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.

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!

Meet our member Roger Rayner!

Name: Roger Rayner
Services offered:
Translation & MTPE
Language combination(s):
German/French to English
Specialisms:
Music, Art, Architecture, Travel and Tourism, Culinary, Automotive
Location:
Norwich, East Anglia
Website: www.languistory.com
Contact info:
roger@languistory.com

Could you tell us a bit about your professional background?

As a translator involved for many years in the arts, especially music, and as a traveller, I now communicate through words instead of music in order to bring these subjects to a wider international readership. My specialist knowledge and language skills guarantee translations that endorse the authority of the original author. I also offer experience in automotive translation especially diesel engines and tracked vehicles; I further offer well developed skills in MTPE.

What services do you provide and in what areas?

Translation of documents, academic papers, biographies, film scripts, new products, including snow groomers…

My specialisms include music, architecture, art/literary, tourism and travel, culinary, automotive translation.

MTPE

What makes you stand out?

My lifelong experience of language use hopes to guarantee accuracy and punctuality along with the willingness to perform an extra service if I can. I aim to help with culturally adapted material especially in architecture, art, classical music and travel. My training in two completely different performance traditions alongside my knowledge and experience as a traveller maybe enables me to bring a particular insight into European cultures.

What do you like most about your job?

There’s a lot of pleasure in searching for exactly the right term to match the source, at the same time keeping the tone and register in mind. Even texts that might at first produce just a slight groan turn out far more interesting than at first glance; and there is so much to be learnt from pieces even on familiar subjects. It is good to be able to work at the moments when my concentration is at its best (early morning, to my own surprise) and to be alone!

What do you do when you’re not working?

Walking is my favourite way of leaving everything behind, and I love going to the theatre and concerts, especially events such as plays, opera and ballet where I don’t know enough to be too critical. Radio comedy has always been a great way to unwind, and I am addicted to Just a Minute – now wonderfully chaired by Sue Perkins, herself a brilliant player.

What’s your favourite part of East Anglia?

Thetford Forest, where my parents took me as far back as I can remember. It made me love pine trees particularly, which are very much a feature of the Fichtelgebirge, the first place I visited in Germany.

Meet our member Catherine Hurst-Hewett!

Name: Catherine Hurst-Hewett
Service(s) offered:
Translation, proofreading and QM.
Language combination(s):
German/Italian to English
Specialism(s):
Clinical trial documents/agreements
Location:
Long Stratton, Norfolk, UK     
Contact info:
catherinehwt0912@gmail.com

Could you tell us a bit about your professional background?

After graduating in Modern Languages and Linguistics (with German and Italian) at the University of Salford in 2004, I moved to Vicenza, Italy where I taught English at a language school for a few years before moving to America in 2009. Vicenza is also where I first started my translation journey, I worked on various projects which at one time took me to the car show in Bologna which was a great experience for someone just starting out! I have been working as a freelance translator, proofreader and QM ever since on a practically full-time basis and this year joined the Institute of Translation and Interpreting as an affiliate member with the aim to further my career.

What services do you provide and in what areas?

I provide translation, proofreading and quality management services from German/Italian into English currently in the field of clinical trials but would love to expand this to other areas in the near future. I also work with machine translation technology on a daily basis and consider myself to be very confident with this new development.

What makes you stand out?

I consider myself to be a very client-oriented translator being well-versed in complying with client style guides and glossaries and I always put the client first. I pride myself on being very meticulous and always strive to deliver the best translation possible in terms of both content and presentation while staying true to the source text. My many years of experience have equipped me with the knowledge necessary to perform my role well and as a translator I appreciate the importance of keeping my knowledge and language abilities up to date.

What do you like most about your job?

Obviously, I love working with languages, but I also enjoy the flexibility this job offers, meaning that you can work while also having time to do the other things you love. It also opens you up to different worlds that you otherwise wouldn’t have access to if you didn’t speak those languages, like foreign language books, films, tv etc. It never stops being special to me.

What do you do when you’re not working?

A lot of my time is spent on ‘mum’ duties as I have two very active boys and two dogs. We are lucky to live in the country and quite close to the beautiful Norfolk beaches, so we spend a lot of time walking and exploring the countryside. Lockdown led us to discovering geocaching and, dare I say it, Pokémon Go which we dabble in from time to time! We are also a family of swimmers, both boys swim competitively and I am a qualified swimming official, so I get to officiate at their galas which I love!

What’s your favourite part of East Anglia?

This is tough but I love the beaches, there is something about walking along the beach at the far end of Great Yarmouth or Winterton and being followed by the seals watching you from the sea that is just so special. There is also a vast amount of history in the area and wherever you go you can get glimpses of the past. We are lucky to have a very beautiful and varying coastline, it’s definitely a must for anyone visiting the region!