Author: itieastanglia

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September’s Monthly Chat

Whoever came up with this month’s topic, “Self-defence for translators”, deserves credit for choosing a subject that was bound to stimulate wide-ranging discussion on several fronts. The best topics are always those on which everyone present is likely to have an opinion, and we had lots of opinions to share, as well as some useful knowledge to pass on.

Translators are confronted by plenty of challenges – and probably always have been. Our discussions ranged from how to protect ourselves against the imposition of unreasonable deadlines, whether professional insurance is really needed by all translators, and how to spot (and thus avoid) scams, to questions about contract terms and conditions. To paraphrase Dr Johnson’s phrase (and why not?) that “when two Englishmen meet, their first talk is of the weather”, it’s probably true to say that when two translators meet it’s not long before the question of rates comes up, so we had a side-chat about that too – there’s certainly a discussion to be had about rates in the context of “self-defence”, if you think about it.

Here’s a summary of the discussions:

Deadlines: shorter deadlines are perhaps part of a trend, encouraged by AI, which leads people to think that everything can be done at breakneck speed. It’s important not to be afraid to push back occasionally, especially if, for example, a deadline of Friday evening is imposed – is it really likely that the client will be looking at your work over the weekend, or might they be ok with you asking for an extension to Monday morning?

Terms and conditions: don’t forget the “Model Terms of Business” document on the ITI website. Remember that some clients will have a standard set of pre-agreed Ts & Cs from which they are not allowed to deviate.

Scams: there are various tools that you can use to check if a particular domain name is registered or not, such as WhoIs (whois.domaintools.com). Also: if something arrives and it’s not addressed to you by name, it pays to be suspicious. And if something simply “feels” a bit fishy, it quite possibly is – trust your instincts! Unfortunately, some fake companies may prey upon translators’ desire/need for work. We were also reminded of Atlas Translations’ fairly recent identity fraud experience – see https://www.atlas-translations.co.uk/blog/beware-of-wordscup-identity-fraud/ – and there may well be others too.

Insurance: not everyone has it, and it may well depend on the types of text you translate as to whether you need it. Some clients will specify the level and type of insurance cover needed. Various insurers were mentioned, such as Towergate, Trafalgar (recommended by CIOL) and Hiscox. Translators may need insurance cover against, for example, cyberattack or loss of earnings, as well as the more obvious professional indemnity cover.

Rates: various resources were mentioned, such as:

https://www.iti.org.uk/resource/value-iti-membership-freelance-translator-rates

and: https://www.iti.org.uk/resource/experience-matters-up-to-a-point.html?_ws=cGl4bDhjcm1NZmFFbmFibGVDb25maXJtYXRpb24%3D

There’s a continuing problem over transparency among translators on these questions.

No “Monthly Chat”in October, as the Branch AGM is on 15 October in Norwich. The next Monthly Chat, in November, will look at “The future of our profession”.

Blog post written by our ITI East Anglia Network member John Wagstaff

If you like the sound of our online monthly chats and fancy joining us for the next one, visit our Join page for more info!

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July’s Monthly Chat

Enjoying the summer? Our July monthly online chat was an insightful discussion about taking time off.

Some members said how, early in their careers, they were more hesitant to take time off for fear of losing clients – especially when working with some larger agencies who just assign the work to someone else in their absence. However, many found that trying to work while on holiday only led to stress and made it difficult to properly unwind.

If work can’t be avoided, different time zones can sometimes work in our favour – such as allowing for work in the evenings while enjoying daytime activities. Some also find that checking messages near the end of a holiday helps ease the return to work.

One member shared their experience of combining work and leisure by taking a few “workcations” working while abroad, often while visiting family. This can be especially helpful when balancing work with childcare. It was also mentioned, however, that attending translation conferences and industry events can feel like a little working holiday, offering the perfect opportunity for CPD, networking, and perhaps even combining it with a family break in some of the lovely locations.

This led to a side discussion around cybersecurity and the importance of not using public Wi-Fi when working with confidential client data. Members highlighted the need for secure email platforms, VPNs and other safeguards, and the conversation naturally progressed to the need for Professional Indemnity Insurance.

