Rachel Jones
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 and work in Liverpool. I grew up on the Wirral, but after six cities and 12 houses in ten years, it was time to return and put down some roots!
Are you a translator or interpreter or both? Which languages do you work with?
I’m an audiovisual translator, working from French and German into English, but I also do text translations.
What are your specialist fields?
During my first freelancing stint in 2017, I mainly worked for one company as a remote linguist and they would give me everything under the sun—medical reports, boiler manuals, software strings. It was quite stressful, and I soon learned to only accept projects I love, nothing technical, legal or medical, in areas I am passionate about: entertainment, food and drink, the arts, sustainable beauty and fashion.
What’s the strangest/most interesting project you’ve ever worked on?
In audiovisual translation, any project is pretty cool, but once I transcribed an audio file where someone had left it recording while they were on the toilet, then sent it to me without realising. That was probably the strangest…
Tell us about a particularly proud moment in your translation/interpreting career so far:
I’m at the start of my career really as I only went freelance “for real” in 2020, but I think getting to the stage where I have been working with certain clients for several years now makes me feel proud that they keep coming back! I was also proud to be asked back to the University of Leeds in 2021 to teach German to English subtitling on the same Master’s in Audiovisual Translation course that I completed in 2017. It’s great to train future subtitlers and instil a passion for AV!
Tell us two reasons why you like being a translator/interpreter:
I love the variety—one day I’m subtitling a detective series, the next I’m translating voice-over for meditation sessions. I also like the sense of community, which I’m only just discovering this year after making an effort to join more networks like the NWTN and organisations like the ITI and CIOL.
Where is the most interesting place where you have lived/visited?
I lived in Berlin during my year abroad, which is such a unique and eclectic city. I’d love to live there again in the future if I can persuade my partner to learn German.
What are your plans for professional development or a new field you’d like to work in?
I’d like to take part in more networking events and conferences next year and get to know everyone in the NWTN through coworking. I translate wine menus regularly, so I’d also like to do the WSET Level 2 Wine course one day. Eventually, it would be great to narrow down my specialisms even more.
Tell us something not many people know about you:
I’m a keen roller skater! I got some beautiful skates for my birthday last year. I look a bit like a giant child with all my safety gear on, so I’m always looking for local people to skate with for moral support (Hey, NWTNers?)
