German-English

I now work occasionally as a volunteer for gospeltranslations.org , who are trying to make gospel-centered books and articles freely accessible in as many languages as possible.

This means I can support a worthy cause, while simultaneously furthering my translation skills. Great!

In the autumn, the NWTN was running a competition to send in a story about an eventful translating or interpreting assignment. 

Today I was informed that I won second place! This means I will get my story published in the NWTN journal and I will receive a book voucher!

Here is my winning entry:

Last year was Cheshire's year of gardens and I was called by Cheshire Council whether I could interpret for a group of German delegates, whom  they were planning to show around some of Cheshire's gardens.
We met on a lovely, sunny morning in July outside the Queen's Hotel in Chester, where a coach was waiting for us. There was a representative from Cheshire council and about 10 or 12 people from a North-German Parks and Gardens Association. Our first stop was Arley Gardens, where we were welcomed by a proper English Lord in tweeds. He was a really friendly chap and very accommodating about the fact that an interpreter was present. He showed us around the stately home, the grounds and gardens, explaining the history and  the lay out and talking about his family's involvement in the upkeep of Arley House and Gardens, always speaking clearly and distinctly and being open to questions, of which there were a lot. It was a really enlightening and enjoyable visit.
Next stop was Tatton Park. First we had some lunch in what looked like some former stables, with exposed beams - impressive! Then the manager of Tatton Park led us into a conference room for the formal part of the visit. There was one short and one longer presentation and a Question and Answer session afterwards. This was also the most challenging bit as this was about exchanging ideas and discussing of how to better promote and sustain parks and gardens and how to best  co-operate across countries. All eyes and ears were expectantly trained at me, but it all went quite well. Afterwards it was time for some more relaxing stuff as the manager showed us around the vast park area with its multitude of trees, hedges, flowers and water features. There was an alpine garden, a Japanese garden and a herbal garden and various installations in celebration of the year of gardens. It was truly stunning. I struggled with the names of some of the more obscure plants, but between us we managed quite well. On the way back in the bus we filled in a questionnaire about the visit to Tatton Park, whereby I translated the questions from English, the group shouted out their answers in German and I wrote them down in English. It was good fun.  When we arrived back in Chester at around 6pm everybody thanked me profusely and I got home feeling truly overwhelmed.

Joined the ITI German Network. A lovely community and a fantastic pool of resources and information.

www.itigermannetwork.org.uk

This is now the second time I attended the annual ITI translation workshop and I enjoyed it just as much as last year. It is a fantastic opportunity to meet up with fellow translators and exchange ideas, tips, advice and experiences.

This year's venue was the University of Westminster in London, a formidable building dating back to the 1830s. There were 70 people in total, but we split up into smaller groups, working in our specific language combinations. We tackled a variety of texts during the course of the day and it was very interesting to see the different approaches in dealing with difficult passages and even more exhilarating to have your proposed translation approved by others.

I'll be back next year!

On a driving holiday to Italy from the 14th August until the 30th August