Everyone agreed on the importance of taking time to rest and recharge – and that most clients do understand this. Some members said they recommend a trusted colleague to their clients to cover for them, and that smaller agencies are often happy to plan ahead, if given enough notice.

Self-employment definitely requires flexibility, but it is a careful balance.

Ultimately, we all felt that clear, proactive communication is key when planning time off. It not only helps maintain strong client relationships but also supports our wellbeing and professionalism.

On the subject of taking a break, we will be taking a break from the online chats in August here at the ITI East Anglia Network, but we’ll be back chatting online again in September – next topic is ’Self-Defence for Translators’.

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Summer Social 2025

Our intrepid ITI East Anglia team

“2nd July? We’re bound to have some nice weather!” we naively thought, back when we were planning our summer social, a walk and picnic from Manningtree train station to Flatford Mill. And it was nice weather – for the ducks, at least. For the humans, it was probably slightly more on the damp side than ideal, but still we set out, undeterred!

The walk from Manningtree train station to Flatford Mill takes you through some of the most beautiful countryside in the East Anglia region, if not the whole of the UK – not for nothing is the area called “Constable Country”. And indeed, Flatford Mill is closely associated with the work of John Constable, whose father inherited the mill in 1764. It is now owned by the National Trust, and on more summery summer days, is a very popular spot. Along with the mill itself, there’s all the amenities you expect from a National Trust property, including a café and second-hand bookshop, along with a few more unusual features, like the historic cottage and boats for hire so you can paddle up and down the River Stour a little.

Unfortunately, hiring a boat would probably have been pushing it a little given the weather – intrepid we may be, but not foolhardy. It probably would have been a bit of a squeeze to get all seven of us in the boat anyway. Instead, we sat under some very dense trees and ate our picnic, with hot tea from the café. We talked about all the things translators and interpreters talk about when we get together – the state of the industry, technological developments, the challenges of starting out in the current climate. We also discussed other important issues, like which shape of crisp provided the best combination of flavour and texture, and we also all tried some limelon provided by one of the attendees. It’s too complicated an issue to get into the details of here, but let us say, opinions are divided.

All in all, it was a lovely and refreshing day out, in spite of the weather. And it could have been worse, as Constable’s Rainstorm over the Sea (ca. 1824-1828) reminds us…

Write-up by our member David Stockings MITI MCIL MA (he/him) Translator, German and French to English

Bravely battling through the undergrowth!
The beautiful Flatford Mill – the backdrop for our rainy picnic
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May’s Monthly Chat

The ITI East Anglia Network’s most recent online monthly chat (on 21 May) was a brainstorming on how our work as language professionals is changing, how the group members got to where they are and how they are adapting to the industry’s new normal. This was a follow-up to our last session “How (not) to make £100k as a freelance translator: a fresh take on advice for newbies” by Sarah Bowtell.

We discussed how we are positioning ourselves in terms of rates, both in resisting downwards market pressures and trying (sometimes successfully) to put our rates up occasionally to reflect rising costs. We also talked about the importance of investing our time in marketing in the broadest sense, by identifying our USP, as well as using all avenues available to us, including wider industry networking events. Face-to-face meetings allow us to meet people from our communities and business sectors and can bring all kinds of opportunities. When we think about networking, we most often think of selling, but actually it can be more effective to ask for help from contacts with questions like “do you know somebody who needs x?”

We agreed that it is now more important than ever to be ready with our response to the AI question. We should be prepared to counter the sceptics and clearly communicate why our work as translators and interpreters is still needed and what AI can’t do for our clients.

We also talked about how we need to feed back to clients on the workflow, and how this is even more relevant as processes change with MT and AI. When something does not work as we are expecting, or when it takes longer, we need to tell clients in a clear and timely way. If a job was meant to take three hours and took ten, we shouldn’t quietly absorb the costs for that. We recognised that this becomes easier with experience, when we are more confident in how long something should take.

