Across the two days of the ITI Conference we will be bringing you four tracks of inspiring and thought-provoking sessions, including one track dedicated solely to interpreters.
Each day will also include special guests and keynote speakers, and for those attending in-person, an additional programme of fringe events.
With the conference theme of New world, new work in mind, the presentations in tracks one to three fall into five categories - Artificial intelligence (AI), Audio-visual translation (AV), Business skills, Diversification and specialisation, and Wellbeing. The category is clearly marked at the beginning of the session titles.
The venue in Edinburgh is smaller than our venues in the past. To avoid disappointment, we recommend booking an in-person ticket as soon as possible.
Download an overview of the programme above, then read more about individual sessions and speakers below.
(Please note, the programme is subject to change.)
Presentations
Conference presentations
Translation streams 1-3
Carlos la Orden Tovar
Target audience
Since the impact of AI and NMT spreads across the whole language industry, this presentation is relevant to both new and experienced translators, as well as representatives from LSPs who would like to have a better understanding of the future relevance of freelancers in the post-AI market.
Selling human tech skills in an AI world: Brainy things a robot cannot do
Two scary letters: AI. Even if this is not the first time that we translators hear about a dramatic technology-based disruption that will inevitably lead to the downfall of our industry (remember CAT-tool and MT omens?), the hype around artificial intelligence and the potential (even current) applications of large language models (LLMs) is unprecedented and poses a set of questions each translator must answer: 'What role will I be playing in the language industry x years from now?' 'Will my job still be relevant?' 'How can I compete against a machine?' It seems that most people provide a rather generic answer to secure our future as translators: bring VALUE to the table. What is value, though? Even if there is not a single answer, might a possible solution lie in technology itself? 'What? Am I to compete against robots to provide technology-based services to my clients?' No. You will use technology to your advantage and bring quality elements to your client’s table where AI cannot reach, by mixing your human perception and tech tools to provide the value that everybody talks about.
In his presentation, Carlos will show several practical paths to discover and start using technology today in order to drastically improve your chances to strive in the Robot Age. Attendees will also learn to work on the right set of tech skills to fill the many gaps AI leaves (wittingly omitted by its evangelists), thereby serving your clients more efficiently than any machine could possibly do. And how, by applying fair rates to your services you can step out of the tech-fuelled rat race.
Audience takeaway: After the recent NMT disruption, the language industry is facing the unprecedented challenge posed by AI and its potential threat to the service model translators provide to their customers. In his presentation, Carlos will provide an unbiased picture of the current state of this technology and help attendees better understand how their work might be influenced by AI and provide concrete tips and tools to face this new era while staying relevant to their present and future clients.
Biography
Carlos has hit the milestone of 20 years providing language services and training for companies and individuals all over the world. He has lived and developed his skills in 10 different countries, proudly working as a Technology Trainer, Localisation Project Manager, School Teacher and, of course, Translator. His natural inclination towards learning and gathering new experiences has driven his career mixing academic and business life. Over the years, he has worked with dozens of international clients such as Amazon, Microsoft, 3M, Cisco, SDL/RWS, and Nokia, to name a few. He is a regular at translation industry events and loves sharing knowledge with fellow professionals in order to build a better, more human, yet tech-oriented industry led by happy people. He lives in a beautiful village near Pisa (Italy) and splits his time as a Lecturer at the University of Bologna, speaker and freelance Language & Technology Consultant and Localiser.
- Twitter:
- @insideloc
- LinkedIn:
- https://linkedin.com/in/carloslaorden
Bex Elder MITI
Target audience
Suitable for all translators, the primary aim of this talk is to argue that the translation industry is not dying at the hands of technology, by highlighting that there is more to translation than … 'just' translation, and that there is a future for newcomers to the industry. For those starting out or mentoring young people interested in languages, it will look at how formal education and what you learn on the job can help you thrive and discover your true added value, as well as how you can use technology to your advantage.
Raging against the machine: Is translation really dying?
Bex Elder will be co-hosting this session with Fanny Chouc.
How many times have you heard someone say translation is a dying industry? That there is no point in studying languages or translation because after all, we have Google Translate now and everyone speaks English anyway. But is it really so? Technology has undoubtedly changed the landscape of translation, but Fanny and Bex want to challenge the view that it’s killing it. Looking at the debate from the perspective of an academic who trains translators, and a practitioner who started her career in the gloomy shadow of machine translation, Fanny and Bex will look at the challenges and opportunities of technology and how we can carve out a career against this backdrop. They will also explore the advantages of academic training, how to fill some of the more practical gaps, how to use technology to our advantage, and to celebrate what academics and practitioners can learn from each other.
Audience takeaway: Bex and Fanny want the audience to feel confident that there is a place for them in the translation industry, and that technology need not be seen as a threat, but can instead be harnessed to support and develop your business.
Biography
Bex is a freelance French and Spanish to English translator and copywriter, specialising in marketing and creative texts. Bex graduated from Heriot-Watt with a 2:1 in Interpreting and Translating in 2017 and has been working as a freelancer since then. From a business perspective, Bex is passionate about helping other small businesses smash their goals and using language to promote a more inclusive and equal society. When she’s not working, Bex loves reading, running (sometimes!), playing board games, cheering on the Scottish rugby team, and trying out new gins.
- Website:
- bexelder-translator.co.uk
- LinkedIn:
- https://linkedin.com/in/translatorbex/
Fanny Chouc
Target audience
Suitable for all translators, the primary aim of this talk is to argue that the translation industry is not dying at the hands of technology, by highlighting that there is more to translation than … “just” translation, and that there is a future for newcomers to the industry. For those starting out or mentoring young people interested in languages, it will look at how formal education and what you learn on the job can help you thrive and discover your true added value, as well as how you can use technology to your advantage.
Raging against the machine: Is translation really dying?
Fanny Chouc will be co-presenting this session with Bex Elder.
How many times have you heard someone say translation is a dying industry? That there is no point in studying languages or translation because after all, we have Google Translate now and everyone speaks English anyway. But is it really so? Technology has undoubtedly changed the landscape of translation, but Fanny and Bex want to challenge the view that it’s killing it. Looking at the debate from the perspective of an academic who trains translators, and a practitioner who started her career in the gloomy shadow of machine translation, Fanny and Bex will look at the challenges and opportunities of technology and how we can carve out a career against this backdrop. They’ll also explore the advantages of academic training, how to fill some of the more practical gaps, how to use technology to our advantage, and to celebrate what academics and practitioners can learn from each other.
Audience takeaway: Fanny and Bex want the audience to feel confident that there is a place for them in the translation industry, and that technology need not be seen as a threat, but can instead be harnessed to support and develop your business.
Biography
Fanny Chouc has been Assistant Professor at Heriot-Watt University since 2006 and became Head of French in 2019. She is Senior Fellow of the Higher Education Academy, and teaches at UG and PG level, on the M.A. in Translation and Conference Interpreting, the M.A. in Translation and on the MSc in Conference Interpreting and Translation. She also coordinates M.A. mini-conferences and the annual multilingual debate. Fanny is Career Liaison Officer for Languages and Intercultural Studies and has co-founded Heriot-Watt's annual Starting Work as a Translator or Interpreter, which has been running since 2011. Her research interests lie in pedagogical strategies, employability, interpreting training and curriculum development in T&I. She has also been working as a freelance conference interpreter since 2007 and is experienced in on-site and remote simultaneous interpreting. She has contributed to professional careers panel discussions at the University of East Anglia and at Leeds University.
Helen Hadley
Target audience
This presentation is suitable for both translators who are new to the industry and are in the process of exploring various specialisations, and established transcreators who perhaps need to make changes to their workflow in order to keep up to date with the latest advances in the industry.
AI and transcreation. A match made in productivity heaven?
Are you concerned that AI and machine translation will replace language professionals in the not so distant future? If so, you’re not alone. But what if you could use all this new technology to your advantage? Helen's presentation will take an in-depth look at the multiple ways in which transcreators can in fact harness the power of AI tools to take their creativity and productivity to new heights. It is designed to demonstrate how transcreators and AI can harmoniously co-exist and to dispel a few everyday myths in terms of the future of the translation industry using real-life working examples.
Audience takeaway: A sense of calm in terms of the ways in which technology can be harnessed by language professionals as opposed to it being viewed as something to fear.
Biography
Helen is a Spanish-into-English transcreator and content writer specialised in marketing translation and SEO translation. Facilitating communication in today’s global market motivates her to continuously improve in this rapidly evolving industry. Helen also enjoy sharing her knowledge with fellow colleagues and those looking to break into the industry and she has been lucky enough to create a number of courses for the Translastars platform in both English and Spanish.
- LinkedIn:
- https://linkedin.com/in/helenhadley/
Dr Callum Walker MITI
Target audience
An overview of the status quo in the profession that will be of use to freelance translators at all career stages, project managers, LSP executives, and professional associations, helping them to better understand what matters to translators.
ITI members speak up: Perspectives on the translation profession
Dr Callum Walker will be co-presenting this session with Dr JC Penet and Dr Joseph Lambert.
Translation is undergoing a period of substantial upheaval in terms of the ways in which translations are procured, managed, and produced. For all the hype around technological breakthroughs in the media, the human side of the profession is all too frequently overlooked by wider society, and even those within the industry. In this presentation, Callum, JC and Joseph report on empirical data from a survey of professional translators and a series of focus groups with ITI members across the country in which they sought to find out what matters to their professional situation and general well-being. In particular, they will explain key trends in the data, with regard to what translators consider to be the biggest opportunities and threats to their profession, their general satisfaction with working conditions (broadly defined), the perception of the profession as a whole, and its long-term outlook.
Audience takeaway: Change is a natural part of any economic sector. By understanding the realities of working life for professional translators, we can empower professionals to better adapt to these changes, and ensure that the profession continues to develop in a manner that is ethical, sustainable, and supportive of translators’ needs as individuals. Hopefully the audience will also come away with a stronger sense of solidarity with other professionals beyond their immediate community of practice.
Biography
Dr Callum Walker is an Associate Professor of Translation Technology at the University of Leeds, where he teaches computer-assisted translation technology, project management, translation theory, and specialised translation. Alongside his academic roles, he has worked as a freelance translator since 2009 (French and Russian into English) and small translation business owner, as well as being a Chartered Linguist, Member of the CIOL, and Member of ITI. His research interests relate to translation industry studies, with a specific focus on project management (culminating in the recent Routledge textbook Translation Project Management), micro- and information economics, and the interaction between technology and translation workflows.
Dr JC Penet
Target audience
An overview of the status quo in the profession that will be of use to freelance translators at all career stages, project managers, LSP executives, and professional associations, helping them to better understand what matters to translators.
ITI members speak up: Perspectives on the translation profession
Dr JC Penet will be co-presenting this session with Dr Callum Walker and Dr Joseph Lambert.
