Blog posts

As the evenings quickly draw in after the clocks go back, I take comfort in a good book on the tram home.

What is the best way to find out what lay colleagues really think about translation?

A useful way to personalise a translation of a presentation and highlight human thinking at work.

A cameo appearance in a video for International Translators Day to launch the Languages at the European Central Bank LinkedIn page.

All too frequently the outcomes of human translation are overlooked – and only the cost/expense is seen and the returns not quantified in a balance sheet.

I am delighted to announce that I am now a Chartered Linguist (Translation) at the Chartered Institute of Linguists

Being part of a panel at the European Language Data Space Austria Country Workshop was an eye-opener – in terms of drawing me out of my language data space ivory tower.

Having organised conferences for over a decade, I am used to them, but with my ongoing tinnitus I have to manage my participation at conferences.

With school out for summer, I commute earlier, but longer due to the frequency of buses and trams. It’s time to read.

Being the only translator needn’t be just an a case of how to survive, but also how to thrive.

When choosing a new policy area as a specialism, EU legal acts will form a substantial part of reading your way into the subject matter.

Enrolments in Translation and Modern Languages degree courses in the UK halved between 2003 and 2019. However, that is only one challenge.

The current challenges in the translation profession also affect in-house translators – here’s how!

In my latest “7 thoughts post” I look at how the HITLHuman in the loop is an approach advocated by the translation industry, whereby machine translation is used and the role of human translators is secondary – e.g. doing some kind of post-editing. It has become particularly prevalent with the rise of LLMs. My issues with HITL is that it reduces the role of a human (with no mention of their More approach to MT trivialises translation as a profession.

Abstract submitted to the XXIII FIT Congress taking place in Geneva on 4-6 September 2025.

Ten things I have taken away from the ATA German Language Division Workshop in Vienna.

I’ve decided to grab another batch of books to help while away the winter evenings. Enjoy!

Genuine fresh hope, or a false dawn as the initial AI hype subsides? Is uncertainty the only form or certainty, or maybe expertise will stand human translators in good stead.

My 7 thoughts approach will be new in 2025: where I try to distill some of my comments on LinkedIn into mini blogposts.

As the translation industry continues to push its HITLHuman in the loop is an approach advocated by the translation industry, whereby machine translation is used and the role of human translators is secondary – e.g. doing some kind of post-editing. It has become particularly prevalent with the rise of LLMs. My issues with HITL is that it reduces the role of a human (with no mention of their More and MITLMachine in the loop is an approach to human/machine translation. Under Machine in the Loop, a human expert (i.e. a translator) makes use of computer-based tools to support them in the translation process. This approach contrasts “human in the loop” (HITL), which only has subordinate human involvement. HITL also does not state whether the human involved is necessary an expert. More agendas, I have tried to draw up a set of values for the Expert in the LeadEITL/XITL advocates the expert human in the lead rather than in the loop. More for professional human translators in the human-machine translation era.

Wie Bergblick und Seeluft Übersetzer:innen inspirieren

Books make you think, whereas much of social media serves little cognitively enriching purpose.

As autumn arrives – it is really important to take time for self-care routines as the days get shorter.

MITLMachine in the loop is an approach to human/machine translation. Under Machine in the Loop, a human expert (i.e. a translator) makes use of computer-based tools to support them in the translation process. This approach contrasts “human in the loop” (HITL), which only has subordinate human involvement. HITL also does not state whether the human involved is necessary an expert. More and HITLHuman in the loop is an approach advocated by the translation industry, whereby machine translation is used and the role of human translators is secondary – e.g. doing some kind of post-editing. It has become particularly prevalent with the rise of LLMs. My issues with HITL is that it reduces the role of a human (with no mention of their More approaches to human-machine interaction in translation suit the translation industry – XITLEITL/XITL advocates the expert human in the lead rather than in the loop. More is what the translation profession needs.

As I head out of the office to take in the lakes and mountains of Western Austria with my family, I’ve also got a reading list.

I’ve decided to stop posting and contributing on Twitter/X

Am I quoting a metaphysical poet or am I still a rock star? In-house translators still have a lot of potential to stand out from the crowd.

Further (consolidated) resources for conference participants from the ASTTIASTTI is the Swiss professional association for translators, terminologist and interpreters. I knew of the association before I attended its Financial Translation Summer Conference in Spiez in July 2024, but that event was my first experience of its events. More Conference in Spiez

An article I have written has been published in the July/August 2024 edition of the ITI Bulletin

Ten short takeaways by and for translation professionals from an excellent event in Switzerland.

