At 5.45 yesterday evening I was at DHL sending a package to Italy containing my bid for a translation contract. The timing was tight and stress levels were sky-high. But according to the DHL tracking service the package arrived at its destination on time – phew! The whole bidding process was difficult and demanding, and …
Tag archives: Life and work
Spreading the language love (2) – Careers Days
For any of you thinking of taking part in language learning initiatives at your local schools, I thought it might be useful to describe in more detail some of the events I’ve attended. So that you know what you’re letting yourselves in for! Careers Day The Careers Day I attended was for 2nd year pupils …
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Spreading the language love (1)
If you work with language and love your job, one way to share your enthusiasm is to take part in career days or simply talk to pupils at your local school about your work and why you enjoy it. As I mentioned in yesterday’s post, language teachers will thank you for your efforts. I’ve attended …
Teaching the language love
A number of recent articles in the UK and US press point to a lively interest in foreign language learning and teaching that isn’t necessarily reflected in our school pupils’ language uptake. Some of those articles are listed here: Foreign language study vital to U.S. students by Gene A. Budig (a former president of three …
Love your job and tweet about it? Take part in our poll
One of the things I like about Twitter (and there are lots) is that nearly all the translators I follow there seem to love their jobs. I don’t know if there’s some sort of self-selection going on here, with translators who embrace social media being more engaged with and enthused by their work. There’s the …
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Not a political blog – but tomorrow we vote
This isn’t a political blog but the following two articles are well-written and worth reading. Johann Hari (an award-winning journalist who writes twice-weekly for the Independent, one of Britain’s leading newspapers, and the Huffington Post): Welcome to Cameron-Land – a dispatch from David Cameron’s Britain I can see the Conservatism. Where’s the compassion?” and Remember …
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The “K” word on Twitter
One of the things I love about Twitter is the way it puts you in touch with interesting people you wouldn’t otherwise meet. It’s always nice to get new followers (if any of you are reading this, thank you!) but I do sometimes puzzle over who’s following me and why. I tweet mainly about language …
Serendipity and the scents of war
I wrote the other day about scent, as one of my favourite words (serendipity’s another). Scent isn’t a word you’d normally associate with the war in Afghanistan. But it cropped up in a Radio Scotland programme, Black Watch, 3 Scots: A War in Their Own Words, recounting life in the Afghan war zones. The account takes …
Fit for…
I had a bad cold last week and had to miss my exercise classes and walks (I’ve given up jogging as it’s murder on my knees and too much like hard work). I’m a member of the gym at Glasgow University’s Garscube Complex and greatly enjoy the classes. It’s probably a combination of good instructors …
Easter, at last
Well, that’s the first quarter of 2010 out of the way and I for one am not sad to see it go. Not a week has gone by since 1 January (or so it has seemed) without news of friends, acquaintances and family members being affected by death, illness or accident. Culminating, just 3 weeks …