METM23 presentation

Branching out into interpreting

Kit Cree, Pamplona, Spain

Many language professionals are curious about or intrigued by interpreting, or just waiting for the right moment to branch out. This might be an appealing way of adding variety to a desk-bound, often lonely job, luring you out of the house, providing a welcome career diversion or keeping your skills sharp.

Although I had received some initial training on interpreting at university, my personal situation led me into full-time freelance translation in 2003. Children grow up, circumstances change, and I branched into interpreting in 2018. Over the last five years, many people have asked me how and why I went about this. To accompany my personal story, I ran a survey of MET members to find out if others were interested in interpreting and what they would like to know. A second survey among MET’s interpreters aimed to answer these questions and shed light on the mysteries of this profession. My talk will intertwine these survey results with my own story, explaining how I topped up my training, mastered the equipment, made essential contacts, and found work. It is intended for MET members who are interested in interpreting as a future string to their bow or who wish to branch out and explore new career paths without straying too far from their present skill set.
[Read a member’s review of the presentation.]

About the presenter

Kit Cree has been a freelance translator of French and Spanish into English for over 20 years. In 2018, she grasped the opportunity to become an interpreter, a discipline she loved at university, although it was off-limits for many years due to personal circumstances. She currently translates from home and interprets online and in person at conferences, business meetings and film festivals.