Translation minor, the interpreting minor, and supervises the field experience course. Dr. Romero believes that the field of sociolinguistics should be central in ensuring language access to linguistic minorities, whether by incorporating linguistic concepts in interpreting and translation training, applying sociolinguistic research on the teaching of heritage languages, or by analyzing the sociolinguistic implications of language policy, social justice, and their legal and health ramifications. He is also Adjunct Professor of Legal Spanish at the University of Houston's Law Center, and he has taught at Georgetown University, The University of Texas-Pan American (now UTRGV), Texas A&M University, and the University of Houston.
Dr. Romero was the president of the Linguistic Association of the Southwest (LASSO) for the year 2019-2020. He was awarded a Funded Faculty Leave for his research on Judeo-Spanish in 2017, and the Texas Young Lawyer's Association awarded him the President's Award of Merit in 2018 for his CLE course on Spanish for Lawyers.
Dr. Romero is certified by the American Translators Association (2018) and he holds a certificate in Medical Interpretation (2014) and another in Criminal Proceedings Interpretation (2017) from the Southern California School of Interpretation. He is also a licensed trainer for the Community Interpreter® (2018).
Dr. Romero holds B.A.s in Spanish Language and Linguistics, Linguistics, and French Language from Rice University (2002), a Ph.D. in Spanish Linguistics from Georgetown University (2009), a Graduate Certificate in Public Health from the University of Texas-Health Science Center (2019), and an Advanced Professional Analytic Linguist Certificate from Montclair State University (2020).
Degrees Earned
- M.A. in Translation, Spanish > English (Kent State University, 2022)
- Master in Public Health (MPH), Community Health Practice (The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston, 2021)
- Advanced Professional Analytic Linguistic Certificate (Montclair State University, 2020)
- Ph.D. Spanish Linguistics (Georgetown University, 2009)
- M.A. Spanish Linguistics (Georgetown University, 2004)
- B.A. Spanish Language and Linguistics (Rice University, 2002)
- B.A. French Language (Rice University, 2002)
- B.A. Linguistics (Rice University, 2002)
- Study Abroad (Universitat de Barcelona, 2000)
Courses Taught
- SPAN 2311 & 2312: Spanish for Heritage Speakers
- SPAN 3301 - Spanish Grammar and Composition
- SPAN 3322 – Translation
- SPAN 3323 – Interpreting
- SPAN 3399 – Issues in Hispanic Health
- SPAN 4310 – Spanish Linguistics
- SPAN 4320 – Medical Spanish
- SPAN 4321 – Legal Spanish
- SPAN 4380 – Field Experience
Experience Qualifications
Dr. Romero has taught courses on Spanish Linguistics, Translation, Interpretation, Spanish for the Professions, Phonetics and Phonology, and Language Teaching Methods in several universities, including the University of Houston-Downtown, the University of Houston Continuing Studies, the University of Houston-Law Center, Texas A&M University, the University of Texas-Pan American (now UT-RGV), and Georgetown University. He has presented his research in over 50 national and international conferences and has published 17 articles in peer-reviewed linguistic journals. His book Spanish in the Bosphorus: A Sociolinguistic Study on the Judeo-Spanish Dialect Spoken in Istanbul (Libra, 2012) details language shift in the Sephardic community in Istanbul, Turkey. His interest in heritage, contact, and endangered languages has evolved into issues regarding language access, linguistic justice, and languages for special purposes.
More Information
Dr. Romero is a native of the Rio Grande Valley. He is an avid traveler and polyglot. He is fluent in French and Turkish, among other languages. He is currently learning Urdu. Students are welcomed to contact him for research collaboration, independent studies, or for internships in the translation and interpretation fields.