Coffee and CPD with the ITI

Today I attended my first ever coffee morning, a virtual one organised by the Institute of Translation and Interpreting (ITI). I was asked by Ann Brooks, the ITI’s Professional Development Officer, if, as a new ITI Board member, I’d join the panel for the event. I accepted the invitation, not realising that this would pose …

Words for a pandemic

Don’t worry, I don’t plan to write many posts about the COVID-19 crisis, but I thought I’d take a look at the words we’re using to discuss it. By the end of 2020 we’ll no doubt find coronavirus-related words topping dictionaries‘ ”word of the year“ lists. Words and phrases like unprecedented, lockdown, co-morbidity, underlying conditions, …

Hello again (and I still think we’d be better off in Europe)

I had a nice surprise the other day, but a surprise that made me feel a bit sheepish. I discovered that Luke Spear had included my blog in his list of “75+ of the best translation, language and linguistics blogs to follow” – even though my last post dates from 26 June 2016. Oh dear. …

EU referendum: why I want to remain

First of all, apologies for posting something political, especially after an absence of more than a year (which I’ll explain in a later post). But I very much want the UK to stay in Europe, and have only recently realised just how bereft I’d feel if we left. I can’t get out on the streets to campaign in …

Polish: the world’s most loved – and Scotland’s first “other” – language

The French translators’ organisation (the Société française des traducteurs, or SFT) recently asked me to write an article about the Scots language, the inspiration being Scotland’s independence referendum on 18 September 2014. The article – beautifully translated by Géraldine Chantegrel – will be published in the December 2014 issue of Traduire, the SFT journal. See below for details of …

Future-proofing the translation profession: watch the videos, take the survey

Back in July, the Chartered Institute of Linguists (CIOL), the Institute of Translation and Interpreting (ITI) and the European Commission’s Directorate General for Translation (DGT) organised a joint event entitled “Future-proofing the profession: Equipping the next generation of translators“. The event posed the following questions: Are translators being trained to meet the future expectations of …

The Scottish Referendum: historian Neil Oliver’s open letter to the people of Scotland

Scottish historian Neil Oliver has written an open letter to the people of Scotland, setting out his position on the Independence Referendum. I’m publishing extracts from it here as it expresses similar feelings to my my own. Neil Oliver’s open letter to the Scottish people: “I will lay my cards on the table from the start: …

The Scottish Referendum. Words for thought (2): “solidarity”

First of all, a warning to readers. I normally try to keep this blog a-political and to focus mainly on language issues. However, I feel very passionately about the Scottish Referendum debate and its outcome. As this blog is my main platform for expressing my beliefs, this post, and maybe one other in the next few days, will have …

The Scottish Referendum: words for thought (1)

As you’re probably aware (you certainly will be if you live in Scotland or one of the other UK countries!), on 18 September people on both sides of the Scottish independence debate – “Yes” voters, who want independence, and “No” voters, who want to stay with the United Kingdom – will be casting their votes. And in spite of their …

Translators’ rates and the poverty cult. Plus ça change?

In the comments to one of my recent posts about translators’ rates and pay, translator Kevin Hendzel mentioned a speech by Neil Inglis, a translator with the International Monetary Fund. Neil’s speech referred to the “poverty cult” that so many (too many) translators seem to espouse. I haven’t been able to find the speech itself, but Kevin’s article …