Translation is undergoing a period of substantial upheaval in terms of the ways in which translations are procured, managed, and produced. For all the hype around technological breakthroughs in the media, the human side of the profession is all too frequently overlooked by wider society, and even those within the industry. In this presentation, Callum, JC and Joseph report on empirical data from a survey of professional translators and a series of focus groups with ITI members across the country in which they sought to find out what matters to their professional situation and general well-being. In particular, they will explain key trends in the data, with regard to what translators consider to be the biggest opportunities and threats to their profession, their general satisfaction with working conditions (broadly defined), the perception of the profession as a whole, and its long-term outlook.
Audience takeaway: Change is a natural part of any economic sector. By understanding the realities of working life for professional translators, we can empower professionals to better adapt to these changes, and ensure that the profession continues to develop in a manner that is ethical, sustainable, and supportive of translators’ needs as individuals. Hopefully the audience will also come away with a stronger sense of solidarity with other professionals beyond their immediate community of practice.
Biography
Dr JC Penet is a Senior Lecturer in Translation Studies at Newcastle University. He teaches a wide range of BA and MA modules, including on the language service industry; CAT tools and project management; translation theory; institutional translation; and interpersonal relations, emotions and wellbeing in the translation profession. He has established lasting networks with local language service providers and freelancers in North East England. Between 2017-21, he was the President of the Association of Programmes in Translation and Interpreting Studies, UK & Ireland, which helped create mutually benefiting connections between academia and the language industry. His research interest lies in the field of Translator Studies/Language Industry Studies, and more particularly in the role of emotions for translation performance among trainee translators. His forthcoming Routledge textbook Working as a Professional Translator is due to be published early next year.
Dr Joseph Lambert
Target audience
An overview of the status quo in the profession that will be of use to freelance translators at all career stages, project managers, LSP executives, and professional associations, helping them to better understand what matters to translators.
ITI members speak up: Perspectives on the translation profession
Dr Joseph Lambert will be co-presenting this session with Dr Callum Walker and Dr JC Penet.
Translation is undergoing a period of substantial upheaval in terms of the ways in which translations are procured, managed, and produced. For all the hype around technological breakthroughs in the media, the human side of the profession is all too frequently overlooked by wider society, and even those within the industry. In this presentation, Callum, JC and Joseph report on empirical data from a survey of professional translators and a series of focus groups with ITI members across the country in which they sought to find out what matters to their professional situation and general well-being. In particular, they will explain key trends in the data, with regard to what translators consider to be the biggest opportunities and threats to their profession, their general satisfaction with working conditions (broadly defined), the perception of the profession as a whole, and its long-term outlook.
Audience takeaway: Change is a natural part of any economic sector. By understanding the realities of working life for professional translators, we can empower professionals to better adapt to these changes, and ensure that the profession continues to develop in a manner that is ethical, sustainable, and supportive of translators’ needs as individuals. Hopefully the audience will also come away with a stronger sense of solidarity with other professionals beyond their immediate community of practice.
Biography
Dr Joseph Lambert is a Lecturer in Translation Studies at Cardiff University. He teaches a broad range of modules across the BA and MA programmes in Translation and his primary area of research interest is the ethics of translation. Like his teaching, this work sits at the interface between translation theory and practice. He has recently published a textbook with Routledge entitled Translation Ethics and has authored and co-authored several articles and book chapters relating to the translation profession, questions of pay, status, and regulation in the UK, and translation codes of ethics. He also has significant experience as a freelance translator and is a member of the ITI.
Ramon Inglada MITI
Target audience
The talk will be mainly aimed at translators with all levels of experience, but it can equally be useful for other language professionals and translator/interpreter trainers.
AI literacy - From universities to the profession
This presentation will focus on the concept of 'AI Literacy' (inspired by the concept of MT Literacy promoted by Lynne Bowker, but aimed mainly at translators and other language professionals, and also at translator trainers). Ramon will start by highlighting the need to move on from all the hype surrounding AI in our industry and will confirm the fact that most Translation students are already using generative AI tools which will undoubtedly have an impact on the type of professionals they will be in the future. Ramon will insist on the need to incorporate AI in translator training programmes so future translation professionals can make the most of this technology, while being aware of the risks associated with it (lack of accuracy, hallucinations and so on).
He will look to establish a link with CAT Tools and MT, as major disruptive technologies in our industry in the past, and the need to have a greater input in the debate around AI as a sector (to avoid, as much as possible, a similar situation as happened with CAT tools and MT). Finally, he will provide multiple concrete examples of several translation-related tasks that are now possible or much easier/faster to accomplish with AI, but will focus the conversation on three main points: the risks present when performing these tasks professionally with the assistance of generative AI tools, the need for human input to check/modify/improve AI output, and how these tasks (and the wider approach based on risks and the need for human input) could potentially be incorporated in translator training programmes.
Audience takeaway: To move away from all the hype surrounding AI (particularly in our industry) but also to recognise that AI is already being used by many students currently being trained to become the translators of the future (meaning that AI can not simply be ignored). Ramon would like to raise awareness of the need to incorporate AI in translator training programmes, highlighting the usefulness but also the risks of many translation-related tasks that are now possible or much easier/faster to accomplish with AI.
Biography
Ramon Inglada started his career as a professional translator in 2002, after studying Translation and Interpreting in Spain, England and Scotland. He worked as an in-house technical translator in Ireland for 4 years, before eventually establishing himself as a freelance translator in 2006. He has been working at Heriot-Watt University (Edinburgh) since 2012, where he currently holds the post of Assistant Professor in Spanish and Translation Technologies. After being the Deputy Convenor of ITI's Scottish Network (ScotNet) since December 2021, Ramon was appointed as Convenor in December 2022.
- LinkedIn:
- https://linkedin.com/in/ramoninglada/
Cate Avery FITI
Target audience
Suitable for translators who would like to go on working in their chosen profession.
AI - Will there be a place for me?
Cate Avery will be co-presenting this session with Terence Lewis.
Since ChatGPT was launched in November 2022, artificial intelligence has been a red-hot topic – and other products such as Google Bard and Meta’s Llama models are rapidly joining the fray. These Large Language Models were not specifically designed to carry out translation, but are proving astonishingly effective at it. Are we at a turning point for our profession? In this session, Cate Avery FITI will interview Terence Lewis MITI about what exactly LLMs are, how they “consume” data and what they can and can’t (yet) do. They will take a frank look at the type of documentation that we can expect to be handled by AI-powered translation in the future. What kind of specialisms will still be in demand? What new roles could emerge for professional linguists? What are the benefits for translators? What training will translators need to meet this new challenge?
Audience takeaway: The session will suggest professional development goals and strategies enabling translators to thrive in this new world, in which machine translation powered by Large Language Models is becoming a recognised tool. Ideas to be explored include how to approach this when interacting with our clients, and which skills will be beneficial to tomorrow’s translator.
Biography
Cate graduated in 1982 and has been a translator ever since. She has worked as a staffer in a large translation company, managed a much smaller one, and project-managed in a translator cooperative. She is now a freelancer. Long interested in customer service, in 2003 she was the co-developer of the first online course for ITI on business skills for freelance translators (later reborn as SUFT). Cate specialises in translating patents and related documentation. Over her career she has seen numerous changes in our industry, from typewriters to word processors, PCs and then translation memory as a standard tool. Most recently, the long-promised machine translation has become a reality. She sees artificial intelligence as the next step in this evolution.
Terence Lewis MITI
Target audience
Suitable for translators who would like to go on working in their chosen profession.
AI - Will there be a place for me?
Terence Lewis will be presenting this session with Cate Avery.
Since ChatGPT was launched in November 2022, artificial intelligence has been a red-hot topic – and other products such as Google Bard and Meta’s Llama models are rapidly joining the fray. These Large Language Models were not specifically designed to carry out translation, but are proving astonishingly effective at it. Are we at a turning point for our profession? In this session, Cate Avery FITI will interview Terence Lewis MITI about what exactly LLMs are, how they “consume” data and what they can and can’t (yet) do. They will take a frank look at the type of documentation that we can expect to be handled by AI-powered translation in the future. What kind of specialisms will still be in demand? What new roles could emerge for professional linguists? What are the benefits for translators? What training will translators need to meet this new challenge?
Audience takeaway: The session will suggest professional development goals and strategies enabling translators to thrive in this new world, in which machine translation powered by Large Language Models is becoming a recognised tool. Ideas to be explored include how to approach this when interacting with our clients, and which skills will be beneficial to tomorrow’s translator.
Biography
Developing ChatGPT apps is a far cry from translating the founder’s magnum opus in a religious order in South Africa. Terence has spent nearly 50 exciting years in the language industry, which have involved translating for Unesco, authoring a Harrap’s dictionary and running a translation business. Realising that computers would play a significant role in translation, Terence taught himself to program and developed the world’s first Dutch-English MT system, which was used for several decades by Siemens Nederland. Apart from writing various server-side NMT applications, Terence has written a Tagalog-English NMT application – an expression of his interest in low-resource languages. His two ChatGPT apps are a file translator which can incorporate a translator’s own examples and preferred translations, and a fine-tuning assistant designed to simplify the fine-tuning process.
- Website:
- www.mydutchpal.com
- LinkedIn:
- https://linkedin.com/in/terence-lewis-88082a
Tim Gutteridge MITI
Target audience
Suitable for all: broad appeal, including translators involved in, or considering working in, overtly ‘creative’ translation sectors (literary, transcreation etc.) and those engaged in other areas, such as corporate communications, and information-rich texts for a non-specialist audience. The presentation will help you gain a better understanding of how your work may already be more creative than you realise, and how this creativity can be a source of competitive advantage at a time when clients are attracted by the appeal of MT.
Rage against the machine: Translating swearwords – and everything else – in the age of AI
Swearing varies enormously from language to language, and that makes swearwords especially challenging to translate. Taboo words used to express the most extreme emotions in one language may indicate nothing more than mild impatience in another; exotic combinations of scatology and theology may have a medieval ring in one language while being an essential part of 21st-century street slang in another.
In this presentation, Tim will look at the specific challenges involved in translating swearwords to show how the translation of swearing demands attention to issues such as: the mismatch of literal and pragmatic meaning; differences between source and target cultures, questions of register, tone and voice; and the continuum between translation and localisation.
He will talk through a number of examples drawn from his own work in fiction and theatre translation, showing how good translation solutions draw on an understanding of source and target which goes far beyond the words on the page, with a particular focus on pragmatics, the wider text, the cultural context, and the contribution of specific choices to the overall impact of the finished translation and its reception by readers.
Tim will then go on to show that these issues are not restricted to the handling of swearwords or to the translation of particularly creative texts but are, rather, general issues which affect, to a greater or lesser degree, all texts written by humans and designed to be read by other humans. He will illustrate this through the analysis and discussion of examples drawn from his work in corporate communications, journalism and environmental translation.
Although the launch of ChatGPT in 2023 has once again raised the spectre of our being replaced by machines, Tim will argue that issues such as pragmatic meaning, cultural context, and tone and register mean that there are important aspects of translation which lie beyond the reach of even the most sophisticated machine translation solutions.
