We publicise a member profile on Mondays here on our website, Facebook page, X @NWTN_UK and LinkedIn. If you want to join us in this opportunity to share a little about yourself with your fellow NWTN members, download the questionnaire from the Member Resources area and send it to our Comms Officer.
Where do you live/work?
I live in Manchester and work in the city centre – I have made use of various co-working opportunities in the city for a good ten years and currently work from a Grade-2 listed loft in an old mill in Ancoats.
Are you mainly a translator or interpreter or both? What languages do you work with?
I translate exclusively from German to English.
What are your specialist fields?
I spent the 2000s putting myself through law school as a part-time mature student. After qualifying as a solicitor, I combined that expertise with my language skills and set up shop as a specialist legal translator. Adjacent to that I also naturally tackle commercially-related subject areas along with more generalist fields – for instance I somewhat incongruously translate a lot of stuff about German toilets!
What’s the strangest/most interesting project you’ve ever worked on?
I once had a job translating transcripts of German comedians’ stand-up routines. The ultimate client was Netflix, who wanted an idea of said comics’ material with a view to potentially commissioning content for the network. I was told the translations didn’t have to be funny (which was fortunate as much of the original material wasn’t!) and I ended up somewhat bemusedly delivering page upon page of varyingly ropey comedy in English, none of which I ever saw broadcast – though I’m assured this wasn’t my fault!
Tell us about a particularly proud moment in your translation career so far:
Just after I graduated a member of the public approached my university’s German department with a tape of an interview with a distant relative of his who was an Austrian composer. My task was to transcribe it, translate it, and faithfully recreate the interview in English complete with the incidental music and another student playing the interviewer. It took absolutely ages and I was paid peanuts, but the look on his face when he got to listen to his relative’s interview in English was heartwarming.
Tell us two reasons why you like being a translator:
Languages are in my bones and I’m very thankful that I can make a living from something I enjoy. Also, having spent a stint working in the rigid confines of a law firm, I enjoy many aspects of the freelancer lifestyle – albeit a regular wage would not go amiss some months!
What is the most interesting place where you have lived/visited?
I lived in Berlin for a number of years, which I enjoyed hugely. My daily cycle ride home from the office by Checkpoint Charlie to my apartment in the former East Berlin was a veritable voyage through German history. What a place!
What are your plans for professional development or a new field you’d like to work in?
With the various challenges posed to our industry by technological developments, my objective is to consolidate work in my specialist sector while naturally also keeping an eye out for new opportunities.
Tell us something not many people know about you:
I once fulfilled my life’s ambition of appearing on the BBC World Service when I was asked to take part in a radio programme about Manchester’s failed Mobike cycle-sharing scheme!