We are looking forward to the next monthly chat on “Managing expenses and keeping costs down” on 25 June.

Blog post written by our ITI East Anglia Network member Catherine Fox

If you like the sound of our online monthly chats and fancy joining us for the next one, visit our Join page for more info!

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(Love)crafting some royally good stories with the East Anglia Network

On a gloomy late-October afternoon a couple of years ago, seven brave East Anglia Networkers clad in Halloween costumes gathered in front of their screens for a wicked online workshop, Don’t Be Afraid of Writing.

They might have expected some kind of trickery but they were actually in for a fun treat. They were about to summon the spirits of famous horror authors for an afternoon.

Once the courageous attendees split into two teams (no limbs were harmed in the splitting), they spun the Wheel of Doom.

The mighty Wheel decided on their fate and gave each team the name of a well-known author. The teams had to look at a sample of their author’s writing, analyse it with the help of some witchery (i.e. a handout with pointers), then call upon the scribbling spirits and write a piece of their own in their author’s style.

Team A’s destiny was to channel Stephen King, team B had to capture H. P. Lovecraft’s essence.

As the event’s main organiser and an attendee, Anikó Pető-Mordovski had some scary good fun with this workshop!

When preparing for it, she had a chance to come up with some corny Halloween puns and cram them all in the event’s “Spooky Styles” handout. This is essentially a quick guide for analysing an author’s writing style, looking at different aspects, such as vocabulary, poetic devices, sentence structure and the voice of the narrator.

Besides preparing for the event, she also got to participate in the collaborative writing exercise. It was amazing to bounce ideas off each other and observe how others’ minds work in a creative scenario. She was in the team that had the challenge of trying to think as the Victorian author, Lovecraft. The other team had to tackle King’s very American way of writing and cultural references.

As Holly-Anne Whyte, one of Team King said: “I think we worked together really well and even though progress was slow because we played around with all the different ideas, we made a very creative, well-written start on our horror story.”

Alanah Reynor, her team mate enjoyed the atmosphere: “Our Halloween costumes may not have won us any prizes, but the ambiance was perfect. Stephen King’s mysterious writing was the eerie focus of a fun and scary workshop, organised to the finest detail by Anikó. Working with colleagues to craft a spooky backdrop to our story was an enriching, yet spine-chilling, experience. We never finished, but the ominous feeling was certainly there.”

For Laura Elvin of Team Lovecraft collaboration was one of the fun – and useful – aspects of the workshop: “Writing collaboratively in a small group provided a great opportunity for teamwork. The workshop was a fun and entertaining way to round off the working day in congenial company. Not only that, it was a useful exercise in analysing and identifying different styles of writing and then imitating them, a valuable skill for all translators. All in all, a very enjoyable event!”

And this year, our brave East Anglians are ready to repeat the terrific experience: we’re coming together to tackle AI and its interpretations of great authors on 30 October, during our GhoulGPT event.

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Meet our member Crystelle Mills-Smith!

Name: Crystelle Mills-Smith
Services offered: Translation, editing and proofreading
Language combination(s): French to English
Specialisms: Legal, Technical (Defence & Railways), Corporate communications
Location: Colchester, Essex
Website: www.crystellemillssmith.co.uk
Contact info: crystelle@crystellemillssmith.co.uk

Could you tell us a bit about your professional background?

I studied French and German at the University of Sussex, before moving on to the University of Bradford to study for an MA in Interpreting and Translating. After completing my master’s dissertation, I applied for and was offered a job as an in-house linguist at the UK Ministry of Defence. After 10 years at the MoD, I took up a post as an English translator at the International Criminal Court in The Hague. I stayed there for a year before returning to the UK to set up as a freelance translator.

What services do you provide and in what areas?

I offer translation services from French to English in the legal and technical fields and I also translate corporate communications (newsletters, training manuals, etc.). In addition, I provide editing and proof-reading services to a small number of clients.

What makes you stand out?

I have a French background (my mother is French and I have family in France), I speak, read and write French on a daily basis and spend as much time as I can in France. Being immersed in the language helps me to really understand the idiomatic expressions and cultural references that crop up in the texts I work on.

