The Linguist is a languages magazine for professional linguists, translators, interpreters, language professionals, language teachers, trainers, students and academics with articles on translation, interpreting, business, government, technology
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34 The Linguist Vol/57 No/6 2018 ciol.org.uk/tl INSTITUTE MATTERS Jinhyun Cho Dr Jinhyun Cho is a lecturer in the Department of Linguistics at Macquarie University in Australia. Her research interests are primarily concerned with the sociolinguistics of translation and interpreting, with a focus on gender, language ideologies, language policies and neoliberalism. See p.20 Jonathan Downie Dr Jonathan Downie is a consultant interpreter, conference and business interpreter (French<>English), researcher and speaker. His book, Being a Successful Interpreter: Adding value and delivering excellence, won the ProZ.com Community Choice Award for Best Book (Interpreting) in 2016. He also co-hosts the Troublesome Terps podcast. See p.10 Helle Gulowsen Helle Gulowsen MCIL CL is a translator specialising in scientific and technical documentation, working mainly for the Norwegian offshore industry. She also teaches Specialised Translation at University College London, is a member of The Linguist Editorial Board, and serves as Governor at the Anglo European School, Ingatestone. See p.12 Jessica Moore Freelance writer and editor Jessica Moore is Co-Founder of WM Editorial (wmeditorial.com) and has worked for several national publications, including The Telegraph, The Independent and The Guardian. See p.14 Thriveni Mysore Thriveni C Mysore is a science teacher from Karnataka, India. She is locally acknowledged for her critical writings on education, philosophy and ethics. See p.16 CONTRIBUTORS Attention to detail IoLET Assessment Officer Iain Marjoribanks outlines the challenges of ensuring qualifications are accurate, reliable and delivered on time I joined CIOL in March 2018, on the day before my birthday. I'd been at my previous company for more than 12 years, so it felt strange being the new boy again and having to learn everything from scratch. I needn't have worried however: everyone made me feel welcome and seemed happy to answer my questions. Although I must confess, in the beginning, to feeling more tired than usual at the end of the working day. My job title is Assessment Officer in the Live Assessment Team. I have had experience of working in assessment before, so I had a good idea what to expect. But I knew that every company does things differently, and I had never worked on languages. In a nutshell, assessment is about making sure that qualifications are reliable, accurate and delivered on time. This is easy to say but always a challenge to do – especially when there are so many different languages, from Arabic to Azeri! Day to day, my role is mixed and varied, which I like – the time doesn't go slowly in this job! A lot of time is spent working with our assessors. Anyone who has ever worked in assessment knows that having good, competent assessors is half the battle – if not more. Therefore, a great deal of time and effort goes into selecting and training our assessors, and then making sure they are fully briefed and supported. You really have to be well organised and have a good eye for detail to work in this field. At any one time you could be working on more than one qualification and handling large amounts of information. I spend a lot of time proofreading marksheets and making sure they are fit for purpose, and then checking that marks have been captured accurately on the database. There is little room for error. Although the work can be quite pressured at times, I've been lucky to fall into a good team. Everyone is helpful and gets on well with each other. I've received clear and concise instructions from the senior members of my team for larger tasks, which I've really appreciated. In the end, the job is as much about the people you work with as it is about anything else – and I work with some really good, smart people!