Translation as a career? It’s right up there!

Well, well, well. Guess which profession in the top 20 jobs for 2013? Translation and interpreting! The list was complied by US News, which ranks the top 100 jobs on the basis of their mosaic of employment opportunity, good salary, manageable work-life balance, and job security. To which I would add: job satisfaction. Which, notwithstanding …

Creative printing

This is great fun. For anyone who’s got old printer/fax/scanner hardware kicking around. All you need is a bit of creativity. Brother ‘Printer Orchestra’ by Chris Cairns from Partizan on Vimeo. Disclosure: having tried — and not at all liked — Canon and then Brother, I’m delighted and very relieved to be back with Epson. …

Glasgow’s times past

Looking for “doon the watter” links for my “Coping with Sandy” post, I discovered an amazing blog for anyone living in, from or interested in Glasgow. It’s called “Glasgow History” and describes the “Achievements and Archive Photographs of this Great Scottish City”. Glasgow’s politicians and planners have done unforgivable damage to the city and in …

A social networking rant. Tell us who you are, people!

Why do some business people go to such great lengths, on social networking sites, to avoid telling people who they are and what they do? Or to convey such a whimsical image of themselves on serious business platforms? I’ve just been up-dating my profile on KILTR, a social networking site for Scots or people who …

Not love, not money. It’s translation that makes the world go round.

In an article in the Huffington Post marking International Translation Day (celebrated on 30 September), Nataly Kelly, Chief Research Officer at Common Sense Advisory and co-author of “Found in Translation”, listed 10 ways that translation benefits us all: 1. Translation saves lives. 2. Translation prevents terror. 3. Translation keeps the peace. 4. Translation elects world leaders. 5. …

Back up!

Parts of the UK have been having horrible weather for the last few days, with flooding and, in Aberdeen, a weird seafoam* invading the Footdee neighbourhood, while is well worth a visit, by the way (preferably without foam). Here in Bearsden, just north of Glasgow, however, it’s a beautiful day. *(or “spume”, from the Latin spuma. This …

Communicating with clients: crystal clarity or muddy murk?

Radio Scotland news recently featured a hotel booking mix-up. A group of French tourists turned up at the Jura Hotel, on the Isle of Jura (off the west coast of Scotland), saying that they’d booked rooms there. The hotel owner had no record of a booking, and the hotel was full. When he checked their …

The jobs of the future… include translating

A recent article in The Vancouver Sun entitled What are the jobs of the future? examines the skills and careers likely to be most in demand as the 21st century progresses. The article cites a study by Sharon D. Crozier, of the University of Calgary’s Counselling Centre, on “Waves of the Future and High Demand Careers” …

Translating the Zodiac: take our poll

We had a Twitter conversation a couple of weeks ago about Zodiac signs and the sort of character traits that make for good translators/editors. I thought it would be interesting — and fun — to see if there’s any correlation between a person’s zodiac sign and their choice of translation/editing as a career. So I’ve devised this …

Don’t be stupid, girls. And don’t be stupid, BBC Radio Scotland

Well, that’s International Women’s Day over for 2012. I’m not a big fan of this particular “day” because I think that on 9 March, after all the fine words and the gifts of mimosa (in Italy, at any rate), everything just goes back to normal. I also think that girls and women in the (still …