What do you like most about your job?

The variety! I enjoy the challenge of working on different types of text and the intellectual exercise of translation. For example, over the past couple of months I’ve been translating website copy for a bed and breakfast business based in Burgundy. This is totally different to the technical manuals and legal documents that make up the bulk of my work. I love really getting to grips with a French text and producing an English version that reads naturally.

What do you do when you’re not working?

I run a successful trampoline club and I coach trampolining for 11 hours each week. As well as travelling to various venues in East Anglia for regional competitions, several of the gymnasts I coach also compete at national level so we travel around the UK for competitions too. I’ve been to Cardiff and Sussex so far this year, and will be travelling to Durham, Birmingham and Sheffield later in the year. I also enjoy gardening and reading.

What’s your favourite part of East Anglia?

I love Dedham Vale, and Constable Country more generally, and I also enjoy spending time on the coast around Mersea Island and Tollesbury. Colchester itself is a great place to live too: we have some fascinating history right on our doorstep with the castle, the Roman wall and circus, Gosbecks archaeological park and many other places of interest in and around the city.

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Meet our member Laura Elvin!

Name: Laura Elvin
Services offered: Translation
Language combination(s): French to English
Specialisms: Law
Location: Meldreth, South Cambridgeshire
Website: https://www.themislegaltrans.co.uk
Contact info: laura@themislegaltrans.co.uk

Could you tell us a bit about your professional background?

I studied French and Spanish at university but then decided to go to law school. That led to me working as a lawyer in a busy and well-respected Cambridge firm for 18 years, before and after qualification as a solicitor. Much of my work involved handling property transactions for university clients. Later on, I became a professional support lawyer, providing in-house advice to colleagues, creating precedent documents and editing client newsletters. In the end, though, I couldn’t resist the urge to work with languages again and so re-trained as a legal translator about 12 years ago.

What services do you provide and in what areas?

I translate legal documents from French into English. This can cover anything from judgments of the Court of Justice of the EU and decisions of international tribunals to employment contracts, confidentiality agreements, terms and conditions of sale and personal documents such as wills, divorce settlements and powers of attorney.

What makes you stand out?

My years of hands-on experience in legal practice give me a thorough understanding of why legal documents are drafted in the way they are, how transactions are structured and judgments arrived at and, ultimately, what makes lawyers tick!

What do you like most about your job?

I love being able to work with both law and languages. The combination of the two ticks all the intellectual boxes in my brain and I find it immensely satisfying. I also love the fact that no two days are the same and there’s always something new to learn. But more than that, I really appreciate the feeling of camaraderie among translators, both in the East Anglia Network and further afield, who never hesitate to provide help and support when needed. More generally, I love freelance work for the flexibility and work–life balance it offers.

What do you do when you’re not working?

If I’m not walking the dog or doing Pilates, I’ll be singing! For many years I’ve been involved in barbershop singing, a hobby that has taken me all over the UK and even to Honolulu and Las Vegas. I’m also in a pop choir which is a lot of fun. I find singing to be a real tonic and perfect antidote to sitting at a desk for hours.

In addition, I volunteer once a week through a charity called REUK, helping a young refugee with his English and Maths homework, which is very rewarding.

What’s your favourite part of East Anglia?

Despite having grown up in Oxford, I really love Cambridge. There is something special about wandering through the ancient streets and watching the punts on the river, while areas like Mill Road have a great vibe. I also have a soft spot for Ely, where my daughter lives. There’s a fantastic market and of course the cathedral is spectacular. I also enjoy holidays on the North Norfolk coast and especially love seeing the seals at Blakeney Point. But East Anglia is so varied that I know I still have a lot more to explore!

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Meet our member Frances Clarke!

Name: Frances Clarke
Services offered: Translation
Language combination(s): German to English
Specialisms: Finance (financial reporting, corporate communications, investor relations and sustainability reporting) and sport (primarily football)
Location: Saffron Walden, Essex
Website: www.fclarketranslations.com
Contact info: frances@fclarketranslations.com

Could you tell us a bit about your professional background?