Audience takeaway: appreciation of the importance of factors such as pragmatics, culture, register, tone and voice, and textual function in any translation assignment that goes beyond straightforward information transfer. Plus, an understanding of why this means that human translators possess a superpower which gives us a strategic advantage over machine translation services, one that enables us to solve translation problems that artificial intelligence cannot even identify.
Biography
Tim Gutteridge is a creative translator from Spanish into English and is based in Edinburgh. His work includes crime fiction (The Hand That Feeds You, a Uruguayan thriller by Mercedes Rosende, published by Bitter Lemon Press), non-fiction (The Mountain That Eats Men, a hard-hitting reportage on the Bolivian informal mining sector, by Ander Izagirre, published by Zed Books) and theatre (his most recent stage translation is The Island, a play by Juan Carlos Rubio, produced by Cervantes Theatre, London). He has translated scripts and synopses for TV dramas and docudramas, and is regularly commissioned to translate fiction and non-fiction samples and publicity material by Spanish publishers and literary agencies. His other regular clients include a major pharmaceutical company for whom he translates corporate communications material, and an NGO which produces educational material about tuna conservation in both text and audiovisual formats. He has a lifelong interest in swearing.
- Website:
- timgutteridge.co.uk/
Chloe Stout
Target audience
This talk is aimed at translators (and possibly interpreters) who either already offer subtitling services or who would like to in the near future.
Getting to grips with subtitling software
This presentation will guide current and prospective subtitlers through how to choose the best subtitling software for them. It will begin by outlining the key features that all subtitling software should offer and why it is important to work with software. It will cover file types, subtitling requirements and guidelines. It will then outline the different types of subtitling software available including free and paid and desktop-based and cloud-based. The presentation will look in detail at some of the different software available on the market (no affiliate links) and the pros and cons of the different types. Chloe will finish by outlining some other useful tools for subtitlers such as video transcoders, speech-to-text software, and essential hardware.
Audience takeaway: This presentation aims to demystify the perceived complexities of subtitling software by explaining the ins and outs and empower participants to make the right choice for them when it comes to the subtitling software they work with every day.
Biography
Chloe Stout is a freelance subtitler and translator working from French and Italian into her native English. She has been freelancing since 2020 and currently specialises in film and TV, marketing and educational content. She holds an MA in Audiovisual Translation Studies from the University of Leeds.
- Website:
- chloestouttranslations.com/
- LinkedIn:
- https://linkedin.com/in/chloestout-translations/
Gabriela Ortiz AITI
Target audience
Suitable for translators interested in audiovisual translation and anyone who would like to make their own online presence more accessible.
Audiovisual and social media accessibility: What translators need to know
Audiovisual accessibility is being increasingly required by law, requested by audiences, and offered by media content owners worldwide. Translators are the best suited to work in these forms of intralingual or interlingual translation, if they equip themselves with adequate knowledge. In this session, Gabriela will provide an overview of the types of media accessibility (namely, audiodescription, closed captioning, respeaking, surtitling, relaxed and signed performances) in which translators may work, specifying the skills involved in and the technical aspects of each of them. She will present the basic tenets of accessibility and universal design, and how to apply them to our own social posts and web presence. The presentation will include a quick guide to useful resources for translators wishing to work in this field or to contribute to a more equal world.
Audience takeaway: After this presentation, participants will have a clear understanding of the different accessible formats, what skills they need for each of them, where they can learn those skills, and how they can start making their web presence more accessible right away. Additionally, they will have received a list of useful resources for further information.
Biography
Gabriela Ortiz is an American Translators Association Certified Translator (English into Spanish) and ITI Associate member based in Buenos Aires with +25 years of experience as freelance English, German, and Latin into Spanish translator and editor. She has a BA in Translation from University of Buenos Aires, a Postgraduate Certificate in Spanish into English Translation from City University, London, and a Postgraduate Diploma in Audiovisual Translation and Accessibility from Lenguas Vivas Spangenberg, Buenos Aires. Her areas of expertise include healthcare, marketing and audiovisual translation and accessibility. She was Spanish Division Distinguished Speaker at the ATA Annual Conference (Denver, 2010), gave the closing speech at the Annual Conference of the Mexican Translators’ Organization Conference (Guadalajara, 2012), and most recently was a speaker at Languages and The Media (Berlin, 2016, 2018 and 2022), ATA Annual Conference (Miami, 2021) and Media 4 All (Stockholm, 2019).
Lesley Taylor
Target audience
This session is targeted at practitioners within the area of translation and subtitling, as well as those who are looking to expand their expertise.
Raising the bar: representing women in sport as an audiovisual translator
In this presentation, Lesley will share her experiences of her career in subtitling. She will explain how she got into subtitling for sports events, including the recruitment process, and the challenges in subtitling for live events, such as local accents, speed of speech delivery; audio issues; and the unpredicted.
Lesley will then go on to explore, with examples, whether MT can assist in quickly and accurately transcribing and translating speech. As a practitioner, she will compare its efficiency and quality with human translation and will demonstrate how respeaking and automated speech recognition (ASR) could speed up the translation process, comparing some industry-recognised tools.
The presentation will then look at how the rise in the broadcasting and media dissemination of women's sports could influence and increase the career opportunities for translators, subtitlers and proofreaders.
Finally, Lesley will explore the role that the translator-subtitler plays in the broadcast of sports events such as the FIFA Women's World Cup™, and the role that governing bodies play in ensuring the sustainable growth of the women's game in all areas, and how this links to the progress that has already been made within women's football from a domestic and international perspective.
Audience takeaway:
- A clear idea on how to become a translator-subtitler for live sport
- Understand the joys and challenges involved in translating for international events to empower translators to develop their skills to meet the requirements of potential new clients
- Our role to translate for high-profile women’s sports events, allowing the message from women athletes to be brought to the fore, to enable an understanding of the needs, aspirations and challenges of women and girls, inspiring development and change within the sports industry.
Biography
Lesley has been working in the translation services industry for the last 20 years. She started her career in translation in Brussels, working for a trade body, organising and translating marketing material for a range of international events for public transport entities. In 2006, she completed an MA Advertising and Marketing at Leeds University Business School to focus her language and translation skills within this area. Lesley has worked as a digital marketing professional, utilising her bilingual skills in French, Spanish and English within international digital marketing such as SEO, paid search and public relations for a wide range of clients. In 2021, 20 years after graduating from her BAHons French and Spanish Studies at Lancaster University, she returned to the University of Leeds to study an MA Applied Translation Studies. Since graduating in 2022, she has been working as a professional freelance translator and subtitler from French and Spanish to English, specialising in sports, marketing and transcreation, life sciences and contemporary fiction.
Alicja Tokarska MITI
Target audience
Suitable for all translators and interpreters, this talk is aimed at people at all stages of their career, especially at those who don’t have specific systems in place in case of an accident or emergency. Although the talk will mostly focus on getting accident-ready for freelancers, people who are in employment may also find some interesting ideas.
This is an emergency! Accident-proofing your business
Have you ever thought about what would happen to your business if you were involved in a sudden accident? If the answer is ‘no’, you’re not alone. Many of us don’t really consider this, especially at the start of our career or when we’re young and fit – that was the case for Alicja, until in May 2022 her bicycle was struck by a car, leaving her unable to work for seven weeks.
During this talk Alicja will explain the obvious and less obvious ways we can prepare our businesses and ourselves for an accident or an emergency situation. We often don’t realise that some of our daily tasks and habits – not just those that relate to finances or marketing – are already helping us towards full emergency-preparedness.
She will describe her personal situation, tell the audience how she dealt with the sudden inability to work, and share what worked (and what didn’t work) in her journey to personal and business regeneration post-accident.
The talk is based on Alicja's ITI Bulletin article (published November 2023), but will contain expanded information, as well as some new content.
Audience takeaway: Many of us already have habits that would be beneficial in an emergency situation, but we often don’t engage in them with enough intention. Alicja hopes audience members will leave with a clear picture of what systems they already have in place, what they need to expand on and what they should incorporate. She aims to inspire people of all ages, abilities and levels of earnings to better protect themselves and their businesses in case of an accident or emergency.
Biography
Alicja Tokarska is a Polish translator and subtitler who specialises in inclusive language, sustainable fashion and textiles, culture and heritage, and marketing. In her free time, she learns the art of dressmaking and visible mending, goes on cycling trips with her partner, and cooks up a vegan storm in her kitchen. She is also a volunteer cohost on a Polish radio show in a local community station in Glasgow, Scotland.
- Website:
- www.polkadottranslations.com/
- LinkedIn:
- https://linkedin.com/in/alicja-tokarska/
Chloe Jones
Target audience
Suitable for all translators and interpreters, this presentation is relevant for all language professionals at any stage in their career. Anyone working in our industry can go into education providers and share their experiences. Everyone will have something relevant that they can share and advice that they can pass on to the next generation. By sharing their insights in this way, they will help to inspire students to study languages at a higher level and access careers within our industry.
Fantastic outreach opportunities and where to find them
Chloe Jones is passionate about outreach in her local community and wants to encourage more language professionals to get involved in these activities. In her presentation, she will set out why sharing your insight is so important and will advise attendees on how they can get started in this area. Covering practical tips on where to find opportunities, knowing your audience and compiling resources, along with what to consider when going into educational settings, Chloe will guide you through every step in the process. From infant school to university, there is a lot we can be doing to inspire the next generation of language professionals: Chloe will show you how to find what works for you, so that you can take the leap into outreach yourself.
Audience takeaway: This presentation will give attendees the ability and the tools to prepare for outreach activities and the confidence that they can embark on these activities. It will show them that outreach work is for everyone, that it is not daunting, and that what they have to say is valuable. It will also show attendees how they can set a positive example and it will demonstrate that these activities do not have to be costly for them.
Biography
Chloe is the Translation Team Leader at Surrey Translation Bureau (STB) and has been working as a professional translator for over 18 years. After completing her MA in Interpreting and Translating at the University of Bath, Chloe first worked as an in-house translator at a large manufacturing company and went on to work at a translation agency based in Kingston-upon-Thames, before joining Surrey Translation Bureau in 2016. She has been giving talks in universities and schools as well as training new industry entrants throughout her career and is keen to inspire the next generation of linguistic professionals.
Elina I. Nocera
Target audience
Suitable for all marketing translators, transcreators and copywriters.
Spice up your writing with figures of speech
In an age where everyone is constantly bombarded with information, marketing translators, transcreators, and copywriters must continually find new ways to write copy that sticks. But some tools can come in handy and should always be included in their toolbox, like figures of speech, for example. Figures of speech are literary devices that add colour, vibrancy, and impact. They also trigger an emotional reaction and help readers understand ideas on a deeper level. But what figures of speech are most effective in 'unborifying' any text and adding that extra oomph? And what pitfalls should we avoid if we want to keep readers interested and engaged? Let’s find out together.
