MET workshop day in Milan, 3 April 2025
For our 2025 workshop day in Milan, we headed to the IULM University, an institutional member of MET. It turned out to be a popular location, attracting a healthy turnout of members, sister association members and IULM students.
The day kicked off with two parallel sessions: one on AI, the other on medical classifications.
Michael Farrell delved into GenAI for language professionals. He walked attendees through key AI terms, definitions and concepts: from large language models, and how these vast, unaligned models work, to how their parameters can be adjusted for them to perform better for translators and editors. He then moved on to prompt engineering, providing tips for effective prompt design and showing how retrieval-augmented generation could put translators back in the cockpit, not just back in the loop. His presentation was backed by his research on how translators and editors were using AI not to translate but for other tasks that improve quality. Attendees then worked in pairs on a synthetic-text recognition experiment and discussed what they thought were the telltale signs of a synthetic text versus a human one.
Meanwhile, across the hall, Katarzyna Szymańska addressed a common problem for medical linguists – that of navigating the ever-evolving nomenclature. She guided participants through a wide selection of the most authoritative guidelines to help define correct language use in subjects ranging from drugs and diseases to prokaryotes and pathology. Constant advances in medical knowledge can create stumbling blocks for researchers, and it soon became clear how hard translators and editors have to work to keep on top of the most recent classifications. Participants enjoyed a fast-paced session full of resources and fascinating tidbits from an expert who collaborates closely with scientists working actively in their fields.
After these intense three-hour sessions, attendees spilled out of the classrooms and headed to the uni’s canteen to refuel, swap ideas and insights, and catch up with colleagues.
The afternoon line-up focused on the way we talk and the language we use. Holly-Anne Whyte introduced participants to the topic of respectful language – an area much wider than that covered by the more familiar term “inclusive language”. She presented a coherent account of how respectful language breaks down entrenched, actual or assumed power imbalances in a much broader context. Using examples, she illustrated how to avoid stereotypes and microaggressions, respect people’s identity, dignity and agency, and address the target audience at an appropriate level without patronizing; all with the goal of building trust and increasing the effectiveness of communication. This was followed by a detailed survey of a number of published style guides and their recommendations. After providing tactics for approaching clients on this topic, Holly-Anne wrapped up the session with a role play to cement the theoretical aspects learned.
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In the parallel session, Elina Nocera looked at language through a corporate lens. After easing any non-initiated attendees into her session on brand voice, Elina ramped up the learning curve by presenting the 12 brand archetypes and the nitty-gritty of how a brand can establish its persona through vocabulary, cadence and tone. She demonstrated the extent to which brands engage with a persona or archetype, to the point of adapting the text even on rarely seen web content, such as a “404, page not found” message or hyperlink text: it doesn’t always have to be a functional “click here”. After Elina had covered some more definitions and scales – veritable lifelines for anyone who navigates these areas more by trial and error than with any definite direction – attendees got their creative juices flowing with some hands-on exercises. Ideas fused as small groups pitched in to come up with on-point and on-brand examples of micro copy, which was not always as easy as it might sound.
After a productive and energizing day of learning, attendees continued their conversations in classic Italian style around long tables at a waterside pizzeria.
We thank the four excellent facilitators, the IULM for welcoming MET at its outstanding facilities, and the workshop team, whose efforts ensured the day was a success. We’re also grateful to the contributors to this write-up: Beth Varley*, Heather Hamilton, Jacqueline Lamb, Kyle Wohlmut and Elizabeth Garrison. Special thanks go to CPD assistant Laura Bennett for her behind-the-scenes input and to Louise Normandière for coordinating the workshop programme.
Photo credits: Jacq Lamb,
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