After studying German and Italian at university, I worked as an investment bank and hedge fund analyst for several years. Although I loved the work, I soon realised I wanted to make better use of my languages, so I left the City behind to retrain as a German to English financial translator. More than a decade later, I’m still so glad I took the plunge.

What services do you provide and in what areas?

The majority of my work is financial translation from German into English, which usually means translating company accounts and corporate communications for specific companies as well as market reports and economic forecasts for research firms and government departments.

To add some variety to my professional life, I also specialise in sports translation, particularly football. In November and December last year, I worked on my third World Cup, translating match reports and player interviews for fans around the world to enjoy. I love the beautiful game, so being personally involved in a major tournament gives me a real buzz!

What makes you stand out?

My real-world experience in investment banking and asset management informs each and every one of my translation decisions. Whenever I’m trying to find the right words for an annual report or press release, I think back to my time as an analyst and remember how important it was to be able to find accurate, clear and concise information quickly and easily – not least because I was usually working around the clock to meet tight deadlines.

What do you like most about your job?

I love the puzzle of translating: the quest to find precisely the right way of reproducing the meaning, intent and even the style and tone of the original text. It involves so much more than just leafing through dictionaries to pick out the correct words; it also means immersing yourself in the subject at hand, putting yourself in the author’s shoes to work out precisely why they chose the particular words they did, and thinking about who will read the text at the end of it all.

What do you do when you’re not working?

As translation involves sitting at a desk for hours at a time, I spend much of my free time chasing a ball around on either a football pitch, a tennis court or a netball court. Like many of us in wordy professions, I’m also an avid reader – and right now I seem to have a particular obsession with anything involving anatomy, forensics or medical memoirs! Last but not least, I find playing the piano an amazing way to unwind, and I’m also a keen singer.

What’s your favourite part of East Anglia?

Although I was born and raised in South Essex, I’ve only discovered East Anglia slowly over time. It revealed some of its secrets when my husband and I moved to beautiful Saffron Walden in the far north-west corner of Essex seven years ago, and more still when my parents relocated to Norfolk last year.

There’s so much to love about the region – cities, coastline and countryside – but I think we’re so lucky to have Norwich and Cambridge close by. They’re both utterly charming, steeped in history and each have their own distinctive character. Southwold also deserves a special mention.

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Meet our member David Stockings!

Name: David Stockings
Services offered: Translation, editing, copywriting
Language combination(s): Translation: German and French to English, Editing and copywriting: English
Specialisms: Finance (particularly CSR), sustainability, environmental science
Location: Chelmsford, Essex
Website: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dstockings/
Contact info: dstockings.translation@gmail.com

Could you tell us a bit about your professional background?

Before becoming a translator, I was working in the charity sector and training as an accountant, and I completed the ACCA’s Advanced Diploma in Accounting and Business. When I first started as a translator after completing my MA in Specialised Translation, I mainly worked on financial reporting and other mandatory disclosure documentation. I always found the way companies of all sizes think about and present their non-financial impact and targets fascinating, so over time I have slowly focused in on the areas of corporate social responsibility, socially responsible investing, sustainability and environmental science.

What services do you provide and in what areas?

I provide translation of written documents from French and German to English, primarily in the fields mentioned above. I also offer editing of English texts, particularly (but not exclusively) for academics and researchers writing in English as a second language. I also recently started offering copywriting services in English for projects or initiatives relating to environmental impact, corporate social responsibility, socially responsible investing, the circular economy and biomimicry.

When not translating, I teach French and German to English translation on Master’s courses at three London-based universities. I also make a podcast for new and prospective translators called Source2Target.

What makes you stand out?

Beyond all the normal attributes you need to make it as a freelancer, I think what makes me stand out is my curiosity and commitment to really understanding whatever I am working on. I love getting below the surface into the detail of the processes and mechanisms involved, be they scientific, regulatory, societal, etc. I love coming across an idea or an approach to a problem that I have never heard of or would never think of, particularly if it challenges something that is generally taken for granted. That genuine interest really drives me to really ‘get it right’ for my clients.

