MET workshops 2017

MET medley of talks 

 

False friends and absent friends

This talk will go beyond the most obvious false friends encountered in translation between Spanish and English to consider the more subtle ones. It will also deal with a few cases in which zero translation is recommendable. Some examples from bilingual corpora will be presented.

Alan Lounds is head of the Language Advisory Unit at the Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya, where he manages the translation of institutional and academic documents and the creation of language support resources. He has 25 years’ experience as a freelance editor and translator and also teaches academic writing. He is a founder member and the current CPD chair of Mediterranean Editors and Translators.

 

 

 

Client mapping and profiling: an experiment

Where do clients come from and where do they go? What makes a good client or a bad client? Can bad clients lead to good clients? And can good clients lead to even better ones? As a freelance medical translator and editor without a website or any active targeting of clients, I have asked myself these and similar questions over the years. In the coming months I am going to perform a mainly retrospective study of my main clients since 2008 and map out where they came from. Do they all lead back to just a few “index cases”? I will also create a system for rating clients based on my needs and preferences. I hope that my findings will provide some insights into the importance of considering the long-term implications of all dealings with clients, however “desirable or undesirable” they may initially seem. Participants may also be encouraged to create their own rating system and map their client network as a means of better understanding their business and moving closer to their goals.

 

 

 

 

Anne Murray is a freelance medical translator, editor and authors' editor based in Barberà de la Conca, Tarragona. She has a degree in translation from Dublin City University and a foundation certificate in medical writing from the European Medical Writers’ Association. She has been a member of MET’s council since its founding and currently holds the position of chair. 

 

 

 

What makes you special? The how and why of specialization

Language professionals are often told that they should specialize. But why is this necessary? And, if it is, how should they go about it? This talk will provide some of the answers, and I will use my own path towards specialization to provide ideas and inspiration. Areas covered will include why specialization is worthwhile; how to choose a specialist area; whether it is possible to specialize in more than one thing; and how to put specialization into practice. I intend to leave time for questions and discussion so we can all learn from each other on this important topic.

Simon Berrill is a British freelance translator working from Spanish, Catalan and French into English. He specializes in history, culture, wine and other aspects related to tourism. He came to translation late, having been a journalist in England for many years, and he keeps his hand in as a writer by producing a regular blog called Only Human Translators. Simon lives near Barcelona with his wife and ten-year-old son.