Biography
Elina I. Nocera is a bilingual Italian-English marketing translator and copywriter with 15 years of experience, including 11 as a freelancer. Elina helps brands and creative service-based businesses connect with their international audience through compelling copy and a natural voice. She is a member of IAPTI, MET, and the Italian Copywriters’ Association (Associazione Italiana Copy). Elina is based in Umbria, Central Italy. When she’s not glued to a computer screen, she’s probably travelling, participating in a local theatre lab, enjoying a body combat workout, or watching tennis or the latest season of her favourite TV shows.
Audience takeaway: When used well, figures of speech can be very powerful and are an excellent way to expand our writing arsenal. They capture readers’ attention, add personality, and help create a strong connection with the target audience.
Kate Stansfield MITI
Target audience
Freelancer translators at all levels (students, entry level and experienced translators), as well as the wider language services community, including interpreters, software publishers and LSPs.
Three Cs for the climate: The freelancers creating a tidal wave of change
Kate Stansfield will be co-presenting this session with Jill Tellier.
This case study aims to highlight how, through the 3 Cs of community, collaboration and collective action, freelancers can amplify efforts within the language industry to help tackle the climate crisis.
After briefly outlining the wider context of the sustainable and ethical business movement, Kate Stansfield will explain how and why she came to launch Sea Change Together – a monthly online session for freelancers seeking support, accountability and motivation to take action, with a focus on:
- Digital decluttering
- Digital activism
- Positive impact literacy
- Inclusive community.
In these sessions, Jill Tellier identified an opportunity to use her expertise as a sustainability specialist to initiate a collaborative process that would galvanise individuals and organisations around a shared vision, with the common goal of developing a sustainability roadmap relevant to freelance businesses in particular.
The outcome is a charter that aims to create systemic change by developing a set of guidelines to help embed sustainability within the freelance community, though it is open to anyone interested in driving positive change within the language services industry.
The collaborative approach of both initiatives aims to use the skills and knowledge of all involved. Guiding principles including respect and transparency also ensure that everyone who participates has a voice, is valued, and feels included in the process.
By presenting the work done so far, the hope is to expand upon it by inviting conference delegates to explore, discuss, share and make use of the charter and its accompanying resources.
Audience takeaway:
- How language services fit within the wider business context and the shift towards sustainable practices
- Examples of collaborative initiatives to amplify positive impact
- The benefits of collective action and community for driving lasting change
- Sustainability charter overview
- Benefits to freelancers and the industry as a whole.
Biography
Kate Stansfield is a linguist offering translation and revision from French and Spanish into English, as well as proofreading, copy-editing and project management services. She has been freelancing from her home county of Yorkshire for the past 13 years and, for the last four, has been focused on how she can use her language skills to help create a better world for her children and future generations to inherit.
From learning how to market her services to direct clients in the sustainability field to embarking on a journey of personal development to conquer imposter syndrome and a fear of “showing up” online, it’s been quite a ride. Along the way, she’s asked herself some tough questions, most recently: “What if I created a community of linguists who care about protecting the planet and doing our bit to tackle the climate crisis?”
- Website:
- www.seachangemultilingual.com
- LinkedIn:
- https://linkedin.com/in/katestansfieldtranslations/
Sarah Bowtell
Target audience
This talk will be of interest to translators who are in the early stages of their career and who perhaps are feeling a little disillusioned that some of the advice they’ve been given to date isn’t generating results. It should also appeal to more experienced translators who have an interest in giving back to the industry and supporting their newer colleagues.
How (not) to make £100k as a translator: Five pitfalls of starting out and how you can help a newbie
Picture the scene. You’re a new translator, perhaps a recent MA graduate or a career switcher looking to combine your expertise and language skills. You take a wander through LinkedIn and what do you find? ‘Do these 3 things and in 6 weeks you’ll earn £10k a month.’ ‘How I make a six-figure salary as a freelancer.’ ‘Work smarter not harder and you’ll achieve the freelancer dream.’ Great, you think. So how do I do that as a translator? You search the internet, take a course, perhaps ask other translator acquaintances and what do they tell you?
- Get some unpaid voluntary experience
- Stick to your rates
- Foster strong relationships with good agencies
- Specialise
- Market yourself on LinkedIn.
Sound familiar? Unfortunately for many new translators, a somewhat stark reality awaits. This presentation will look at how the translation landscape has changed for newbies to the industry, share some top tips from someone very much still in the trenches and make some suggestions as to how more experienced translators can support their fledgling colleagues. Will you learn how to make a six-figure annual salary? Absolutely not. But whether you are the giver or receiver of advice for newbies, hopefully you’ll take away some new ideas on how to foster emerging talent in the translation industry.
Audience takeaway: For new translators: all is not lost. It is difficult starting out but there is light at the end of the tunnel. Taking a fresh approach to the advice often provided can help get you on the right track. For more experienced translators, it is hoped they will see that even small actions to help newer colleagues could make a big difference at a challenging time.
Biography
Sarah Bowtell is a freelance translator and copywriter and set up Zanjabeel Translations Ltd in 2021. She translates from French and Arabic into English, focusing on marketing, tourism, and education texts. Like many translators, she has a love for learning and becoming freelance has led to a bit of an addiction to CPD courses. As a strong believer in the power of collaboration within the translation industry, she hopes to give back more to the profession as her own career progresses.
- Website:
- ztranslations.co.uk
- LinkedIn:
- https://linkedin.com/in/sarah-bowtell/
Sofia Gutkin
Target audience
This talk is aimed at translators who want to break into literary translation or translators who are already working with publishers but are also being directly contacted by authors.
Great expectations: A guide to literary translation for private clients
If you’ve ever dreamed of becoming a literary translator, you’re not alone! Signing a contract with a publishing company can be difficult, but luckily for us translators, self-publishing is on the increase. Authors can independently publish their books and sell them online. This also means that authors are willing to directly hire freelance translators to translate their novels so they can self-publish these works. However, collaborating directly with an author often comes with its own challenges, especially when these projects can be over 100,000 words in length and take six months or more to complete. Sofia Gutkin is a Russian>English translator based in Australia, who has been translating novels since 2017. In this talk, she will use examples from her work as a literary translator to highlight some possible pitfalls. She will discuss real-life situations that came up when she was negotiating or working with book authors, and what to keep in mind when discussing contracts and payment terms.
Audience takeaway: Understand possible issues in literary translation, especially when negotiating directly with authors and not a publishing company. When we talk about literary translation, we always focus on mastery of writing and language, but there are more practical aspects to be considered. Authors may have a very limited understanding of what translators do and how they work, so disagreements and misunderstandings can occur.
Biography
Sofia was born in the USSR and emigrated with her family to Australia when she was nine years old. She completed her schooling and university in Melbourne and became a registered physiotherapist. However, she had been interested in literary translation ever since she was a teenager, so in 2012, Sofia went overseas to complete a four-month internship at a translation agency in Tel Aviv. She started freelancing after that and slowly built up her client base while continuing to work as a hospital physiotherapist. In 2017, Sofia became a NAATI Certified Russian>English Translator in Australia and in 2020, completed the Postgraduate Certificate in Specialised Translation at KU Leuven (Belgium). She currently combines full-time translating with casual weekend physiotherapy. She specialise in medicine, pharmacology, marketing, literature/fiction and games, and her business is called Sable Translations.
- Website:
- sabletranslations.com
- LinkedIn:
- https://linkedin.com/in/sofia-gutkin
Tess Whitty MITI
Target audience
Translators with an interest in marketing, and technology.
Adding SEO expertise to compete with AI - one translator’s journey
The demand for SEO translations has increased exponentially over recent years. SEO translations need to be at least as good as the original keywords and texts, if not better. Machine translation is not able to produce this type of content yet so this makes SEO expertise a highly sought-after skill among translators. In this presentation Tess shares how she trained to become an SEO translation expert, what skills you need to become one, and explain five steps you can take to tap into this lucrative area of specialisation as a translator. You will learn; five important skills needed to be an SEO expert translator; resources to learn these skills; Tess's journey to become an SEO expert; plus other practical examples.
Audience takeaway: What is needed to become an SEO translator and steps to acquire this skill, with Tess's journey as an example.
Biography
Tess Whitty is a certified English into Swedish translator, localiser, and copywriter, specialising in digital marketing and UX localisation, including transcreation and SEO. With 20 years of translation experience, plus a background in marketing, she helps clients to inform, engage and get their Swedish-speaking audiences to take action. She also shares her marketing knowledge and experience with other translators as a speaker, trainer, consultant, and author. For more information, go to Marketing tips for translators.
- Website:
- www.swedishtranslationservices.com
Alanah Reynor AITI
Target audience
This talk is suitable for all translators who are interested in expanding their service offerings and are exploring writing as an option. Although translators working into English in creative fields might get the most out of the talk, there will be ideas that translators with any language combination and specialisation can draw from.
Between translating and ghost-writing: Tailoring my services to meet market demands
Many clients don’t require translation anymore. Instead, they’re looking for fresh content in English. This seems to be an even clearer trend on the Belgian market where budget and linguistic differences are top of mind. Nevertheless, Alanah is convinced that our skillset is still in demand, although it may require us to cross the borders of 'traditional' translation.
In December 2020, a potential client contacted Alanah, looking for someone to translate his upcoming book into English. The catch was that he hadn’t yet made much headway with the actual writing, so he asked her if she would be willing to write it, well aware that she hadn’t done anything of the sort before. That was the catalyst for her first ghost-writing assignment and the subsequent shift in the types of services she offers.
Since then, more and more assignments have been reaching her through word of mouth and referrals. Clients aren’t just looking for someone who writes in English; they’re looking for someone who knows the source and target market, can understand briefs and content in several languages, and can create something coherent, beautifully written and easy to understand for their different users.
When a client asked if there were more people like Alanah out there, it dawned on her that our skillset is still very much in demand. That’s why she wants to share the kinds of services that she has offered her clients. Each project has required something slightly different, so this talk will provide an overview of the type of work she has done for clients, pricing considerations, and the realities of managing these kinds of projects. It will also cover some of the reasons why client demands are changing and how you can take these into consideration.
Sometimes all it takes is a little tweak to your services to add even more value for your client.
Audience takeaway: By the end of her talk, Alanah hopes that you will feel inspired – not to completely change career path, but to explore how you can use your skills to help clients in a different way. Through practical tips and real-life examples, you’ll come away with ideas on how you can make your services more flexible and offer them to clients. We may be facing many threats, but human translators still have a lot to offer.
Biography
Alanah Reynor is a creative translator and writer, who specialises in creating English content for the Belgian market. Working from Dutch and French into English, Alanah’s main subject area is non-fiction business and marketing books for companies and thought leaders, but she also enjoys working on texts related to women’s health and sustainability. To complement her translation work, Alanah has ventured into the world of ghost-writing where she helps her clients write everything from books to magazine articles and blog posts. When she’s not working on client projects, Alanah plans events as part of the ITI French Network’s events team, tutors on the ITI’s Setting Up as a Freelance Translator course and teaches English at a university in Brussels. In her free time, you can often find her curled up on the sofa with a good book and a cup of tea or out on a walk with her dog.