What do you like most about your job?

Carrying on from the previous question, I love that I get to work on material that my clients are so passionate and enthusiastic about. It gives me great satisfaction to know that I am helping in some way to advance ideas and practices that will make the world a better place, and particularly a more sustainable place. And I love the variety, too! There is practically no part of our lives that is not affected by questions of sustainability, so I get to work on texts looking at issues that span every part of our global supply chains and economy.

What do you do when you’re not working?

The curiosity I mentioned extends into every area of my life, and I have a lot of hobbies that would probably be classed as ‘crafts’. For me though, they are united by the core principle of understanding how everyday things actually work. For example, I spin wool, knit and weave, and I have previously learned about bookbinding and stained glass window-making. The hobby that takes up most of time, though, is my allotment, where I grow a fair share of my family’s food. I spend a lot of time thinking about how food is produced and how it could be done more sustainably.

What’s your favourite part of East Anglia?

My allotment, of course! But really, I love most of the Essex countryside, which is hugely underrated in my opinion. One of my favourite places to visit is Hyde Hall, not least because of their fascinating international vegetable garden. I was born and raised in Essex, so I have many happy memories of the county’s coast as well, like Frinton beach. The town of Maldon is also special to me, as it’s where I (theoretically, at least) learned to sail, though you wouldn’t necessarily want to get into any boat I was helming these days!

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Meet our member Sarah Bowtell!

Name: Sarah Bowtell
Services offered: Translation
Language combination(s): French/Arabic to English
Specialisms: Travel and tourism, education
Location: Witham, Essex
Website: www.ztranslations.co.uk
Contact info: sarah@ztranslations.co.uk

Could you tell us a bit about your professional background?

I graduated with a degree in French and Arabic in 2014, which included a fantastic year abroad in Jordan. I then spent a year as an English language assistant in the wonderful Champagne-Ardennes region of France. Job opportunities led me to the luxury travel industry followed by the education sector where I did a lot of work with international students. I decided languages had been on the fringes of my career for too long and I wanted to return to using them in my main work, so in 2021 I completed my MA Translation Studies. Since then, I’ve really enjoyed using the skills I’ve developed over the last eight years in my translation work.

What services do you provide and in what areas?

I offer translation services from French and Arabic into English with a focus on content in the fields of travel and tourism as well as education. I’m particularly interested in marketing texts like website content, blogs and social media posts. I’m also currently building my knowledge in the field of finance. As a self-professed maths geek, it’s always been something I’m interested in and I’m hoping to be able to take on some finance translation work soon.

What makes you stand out?

I think I’m just really friendly! I always try to connect with the people I work with, whether that’s clients, project managers or other colleagues and I love to hear people’s life stories. As well as being personable though, I’m reliable, realistic and client focused. I see translations as a joint venture, where the client is trusting me with their content and it’s my responsibility (and joy!) to bring that content to the English-speaking audience in a culturally sensitive way.

What do you like most about your job?

I’m still fairly new to calling myself a translator but so far I love the supportiveness of other translators (especially the ITI East Anglia network!). I also really enjoy getting to learn new things all the time, whether that’s through terminology research or meeting people from all walks of life.

What do you do when you’re not working?

With a baby and a dog, there is always plenty to do outside work. I love going for a long walk as a family followed by coffee or lunch. I’m also a member of Essex Bootcamp, an exercise class where we train in all weathers so it’s really fun to try and get out and train as much as possible even on dark winter nights. When I can, I also try to fit in a spot of ballroom dancing as it’s a great way to relax and learn a new skill. 

What’s your favourite part of East Anglia?

For me, it has to be Maldon. I must have walked around Promenade Park hundreds of times (and run it a few times now too since starting the park run) but the view across the Blackwater Estuary looking up to St Mary’s Church and across to the Thames barges never ceases to delight me. The high street also has a great collection of cafés, tea rooms and independent shops like Maldon Books.