Rose Oakes
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Where do you live/work?
I live just outside Westhoughton, near Bolton, and work in the spare room.
Are you mainly a translator or interpreter or both? What languages?
I’m qualified as an interpreter and translator; French and Spanish into English, but at the moment I’m focusing on translating French into English.
What are your specialist fields?
I mostly translate documents on corporate social responsibility, along with general business correspondence. I also have a regular client in the brewing industry to add some variety!
What’s the strangest/most interesting project you’ve ever worked on?
A few years ago, I was asked to translate a speech for an association of apothecaries; it contained all sorts of superstitions, recipes, weird and wonderful spells and formulations and was absolutely fascinating. I had to do a lot of background reading and research for that project, but it was so interesting to work on something so far removed from my usual day-to-day work.
Tell us about a particularly proud moment in your translation/interpreting career:
I once translated some articles for a newsletter published by a well-known Swiss watchmaker. I don’t usually get to see what happens to my translations after submission, so it was a rare treat to be able to go into their store and pick up a colourful, finished magazine containing my translations.
Tell us two reasons why you like being a translator/interpreter:
I really enjoy the challenge of breaking down what a text is trying to say and helping clients find the tone they are trying to convey in their documents. And I like the occasional unpredictability of translation projects too – when a text suddenly throws up some research challenges and I end up in a research rabbit hole learning random new facts.
What is the most interesting place where you have lived/visited?
I would have to say Argentina, where I lived for two years after finishing my degree. I was unfamiliar with the concept of planes making more than one stop and ended up, covered in mosquito bites, in the wrong city. Having gained a decent degree in Spanish, I was initially disappointed to see the raised eyebrows and even downright hilarity my European Spanish provoked on the other side of the world… but it proved to be a wonderful experience.
What are your plans for professional development or a new field you’d like to work in?
Like many translators, I have always dreamed of translating a book… maybe one day…