- Website:
- www.alanah-reynor.com/
- LinkedIn:
- https://linkedin.com/in/alanah-reynor/
Chris Durban FITI
Target audience
Suitable for all translators and interpreters: for beginners weighing up potential specialisms, but also experienced generalists keen to break into more demanding and lucrative markets. Also, universities claiming to offer 'financial translation' content will benefit from input on the big picture and careers.
Charting your course in financial translation
Financial markets and texts are often viewed by generalist translators as 'where the money is'. Fair enough—and sometimes true. But to enjoy the intellectual stimulation and pleasure of working with demanding clients who set a high bar, linguists must first get to grips with both the big picture (often missing in many of the training courses) and the granular (text types and specific client profiles). The field is infinitely more exciting than many believe and experience shows that being a financial translator is no longer enough; there are now sub-specialisations (especially in view of recent EU legislation).
Chris Durban brings many years of experience translating in different but overlapping sections of financial markets to the table, in Europe and around the world, and for nearly 20 years has co-organised SFT’s biennial UETF summer school sessions, hosted by financial institutions in Paris, Brussels and Luxembourg. This presentation will start with a brief overview of financial markets, explore who needs translation here, and why, and what it should look like. It will go on to offer advice on identifying promising areas where motivated translators might stake out a presence and on how to drill down, do’s and don’ts, essential reading, and timelines and outreach to create a roadmap for kickstarting your own career in the next five years.
Audience takeaway: Attendees will gain an understanding of topics and market segments that may seem daunting to some, learn the basics for creating their own roadmap or timeline or, possibly, the understanding that financial translation is not for them.
Biography
Chris Durban is a freelance translator (French to English) based in Paris, where she specialises in publication-level texts for demanding clients, primarily in business strategy and financial/corporate communications. Her client portfolio includes some of Europe’s top corporations as well as government, regulatory and regional development agencies. A member of SFT and a Fellow of ITI, she is also the co-founder and co-organizer of UETF, SFT’s summer school for financial translators, as well as the Translate in… series of seminars for translators keen to hone their writing skills. Chris has written many articles about translation, targeting both peers and clients, and has given talks and workshops around the world. She is a former board member and president of SFT, and also served on the ATA board. She translates almost every day, and enjoys it immensely.
Faruk Mardan
Commonality amidst differences: What I have learnt working with languages that could not be more different
In this presentation, Faruk will begin with the journey that has led him to where he is today as a translator, interpreter and lecturer working with three wildly different languages, including Uyghur, Chinese and English, as well as lessons he has learnt along the way. He will then elaborate on how those lessons have led him to pursue a PhD in building a machine translation model between Uyghur and English by harnessing the data in resource-rich languages to an under-resourced language. He will also endeavour to explain why language diversity matters to all of us and what you can gain from learning more about a minority language.
Biography
Faruk Mardan is a freelance English-Chinese-Uyghur translator and interpreter, and a lecturer in translation technologies at the University of Leeds. In his freelance work, Faruk specialises in medical and sports translation as well as conference interpreting in a wide range of domains in the private market. In his lecturer role, Faruk is committed to training the next generation of translators and promoting the link between the academia with the industry. Faruk has recently begun his pursuit of PhD study, exploring the potential of machine translation in preserving under-resourced languages.
- LinkedIn:
- https://linkedin.com/in/faruk-mardan/
Heather Eason
Target audience
The presentation will be relevant to translators and interpreters wanting to understand more about how to approach accessible writing. Although the focus will mainly be on the written word, many of the principles discussed are relevant and transferable to verbal communication. Anyone wanting to make their own written content more accessible and to offer accessible writing as a service will benefit from attending.
Empowering communication: Dementia-friendly writing
Dementia-friendly writing can help people living with dementia stay independent for longer, but there is a lack of professionals offering this and other accessible writing services. We have the understanding of language and linguistic processes to write accessibly, in a way that AI is currently unable to do. Heather will draw on her own experience of supporting family members, and on extensive feedback from people living with dementia to explain some of the principles and benefits of accessible writing. Learn how to apply these principles to your translations and content writing and add to what you can offer your clients. Although she’ll be focusing on written language, many of the principles are transferable to verbal communication and will also be useful to translators and interpreters wanting to make their own written content more accessible.
Audience takeaway: By learning about dementia-friendly and other forms of accessible writing, we can improve our writing and general communication and offer additional tailored services to our clients. As linguists, we are well-placed to help people living with dementia access written information about things that affect them, presented in a way that is as easy to understand as possible.
Biography
Heather has been translating for 22 years and is an ‘expert by lived experience’ on issues relating to dementia. She supports her husband, Mark, who has young onset dementia and her Mum who has mixed dementia. She’s also a Plain English editor. She lives in Cardiff and loves coffee, cheese, reading, yoga and walking in the South Wales countryside (in any order you like!) Heather is also a native speaker of Esperanto and, as a child, used to be sawn in half by her father, who was a conjuror. Many people say this explains a lot!
Website: www.sprigofheather.co.uk
www.dementiafriendlywriting.com
- LinkedIn:
- https://linkedin.com/in/heathereason
Kelsey Frick
Target audience
This talk is aimed at; project managers who are currently working in-house but want to transition to freelance; freelance translators who may have experience in project management before they became freelance; and freelancers who may not have experience in project management but would like to consider it as a service offering.
Expanding your services: Freelance project management
Gone are the days of the standard freelance translator service offering. Chances are, you have freelance colleagues that are also subtitlers, copywriters, SEO specialists, content creators, voiceover artists, and more. But have you ever considered freelance project management? As more and more companies are adopting a remote-first model of working, new opportunities are arising for freelancers who can be an extra pair of hands for busy agencies. Freelance project management is emerging as a new and in-demand freelance service. In this talk, Kelsey will touch on the idea that diversifying your business is a key pathway to financial stability and fulfilment. She’ll discuss the skills you need to be an effective project manager, the different ways in which you can offer this service and what it looks like in practice, and how to price it.
Audience takeaway: Freelance project management is a viable and innovative option for diversifying your freelance service offering.
Biography
Kelsey Frick is a freelance translation account manager, French to English subtitler, and social media consultant based in Glasgow. She is also the co-founder of #TeamTranslator, a positive online community for freelance localisation professionals. After 5 years of working in-house, Kelsey went freelance during the pandemic and quickly became known for posting TikTok-style content on LinkedIn. Regularly speaking on topics surrounding freelancing, mental health, marketing, and personal branding, you’ll find her featured on podcasts such as Meet the Translator, Smart Habits for Translators, ProZ.com Podcast, and TranslaStars.
- LinkedIn:
- https://linkedin.com/in/frick-kelsey
Ken Paver MITI
Target audience
Translators and interpreters of all levels of experience who want to understand the opportunities presented by diversification and would like a diversification toolbox to help them maximise their chances of success. Input and questions from professionals from a range of backgrounds and with a range of experiences will enrich the discussions around the presentation.
You’ve got the power: A diversification toolbox for freelance translators and interpreters
Translators and interpreters are often told that their business needs to 'diversify or die', and that there is a conventional range of fields into which they should be diversifying in order to boost their income. This presentation will look at what diversification is, and what it isn’t. It’s not necessarily about technology (although it can be), or about doing new things, like having to re-train to work in fields that lie outside your normal area of competence; it’s not about diversification versus specialisation; it’s not even necessarily about identifying and exploiting that killer business opportunity - although we would all love that, of course.
Diversification is about utilising the potential that’s already there in your business: you have potential opportunities for diversification lying undiscovered among your activities. Some will be close to the surface; others will be more deeply buried. Some will involve a greater degree of risk than others. This kind of theoretical underpinning is all very well, but what the sensible translator/interpreter needs is a set of concrete tools for improving their working practice and, ultimately, their lives: this presentation proposes a diversification toolbox, designed to help language professionals to prepare for diversification, and to identify key drivers of diversification opportunities in their individual business profiles (via a 'diversification audit'), so that they can maximise their chances of seizing those opportunities when they emerge. Translators and interpreters already have the power to diversify: it’s simply a question of harnessing that power by building on existing capabilities and contacts, and shedding the inhibitions and misconceptions that can sometimes hold us back.
Audience takeaway: A clearer understanding of diversification, and what it means for freelance translators and interpreters. A diversification toolbox, containing a set of practical tools designed to help freelance translators and interpreters to prepare for and identify diversification opportunities, giving them the best possible chance of seizing opportunities when they arise. A sense of translators and interpreters as business people with powerful, valuable (and often untapped) skills and potential.
Biography
Ken Paver has more than 30 years’ experience as a translator/interpreter, trainer, lecturer and technical writer, working mainly in the nuclear and technology sectors. He translates from French, German and Dutch into English, and interprets between French and English. Ken started out as an in-house linguist for a nuclear company, going on to manage the firm’s Language Services section, before setting up as a freelancer. In addition to working remotely from his office at home, he has delivered a range of on-site services, including interpreter team management and training for site personnel, at facilities in several different countries. Ken has a degree in Modern Languages from Oxford University, and a postgraduate qualification in Translation and Interpreting from the University of Kent. He has lectured on the undergraduate and Master’s Translation Studies programmes at Aston University, and has previously been a member of the ITI Admissions Committee, ITI Board, and CIoL Council.
Luke James AITI
Target audience
Suitable for all. The session will start by going over different extended reality (XR) technologies and how they are used today, so no prior industry knowledge is needed. The talk will be primarily focused on translation, rather than interpreting. However, there will be a brief mention of the applications of VR in interpreter training.
Extending reality, localising space: Translation for the virtual reality market
Got your head set on translating virtual reality content but don’t know where to start? In this talk, we’ll dive into the world of extended reality (XR) – a blanket term that encompasses virtual reality (VR), augmented reality (AR) and mixed reality (MR) technologies. We’ll explore how these technologies have evolved beyond gaming devices to open up new realms of possibility – in which a pop star can grow to 50 feet tall for an out-of-this-world concert, shoppers can try outfits on in an instant, architects can explore buildings before a single brick is laid, and bomb diffusion experts can access hands-on training in a risk-free environment. We’ll also go over the key concepts you need to know when translating for XR. What does it mean to localise a space? In 'full-body' experiences, how do we adapt to gestures that international users might make? And how do we account for accessibility needs in the localisation process? Finally, we’ll consider potential areas of focus for those wishing to branch out into this exciting field. However, with the industry expanding as it is, it may well only be a matter of time before we all come into contact with these technologies!
Audience takeaway:
Attendees will learn the following:
- What is the difference between XR, VR, AR and MR?
- How are extended reality technologies being used in the world today? And where is the industry headed?
- How can translators adapt skills from other forms of localisation, such as audiovisual and gaming, for VR experiences?
- What on earth is 'cosmolocalisation'?
- What are the challenges of localising full-body experiences? For instance, how can we consider users’ accessibility needs in the translation process?
