Professional Development

As a full member of the Chartered Institute of Linguists and an Associate of the Institute of Translation and Interpreting, I am committed to furthering my business in terms of my language skills, translation technology knowledge, subject knowledge, translation skills, and professional standing. View my CPD certificate for 2012/13 (issued by the ITI) here.

The following is a sample of my recent continuing professional development:

2007

*Spanish GCSE – grade: A*

*2 weeks in Niort, France

*Specialist French Language course

*Linguistics course

 

2008

*Student representative for the languages department at termly meetings

*History of the French Language course

*German Business Language course

 

2009

*CAT tools workshop (Wordfast and SDL Trados)

*6 weeks in Tulln an der Donau, Austria

*5 months in Wolfsburg, Germany

 

2010

*4 weeks in Tulln an der Donau, Austria

*4 months in Geneva, Switzerland

*ProZ online conference

*Proofreading course

*Intensive French course

 

2011

*Joined the Institute of Translation and Interpreting

*Webinar on effective networking

*Terminology Management module

*Creative writing course

*Visit to Barcelona to revisit my Spanish skills

 

2012

*Joined the Chartered Institute of Linguists

*City & Guilds Professional Development Award in Project Management

*Meeting with a native French colleague to discuss business practice and speak French

*Invited to judge the Wyre Forest schools’ languages competition “A Place in Europe”

*Use Your Language, Use Your English course – translation and editing

*Joined Inspire Herefordshire, a local network for women in business

*Webinar on direct client acquisition

 

Ongoing

*Formal and informal mentoring for secondary school pupils, A level students, university students, aspiring translators and even established professionals.

*Industry blog

*Reading trade and specialist publications and blogs, as well as international press

*Membership of the Chartered Institute of Linguists, the Institute of Linguists, including specialist networks such as MAT (the Media, Arts and Tourism network)

*Regular presentations and workshops for school pupils and colleagues

*Contributor to the ITI Bulletin magazine

 

I recommend the following resources on CPD for translators:

CPD. What’s that then? – a great introduction by Kate Larkin a.k.a. Lingo Woman

There’s Something About Translation blog – stellar advice from Sarah Dillon, an experienced translator of French, German and Spanish to English

eCPD Webinars – an excellent source of webinars run by linguists, for linguists. The current categories are business skills, interpreters, specialisations, technology, translation skills and translation workshops - check them out!

MIT Libraries – a valuable collection of foreign-language newspaper websites