How meetings and calls get too much when you are managing tinnitus and a cognitively demanding job.

Abstract for German > English Workshop at ASTTIASTTI is the Swiss professional association for translators, terminologist and interpreters. I knew of the association before I attended its Financial Translation Summer Conference in Spiez in July 2024, but that event was my first experience of its events. More Summer Conference in Spiez 3-5 July 2024 on the New Banking Package (GER > ENG)

100% efficiency is an illusion – despite any claims of the corporate world to the contrary. Don’t beat yourself up about it, but make sure you communicate clearly with your customer from the outset.

AGMs of professional associations are also networking events with fellow professionals.

The quality and motives behind LinkedIn Collaborative Articles has proven particularly divisive among translators.

Here is an example of how a LinkedIn Collaborative Article on a translation topic sides with the industry over professionals.

How to show notifications about LinkedIn Collaborative Articles the red card and reclaim your feed.

Three little RegExRegular expressions for translators are useful search tools for finding (and on occasion replacing) complex strings of characters. They can be used for ensuring consistent formatting, isolating cells of a certain format, and also for converting parts of TUs into non-translatable tags. More pairs used to strip out tag pairs in WordPress posts and pages prior to translation.

The changing role of a translator is a hotly debated subject. Are humans still in the lead, in the loop or on the lead?

I have become a Member of the Chartered Institute of Linguists (CIOL). I am very happy about this.

Joining professional associations can provide you with new outlooks – from conferences, networking, CPDWorking as a translator isn’t only about translating. Training and seminars making up continuing professional development are also important parts of the job. More possibilities.

LLMsA large language model (LLM) is a type of artificial intelligence (AI) algorithm that uses deep learning techniques and massively large data sets to understand, summarize, generate and predict new content. More and AI are not the only threat to professional translators at the moment. The translation industry itself is also sticking the knife in.

An in-house translator may be viewed as a “one-trick pony”. They just translate all the time, right? How non-translation-based activities can help translators to flourish.

Even an unintended use of non-inclusive language can demonstrate why it is good to communicate when collaborating with others.

A freelancer’s website (or lack of one) gives away a lot about them.

Why presence meetings still have a role and also why we need to talk about LangTecha portmanteau for language technology, meaning assistive use of technology in relation to language processing tasks. More.

Why I have likened translation and being an in-house translator to Tetris.

Every considered the link between a London taxi and time/activity logging and charging strategies for translators?

Adding the current date to a filename can be a useful way to ensure short translation requests can be traced by date of receipt

A little bit of Python code for generating URLs for bilingual versions of EU legal texts in Eur-Lex for subsequent alignment.

While non-breaking hyphens are useful in Word, they are rendered as tags in Trados – which can cause problems with missing tags in the target translation.

Did imposter syndrome issues stem from a poor result in a degree module? Handling imposter syndrome and perfectionism as a translator.

The European Commission has an MT tool that is available to public administration agencies and authoriities and EU institutions that can be integrated into Trados workflows

Does a translator really switch off? Or do they end up looking for translation errors in restaurant menus. Three lists are key to me in switching off.

Although I am not (yet) a member of the ITI, I follow their content on LinkedIn, and one recent post particularly hit home, to the extent that I felt the need to add some remarks to a post of my own on the issue of “aural health”.

Recently a post on Linkedin asked what piece of advice would I give myself at the start of my career. My response was “Always be curious”. Even after two decades as a translator, my curiosity is far from waning.

In 2014, while travelling around the world, I did a “brain dump”, taking the time to mentally declutter as I travelled around the globe. In 2021, I put an extended period of sick leave to use for the same purpose. What does the future have in store? Python, geocaching and a pain au chocolat…

Why I went for Mondays, Tuesdays and Fridays in the office and working from home in the middle of the week – practically the opposite of the TWaTHybrid working model, where an employer is physically in the office on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays, and works remotely on Mondays and Fridays. More model

Learning a simple function a day in Excel has been a useful step to be proactive in the 4th national lockdown, while still being very busy.

I have been learning German now for over thirty years. The journey is still ongoing.

Using an alarm clock in the evening has become a useful tool in the hybrid home office/presence working mode.

A talk on a career as a translator

Last week, I returned to my “normal” office for the first time since mid-March 2020.

Ergonomics are important, especially if you are suddenly catapulted into a home office environment.

Presentation on “The market for legal translation in Austria: the financial markets supervision perspective”