Biography
Luke James is a freelance Japanese/French-into-English translator and English editor originally from Barry, Wales. He works primarily on texts related to the tech sector – from marketing content to app and website UI. He is the lead British English linguist for a major player in the virtual reality (VR) market, a role he has held since 2022. Passionate about clear and inclusive language, he believes that tech should be for everyone. In a previous life, Luke taught English to children in France and Japan, including two years on a remote Okinawan island where he could swim with giant sea turtles a stone’s throw from his flat. In 2018, he returned to the UK to pursue an MA in Applied Translation Studies. From there, he briefly moved to Luxembourg as one of the last British trainee linguists at the European Parliament. He worked in-house at a translation agency for two years before becoming a full-time freelance translator in May 2022.
Mariana Teixeira
Target audience
Translators looking to manage the amount of information they have to retain and looking for ways to increase efficiency and maximise the time available to do the work that pays.
The invisible burden: Managing cognitive load in translation
The translator's mind is a busy ecosystem. Managing clients, checking deadlines, finding CPD, mastering platforms, invoicing... For most of us, the price of being our own boss is having to do it all ourselves. And all of this before translating a single word. As the information around us grows exponentially, so does the strain on our cognitive resources. Our already busy brains need to adapt to a demanding landscape that is constantly changing and evolving. This takes a very real toll on our mental and even physical health, causing problems such as anxiety and fatigue, which lead to performance and quality issues.
What can we do to minimise the barrage of information, decisions, and tasks that flood our daily routines? Is this an avoidable problem in the ever-changing translation universe? In this presentation Mariana will introduce you to the concept of cognitive load and show you how it has a direct and very relevant impact on our work and, ultimately, our lives. She'll talk about the importance of finding the best process for each one of us and how to implement it, discussing tools and strategies that can help us master and empower ourselves to navigate this vast sea of information with clarity, purpose, and resilience. Together, we'll find the best ways to lower anxiety, while increasing efficiency and maximising the available time to actually do the work we're hired for.
Audience takeaway: Cognitive load is an invisible burden we all carry, sometimes without even understanding how much it affects our lives and careers. 'Naming the monster' is the first step to acknowledging its existence. But don’t worry, there are ways to address this issue and minimise it. We'll discover the main pain pressure points in translation, and explore strategies that can be helpful.
Biography
Mariana Teixeira is a medical translator with a background as a healthcare professional. With a Bachelor’s degree in Nuclear Medicine and a Master’s degree in Translation, Mariana became a full-time translator in 2017, after a 5 year period as a lecturer in Nuclear Medicine and Radiotherapy. Working from English and French into Portuguese, she has expertise in several areas within the medical domain, including clinical trials, training materials, and medical devices. Her background in science, as well as a very methodical brain, fuel her interest in understanding how she can implement the best processes in her work to maximise efficiency. She’s also interested in medical jargon and terminology management, having shared her knowledge with an audience in several online and in-person events over the last three years.
Natasha Lutes MITI
Target audience
Suitable for all translators who feel overwhelmed juggling emails, deadlines, and work.
Time management when it's a struggle
Translation is an industry where Time Rules All, but that doesn't come naturally to many people. And there are a million bits of advice out there on how to make time management work for you -- but what do you do when you try and try and none of them work? Natasha wasn't diagnosed as ADHD until 6 years into her career, so that was her life for a long time. Since then, she's had to learn how to solve these problems with a brain that actively works against her. So let's start by talking about what's going wrong, why it's difficult, and how you need to change your thinking to help you find solutions that work for you.
Audience takeaway: A sense of determination; confidence that you can reduce stress in your life; some bright ideas for changes to make; a sense that you're not alone - that this is something most people struggle with, and is nothing to be ashamed of.
Biography
Natasha has been a translator for 14 years, has two children and is the ADHD, J-NET Coordinator.
Suzie Withers
Target audience
Anyone in the translation and interpreting community due to the fact that many will experience it, have experienced it or know someone who has or will.
Embracing 'the change': Lifting the menopause taboo
It's not all about the hot flushes! The vast majority of translators and interpreters will go through the menopause due to the gender split within our profession. Despite the sometimes debilitating symptoms, it is possible to come through the process with a new sense of self and an unshakeable desire to create meaningful change. Suzie will share her own experience of some of the radical changes that she felt empowered to make along her journey. She hopes it will bring a message of hope to those who haven’t yet been through the menopause, and some relatable stories for those who have. And as for those who won’t experience it, perhaps it will give them an insight into this turbulent time of life and some empathy for their friends and family as they navigate the choppy waters. It doesn’t have to be the end and it can be the start of something wonderful!
Audience takeaway:
Insights into the many symptoms of the menopause, both positive and negative, and a story of hope for a subject that is not often discussed and sometimes taboo. Highly relevant to a profession where the majority will go through the menopause.
Biography
After over 20 years employed as an IT analyst in financial services, Suzie made a late career change to become a freelance French to English translator in 2020. She now specialises in translating IT online courses, social media and online content as well as ghostwriting content for clients in mainland Europe.
- LinkedIn:
- https://linkedin.com/in/suzie-withers
Interpreting stream 4
Carlo Eugeni
Target audience
Suitable for all interpreters, this presentation targets professionals, both early-career and experienced. The aim of this session is to raise awareness of the professional potential of respeaking.
Written interpreting - when live subtitling meets simultaneous interpreting
Carlo Eugeni will be co-presenting this session with Sander Pasveer.
Respeaking is a fast-writing technique whereby a respeaker listens to a speech and simultaneously repeats, reformulates, or interprets it. An Automatic Speech Recognition (ASR) software turns the words of the respeaker into written words, that take the shapeform of real-time subtitles for the benefit of deaf and hard-of-hearing audiences. This presentation addresses the following research question: is the future of simultaneous interpreting written? This question emerges from the examination of ongoing activities in the closely related field of real-time subtitling through respeaking. Due to the shared skills, particularly simultaneous listening and speaking, and similar working contexts (conferences, parliaments, and television), respeaking has evolved into a well-established discipline often integrated into translation and interpreting programmes. Furthermore, ASR technology, which enables respeaking, is progressively being explored as an aid for simultaneous interpreters. Notably, there are ongoing efforts to actualise interlingual real-time subtitling through respeaking. After outlining the parallels between simultaneous interpreting and real-time subtitling through respeaking in terms of professionalism, sociolinguistics, and skill sets, the presenters' critical analysis will draw on a survey's findings, illustrating the current relationship between interpreters and live subtitling, encompassing technology usage and market presence. This will lead to the conclusion that simultaneous interpreting and real-time subtitling can be viewed as interconnected aspects, and that conference interpreters could conceivably be regularly requested to provide real-time intralingual or interlingual subtitles alongside their roles in liaison, chuchotage, consecutive, and simultaneous interpreting.
Audience takeaway: Attendees will gain an understanding of the potential of respeaking and should consider training into it and help spread its use in all aspects of society, so as to make it as inclusive as possible.
Biography
Carlo Eugeni is the programme leader of the MA in Audiovisual Translation and Localisation at the University of Leeds, where he teaches live subtitling, media accessibility, and conference interpreting. He initiated the International Symposium on Live Subtitling, co-funded the International Association of Respeaking on A.I.R., authored the first book and Ph.D. thesis on the topic, and designed the self-assessment tool for live subtitling MARS (http://reachmars.eu). Carlo has conducted research and published in the fields of live subtitling, conference interpreting, and subtitling strategies. He is also co-editing a book for Routledge Teaching Interpreting and Live Subtitling. In 2018, he was honoured with an award by the Italian Association of Cochlear Implant Users APIC for promoting the empowerment of the deaf through live and pre-recorded subtitling. He was a partner in the Erasmus+ project LTA (https://ltaproject.eu) on live subtitling through respeaking and velotyping.
Eloísa Monteoliva García
Target audience
Suitable for all interpreters. It would be ideal to have attendees with different degrees of experience, as the most valuable part will be the discussion that the presentation will trigger and Eloísa would love to hear from everyone.
Training interpreters for the ‘new world’ – what, when, how, and how much?
The integration of technology in interpreter training is far from being something new. Technology-enabled interpreting; technology-enhanced interpreting workflows including assignment prep and computer-assisted interpreting; and even machine interpreting are, however, changing rapidly, as shown in the increasing number of apps, platforms, webinars, conferences, and publications devoted to the topic. This poses questions for trainers, trainees, and practising professionals alike, as training is not only something that applies to newcomers to the field. What should trainees who are new to the field be taught? What kind of CPD is required for practising interpreters? Does technology-assisted interpreting change the way interpreters interpret, and if so, how? Should interpreting be taught in more ‘traditional ways’ first and then technology added? When should different technologies be taught?
This presentation will explore these questions by providing an overview of the range of technologies available to interpreters and to interpreter trainers, which will need to be updated by the time the presentation takes place. This overview will be followed by a discussion of the results of a study exploring current practices around the integration of technology in interpreter training courses from around the world. Finally, the questions of what, when, how and how much will be explored through examples of technology integration in specific stages and pedagogical models applied in interpreter training, which will surely spark debate and generate a much needed discussion around this topic.
Audience takeaway: An understanding of the ways in which changes in practice do not go unnoticed by trainers or in training and pose questions that require action on the part of trainers. Also to provide an overview of changes in the field, particularly those brought about by technology, for both interpreters and interpreter trainers (tools, platforms, etc. for trainers and trainees).
Biography
ITI ScotNet member Eloísa Monteoliva García is currently Director of Professional Language Training at the University of York (UK). Eloísa has worked as an assistant professor at Heriot-Watt University (2019-2023) and John Jay College of Criminal Justice in New York City (2017-2019), and is a guest lecturer at the MA in Conference Interpreting at the University of Granada (Spain) since 2021. Eloísa is a sworn translator and interpreter accredited by the Spanish Ministry for Foreign Affairs since 2008, after she graduated in Translation and Interpreting at the University of Granada; holds a master’s in Research Applied to Translation and Interpreting (2009); an MA in Teaching Spanish as a Foreign Language (2011); and a PhD in Police Interpreting (2017). She delivers training to police forces on how to work with interpreters. Eloisa received the CIUTI PhD Award 2020 for her PhD thesis and has received several teaching awards in recognition of the excellence of her teaching.
Gabriela Bocanete MITI
Target audience
Suitable for all interpreters and trainers who work remotely.
Caring for your brain and hearing health
Given that we have all been working predominantly remotely during the past few years, there have been new challenges for interpreters' hearing and cognitive health. Issues such as tinnitus, hyperacusis, and cognitive overload are affecting the mental health of many in our profession. Gabriela will discuss practical ways to a holistic approach-the ONLY way to achieve more balance in the digital age. Having studied brain health and all its ramifications, she will equip attendees with the most effective techniques they can use to help themselves improve their health and well-being. The session will also include at least one practice.
Audience takeaway: Two main ideas - that the auditory system is not independent of the brain and other organs in the body. And that only an holistic approach to health maintenance will do if we wish to enjoy wellbeing and cognitive longevity.
Biography
Gabriela Bocanete is an international conference interpreter, trainer, and speaker. She is also a holistic health coach and sound therapy practitioner. She draws on her multi-disciplinary knowledge and expert understanding of stress and its cause and consequences to offer tailored interventions that improve brain performance and resilience. She is the creator of online courses such as 'Calm, Vitality, Resilience', and 'Tinnitus, Be Gone! Improve Your Hearing Health'. As a speaker, she includes relevant practices so that attendees experience in their own bodies the benefits of recommenced techniques.
- Website:
- gabrielabocanete.com/
- LinkedIn:
- https://linkedin.com/in/gabriela-bocanete/
Jonathan Downie AITI
Target audience
This talk is aimed at interpreters, especially those who feel their career needs a reset or who are trying to figure out what specialism is all about.
Rethinking specialism with remote interpreting and social media
The pandemic seemed to shut the doors to interpreting. Conferences were cancelled, meetings delayed and contracts cut short. But, as the world began to bounce back using remote interpreting and too many Zoom meetings, some new possibilities opened up.
Church interpreting, which used to be the sole preserve of plucky volunteers and a few rare professionals who worked at only the largest events, suddenly became accessible to any church that knew how to stream a church service. Rather than going over the nuts and bolts of what makes church interpreting different, this presentation will walk through the journey of how Jonathan turned to that specialism in the midst of mental health issues and after a project where everything went wrong. It will cover the ups and downs, the false dawns and real opportunities and what they teach us about what interpreting specialisms might look like in the future.
Central to all of this is the place for interpreters to advise clients on their entire language strategy: from when and whether human translation and interpreting are needed, to integrating them into an organisation's long-term strategy and plans. This means sometimes leaving the booth and entering the boardroom; talking less about ISO standards and headsets and much more about the tangible benefits of interpreting and which forms of interpreting to use when.
Audience takeaway: Those attending the presentation will leave with a clear view of what specialisation means in their work, including how to identify less obvious specialisms, targeting CPD and building content clients want to read. Jonathan also wants attendees to leave with the confidence and faith to work at building a career and a specialism that works for them.
Biography
Jonathan is a consultant church interpreter (French to English, English to French), researcher, author and speaker. He has published two books, 'Being a Successful Interpreter: Adding value and delivering excellence' (Routledge, 2016) and 'Interpreters vs Machines: Can interpreters survive in an AI-dominated world?'; (Routledge, 2019). He also co-hosts The Church Interpreting Podcast with Lauryn Albizu.
Katherine Dagleish
Target audience
Suitable for all interpreters.
Do interpreters' accents matter?
Research carried out by the Coop found that 17% of UK adults felt that they had missed out on a job due to their background or accent. They also learnt that 10% of respondents had been teased about their accent and that 11% had changed the way that they speak at work. The Coop is now pushing for a law to break the 'class ceiling' and 72% of respondents feel that there is a need to change the Equalities Act 2010. Katherine will open up the discussion about interpreters’ accents. On the one hand there is the interpreter’s relationship with the direct client or agency requesting their services; and on the other, there is the practical aspect of interpreting for the service provider and the service user. Do interpreters’ accents matter and should they ever have to modify them in order to ensure that they are allocated the job or while they are interpreting for service providers/users?
Audience takeaway: Key issues to consider regarding accents when working with clients, service providers and service users.
Biography
Katherine is a Public Service Interpreter and Translator, providing French language services in health, legal and local government settings. She also works as a conference interpreter for private companies and NGOs. She is NRPSI registered, a Chartered Linguist, and a member of CIOL. She has been an Assessor for the level 3 certificate in Community Interpreting for two years, and holds a BA Hons in French, a DPSI (English Law) and a Certificate in Tutoring and Assessing Interpreters Online. She has also trained interpreters in how to deal with confidentiality issues, working with vulnerable adults, safeguarding children, and working with victims of sexual abuse in a migration context. Prior to becoming a full-time interpreter and translator, she studied a Masters in eLearning and worked in overseas student recruitment within the UK Higher Education sector.
Lara Fasoli
Target audience
Suitable for all interpreters interested in sports and wanting to discover more about this field, or colleagues with some experience keen to explore this more.
Sports interpreting: More than meets the eye
There is a lot more than meets the eye when it comes to sports. Some see 22 men running up and down a pitch, others see a multi-billion dollar industry based on fan engagement and storytelling, where emotions run high and communication is key. The field of sports is undergoing never-seen-before changes: technology has broadened the reach of sports events, even creating new disciplines altogether – ever heard of eSports? The increasing appeal of sports is attracting investments from all sides, and new competitions, events and tournaments are cropping up every few months.
But glamorous and high-profile events such as the Olympics, the Champions League Final, and the Superbowl are just the tip of the iceberg: discover under-explored opportunities in this field as well as unexpected assignments for fresh-out-of-the-womb disciplines. Take a peek at what happens behind the curtains at international sports events and what to expect when working for major sporting institutions. Interpreting for sports isn’t just another routine gig – it requires a specific mix of interpreting skills, hyper-specific subject knowledge, and soft skills. Have you got what it takes to tackle this challenge?
Audience takeaway: Where the opportunities are, what to expect from an assignment in this field and food for thought on how to tackle preparation.
Biography
Lara is a London-based Italian conference interpreter and translator. With a BA and MA in Translation and Interpretation (MACITS; Leeds), she has been freelancing on the private market since 2016. Over the years, she has interpreted at countless in-person and remote B2B meetings, workshops, and conferences across Europe, mainly focussing on sports, corporate, finance and international relations. Her sports-oriented career journey began with gaining experience in the translation field, then earning collaborations with Premier League and Serie A football clubs, national teams, and major European football associations. In her personal life, she's an avid reader, a fitness enthusiast (practicing boxing, karate, running, and yoga), a frequent concertgoer, and a keen follower of insightful news.
- LinkedIn:
- https://linkedin.com/in/larafasoli/
Maria Dunkley
Target audience
Suitable for all interpreters, particularly those who work or are interested in medical interpreting, or who educate medical interpreters.
The mental health of the medical interpreter – before, now and beyond
Medical interpreting is vital to ensure that patients with limited English proficiency and healthcare professionals can communicate effectively. However, interpreting in healthcare settings presents a wide range of challenges for interpreters, and with the COVID-19 pandemic fundamentally changing the way in which people live and work in the UK, interpreters have been faced with a whole new set of challenges. Despite this, there is a lack of research on how the challenges faced by interpreters in healthcare settings impact their mental health.
This presentation is based on Maria's MA dissertation submitted to the University of Surrey in 2022. The research focuses on the impact of medical interpreting on the interpreter’s mental health and the strategies and support interpreters use to look after their well-being. It also analyses the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the medical interpreter’s work and subsequently their mental health. Interviews were conducted with four experienced medical interpreters and a thematic approach was used to identify patterns in the interpreters’ experiences. The key research findings suggest that the challenges of interpreting in healthcare settings, such as interpreting difficult conversations between healthcare professionals and patients, can have a negative impact on the interpreter’s mental health. Furthermore, interpreters expressed being negatively impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic as they faced further challenges, such as the shift to remote interpreting and a decrease in workload.
Therefore, coping strategies and support are key to supporting the interpreter’s mental health. Despite this, a significant lack of mental health support was found through the research, and interpreters expressed the desire for more support to prevent symptoms of vicarious trauma.
But how can we provide support to interpreters in a post-covid world? Maria's presentation will use the findings from her research to look into the future of medical interpreting, and consider how we can continue to support interpreters in the vital work they do.
Audience takeaway: The audience will come away with greater knowledge regarding the mental health risks of medical interpreting, and if they are interpreters themselves, Maria hopes they come away with more knowledge on how to look after their mental health and the importance of self-care. Despite the challenges, hopefully attendees will feel positive about the future of our profession, and continue to advocate for more awareness and support in our industry.
Biography
Maria is a freelancer translator, interpreter and live subtitler based in Norwich, and works from French & German into English. She holds a BA in Modern Languages and an MA in Translation and Interpreting. She specialises in the medical sphere, with a passion for medical interpreting. During her MA, as she prepared to delve into the world of professional interpreting, she discovered the multitude of issues that surround medical interpreting. Maria therefore decided to focus her dissertation on the mental health of medical interpreters and was honoured to win a prize for the best dissertation in interpreting and translation, and hopes she could now use this work to spread awareness of the issues reflected in her research, such as by teaching first aiders on how to work with interpreters in her volunteering work with St John Ambulance. Through this work, Maria hopes she can look towards a future where medical interpreters feel supported and valued in their vital work.
- Website:
- mdlanguagesolutions.co.uk
- LinkedIn:
- https://linkedin.com/in/maria-dunkley/
Nathaniel Elcock MITI
Target audience
Suitable for all interpreters
The negotiation game
Life is full of negotiations – the world of work especially so. And yet, language professionals often do not give this crucial skill the time it deserves. Now more than ever, as even interpreters compete globally thanks to the shift towards remote, we need to upskill as a profession and make sure we can proficiently navigate the business dealings necessary to enable our professional practice as linguists. The Negotiation Game will give a concise and dynamic overview of how to ‘up your game’ in the realm of negotiation. Attendees will be engaged through real-world examples, and will gain practical tips throughout, which they can immediately implement. The session will be structured in three sections:
- Analyse the game. Success does not often come without preparation, so the session will start by looking at how to thoroughly prepare for a negotiation, and what are the key points you absolutely need to have identified and thought through. We will then discuss negotiation strategy – the high-level goals and techniques which will be employed. Lastly in this section, we’ll look at tactics which can be deployed in service of the broader strategy.
- Play the game. Now it’s time to start the negotiation. But how? We’ll look at techniques to build confidence and manage nerves, along with – perhaps most importantly – how to be creative in finding a solution which benefits both parties.
- Change the game. The session will close by spending a little time on one of the key pillars of good negotiation – value creation.
Audience takeaway: A topic as wide-ranging as negotiation could never be covered in depth in such a short time, but attendees will go away with practical tips and an appetite for more – as well as the building blocks necessary to research further and to discern good from bad advice.
Biography
Nathaniel Elcock trained as a conference interpreter and translator, and practised freelance interpreting and translation for 10 years. He combined this with teaching interpreting and translation at a number of universities across the North of England. Most recently, Nathaniel is a Client Manager at multilingual solutions provider, KUDO, where he uses his negotiation skills on a continual basis. He also remains active in higher education as a (part-time) Lecturer in Translation at the University of York. Nathaniel is on the ITI Professional Development Committee, and is a seasoned presenter to a variety of audiences on various topics.
- LinkedIn:
- https://linkedin.com/in/nathanielelcock/
Rosalind Howarth MITI
Target audience
This session is suitable for both experienced and new interpreters who are interested in discovering comparisons between the old ways of working (mainly onsite) and the new ways of working (video links). This job was a mixture of both! Interpreters generally will be interested in how two interpreters working with the same client but for different end clients managed to collaborate effectively.
A tale of two interpreters, two venues, one client and two end clients!
Rosalind Howarth and Sue Leschen will be co-presenting this session.
The session will start by setting the scene of this complex, two-venue murder trial which Rosalind and Sue worked on together, Sue as the court interpreter and Rosalind as the defence lawyers’ interpreter. They will explain their different roles and how they collaborated in a hybrid venue, as well as what worked well, and what didn’t (sound issues, last-minute logistical issues, etc.). They will compare their experiences of working in court to working remotely at the secure hospital and will then cover the advantages and disadvantages for the client (especially this specific defendant, who had severe mental health problems) in a hybrid work situation. The view of the judge was that it was better for the Defendant to stay in the hospital setting where possible, yet the hybrid setting was difficult for both interpreters and also for the defendant to cope with due to unpredictability and lack of continuity as to which venue was being used on any particular day.
The presentation will then cover how the role of the court and defence interpreters changed due to the hybrid setting. For example, when the barristers were in court and the interpreters were at the hospital, a crucial part of Rosalind’s role was to stay in touch with the barristers by phone and email, and let them know if there were any problems, to avoid interrupting court proceedings. Sue’s role also differed from the usual court interpreter role when at the hospital, as she had to signal to the court if the defendant was struggling and needed a break, or if there was noise at the hospital which prevented her from properly hearing the proceedings. Rosalind and Sue will also discuss the general context and changes to court interpreting since the pandemic, as before 2021, the entire job would probably have been face-to-face in court, with the defendant being brought there in person by nursing staff, plus potential future work setups for interpreters.
Audience takeaway:
- Pros and cons of the old way of working (onsite) and the new ways of working (video links) in legal settings
- A bird’s-eye view of an actual case with old and the new ways of working
- How two interpreters working for two different end clients and in different roles can collaborate effectively in a job assignment
- An understanding of the legal process now given the option of tech linkups compared to pre-pandemic ways of working, and the effects of this option on both interpreters and their clients.
Biography
Rosalind is a French to English translator and French<>English interpreter specialising in legal, business, IT, HR and education.
After working in IT and communications for six years followed by a Master’s in Conference Interpreting and Translating, Rosalind became a freelance interpreter and translator in 2008. Since then, she has translated more than 5.5 million words and gained around 1,000 hours of interpreting experience.
Rosalind offers both face-to-face and remote interpreting, working in court and legal settings, business conferences and meetings and works council/employment meetings.
Rosalind is an MITI and a member of FrenchNet and the NWTN. She averages over 100 hours of CPD per year, and is currently working on the ILSA university-level MOOC course on respeaking and live subtitling. She is also Events Officer for the ITI Parent Network.
Sue Leschen FITI
Target audience
This session is suitable for both experienced and new interpreters who are interested in discovering comparisons between the old ways of working (mainly onsite) and the new ways of working (video links). This job was a mixture of both! Interpreters generally will be interested in how two interpreters working with the same client but for different end clients managed to collaborate effectively.
A tale of two interpreters, two venues, one client and two end clients!
Rosalind Howarth and Sue Leschen will be co-presenting this session.
The session will start by setting the scene of this complex, two-venue murder trial which Rosalind and Sue worked on together, Sue as the court interpreter and Rosalind as the defence lawyers’ interpreter. They will explain their different roles and how they collaborated in a hybrid venue, as well as what worked well, and what didn’t (sound issues, last-minute logistical issues, etc.). They will compare their experiences of working in court to working remotely at the secure hospital and will then cover the advantages and disadvantages for the client (especially this specific defendant, who had severe mental health problems) in a hybrid work situation. The view of the judge was that it was better for the Defendant to stay in the hospital setting where possible, yet the hybrid setting was difficult for both interpreters and also for the defendant to cope with due to unpredictability and lack of continuity as to which venue was being used on any particular day.
The presentation will then cover how the role of the court and defence interpreters changed due to the hybrid setting. For example, when the barristers were in court and the interpreters were at the hospital, a crucial part of Rosalind’s role was to stay in touch with the barristers by phone and email, and let them know if there were any problems, to avoid interrupting court proceedings. Sue’s role also differed from the usual court interpreter role when at the hospital, as she had to signal to the court if the defendant was struggling and needed a break, or if there was noise at the hospital which prevented her from properly hearing the proceedings. Rosalind and Sue will also discuss the general context and changes to court interpreting since the pandemic, as before 2021, the entire job would probably have been face-to-face in court, with the defendant being brought there in person by nursing staff, plus potential future work setups for interpreters.
Audience takeaway:
- Pros and cons of the old way of working (onsite) and the new ways of working (video links) in legal settings
- A bird’s-eye view of an actual case with old and the new ways of working
- How two interpreters working for two different end clients and in different roles can collaborate effectively in a job assignment
- An understanding of the legal process now given the option of tech linkups compared to pre-pandemic ways of working, and the effects of this option on both interpreters and their clients.
Biography
Sue Leschen is an entrepreneurial lawyer – linguist who has married her twin passions of law and languages together and who also mentors colleagues in these areas. She is the Director of niche - market company Avocate Legal and Business French Interpreting and Translation Services Ltd. Sue is a Fellow of ITI and CIOL and has Chartered Linguist (Interpreter) status. Sue is a member of the Association of Police and Court Interpreters (APCI), the Association of Interpreters and Translators (AIT), the National Register of Public Service Interpreters (NRPSI), CIOL’s Interpreting Division Steering Group, and of the ITI LIFT, ITI French Netword and the YTI and NWTN groups.
- Website:
- avocate.co.uk/
- LinkedIn:
- https://linkedin.com/in/sue-leschen-34106b17/
Keynote speakers
Keynote speakers
Joanna Drugan
While the theme of this year’s conference is New World, New Work, the professions of interpreting and, later, translation have been around for as long as humans have had to communicate across languages and cultures. Researchers have paid increasing attention to this history recently, through archival work documenting early practitioners, such as the early simultaneous interpreters in court settings, as well as the roots of the academic discipline itself.
This history is fantastically rich and varied over time and for different language pairs, locations and contexts. We see longstanding challenges in training professional interpreters and translators which persist in today’s world – notably the high cost of training, and even its near-impossibility for so many of the world’s languages.
This talk will range over this diverse history from an appropriately local starting point: Heriot-Watt University in the conference city of Edinburgh. The first programmes in translation and interpreting in Scotland were established in the 1970s at Heriot-Watt by the fascinating polyglot and Buchenwald refugee, Professor Henry Prais. I’ll report on some enjoyable ferreting in the archives and libraries of Edinburgh, and use this local history to consider the New Work in our New World in a (hopefully reassuring and inspiring) light.
Biography
Joanna Drugan is Professor of Translation, and Head of the Department of Languages and Intercultural Studies at Heriot-Watt University in Edinburgh, Scotland. Her research focuses on translation quality and ethics, most recently in contexts of transnational organised crime and professional communities where deaf and hearing colleagues seek to build connections across spoken and sign languages.
Joanna was awarded the John Sykes Memorial Prize jointly with Anthea Bell by the Institute of Translation and Interpreting in 2019.
- Twitter:
- @jodrugan
- LinkedIn:
- https://linkedin.com/in/jo-drugan-4052071/
Mike Orlov
In this keynote, Mike Orlov, Executive Director and Registrar of NRPSI (National Register of Public Service Interpreter) will present an outline of the current state of play of spoken language services in the main public sector arenas, with a summary focusing on more effective use of public funds and greater recognition for professional language service practitioners. His presentation will be anchored in a relationship map, showing links and intersections of the various organisations operating in public sector’s language services. Differences between public sector organisations and how they engage with public service language professionals will be explored, as will definitions commonly used and misused in public service interpreting and translating environments. The current state of play in the NHS, Ministry of Justice and Police will be also be outlined.
Biography
Executive Director and Registrar - NRPSI
Before joining NRPSI in May 2019, Mike was a partner in a boutique consulting firm, ‘SteppingStone Global’ between 2014 and 2018, which was based in Bahrain and worked across the GCC states. Prior to this, Mike spent 35 years publishing magazines at Haymarket, Turret and Reed Elsevier, working in newspapers and on digital channels in the UK and the GCC, having been a senior manager at The Mail on Sunday, director at Northern and Shell and on the board of the London Evening Standard
Launching media brands in Dubai for ENG, Mike was also Chief Performance Officer for News Group International, before taking the Chief Executive role at Primedia International, with offices across the GCC, headquartered in Bahrain. Mike has completed an executive MBA, achieving a Distinction
A Fellow of the Institute of Leadership and Management (FInstLM), consultant, facilitator, mentor, business coach, trainer, public speaker as well being a published business writer, Mike is passionate about the role of professional public service interpreting and translating and is committed to lobbying and advocating for protection of the public, upholding standards, as well as greater recognition, awareness and appreciation of language-service professionals serving the public and the public-sector in the UK.
- LinkedIn:
- https://linkedin.com/in/orlovmike/
Sara Robertson ITI CEO
New world, new work… new Chief Executive!
The modern world of business continues to evolve rapidly. There are many external pressures that we need to grapple with: economic fluctuations, technological and digital developments, and the climate crisis, to name a few. We also have our internal pressures: issues such as maintaining a healthy work-life balance and staying true to our professional ethics. So, what is the role of a professional body in helping its members to navigate this new world successfully, both today and in the future? As a newcomer to the language services sector Sara Crofts will share some initial reflections at the end of her first year as ITI’s Chief Executive. She will bring insights from her previous leadership roles and will outline her ambitions for ITI over the coming years. Be prepared to be inspired but also challenged!
Biography
Sara initially trained as an architect at Edinburgh College of Art where she specialised in historic building conservation. Having undertaken the SPAB Lethaby Scholarship in 2002 she spent the early years of her career honing her skills in conservation policy and practice in various roles at the Society for the Protection of Ancient Buildings. Leading the award-winning Faith in Maintenance project was a highlight from this time. In 2015, she left SPAB to take up a strategic policy role as Head of Historic Environment at the Heritage Lottery Fund before returning to the voluntary sector to become Chief Executive at Icon (the Institute of Conservation) in January 2019.
In May 2023 Sara moved into a new sector, taking up the post of Chief Executive at the Institute of Translation and Interpreting (ITI). Although she is not a linguist, she has a long-standing enthusiasm for languages, and harbours an ambition to brush up her German skills. Her voluntary role as a Council member of Europa Nostra (a pan-European cultural heritage charity) brings her into contact with professionals working in the cultural heritage sector from all corners of Europe and has taught her the value of timely, effective, accurate and trust-worthy communication between those who speak different languages. She is therefore proud to be an advocate for the vital services provided by translators and interpreters.
- LinkedIn:
- https://linkedin.com/in/sarajcrofts/
Special guest
Nick Rosenthal
Day two welcome
In his talk, Nick will welcome delegates to Day 2 of the ITI Conference, and reflect on what we mean by "welcome" in the context of equality, diversity and inclusion. Nick's talk may contain European poetry, and will definitely include sprinklings of humour!
Biography
Nick translates from German and French into English. He first served on ITI's Board in 1988, and passed the ITI membership exam in 1989. He has been involved in translator training and professional development throughout his career, and was Chair of ITI's Board from 2011 to 2013.
Nick now spends half his time translating, and the other half working in a range of interim leadership roles in the disabilities and charity sector, and campaigning for change.