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/59 No/2 2020 ciol.org.uk INSTITUTE MATTERS Realising dreams CLIENT SERVICES OFFICER ANASTASIA KORNILOVA EXPLAINS WHY SHE IS PROUD TO SUPPORT THE WORK OF CIOL I joined CIOL Qualifications in September 2019, having worked as a multilingual administrator for five years and, more recently, as a freelance translator. I had just been admitted as a Career Affiliate when I found out that a position was opening in the Client Services Team. I have a BA in Linguistics, Translation and Interpreting, and thought this would be an exciting opportunity to experience the world of linguistics from the 'other side of the fence'. The work is challenging, fast-paced and involves a broad range of day-to-day administrative tasks, as well as real-time support to candidates and centres. Our team deals with all IoL Educational Trust (IoLET) assessments. High levels of administrative support and accuracy are vital when it comes to maintaining our reputation for qualification delivery. My role is focused on both our public examinations, including the Diploma in Public Service Interpreting (DPSI), Diploma in Police Interpreting (DPI) and Diploma in Translation (DipTrans), and our contract examinations, such as those for the Ministry of Defence (MoD) and the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO). No two days are the same. Tasks include processing all application forms for public and contract exams, preparing and issuing admission notifications, results and certificates for candidates, and responding to general qualification enquiries over the phone and by email. With the numerous deadlines that our team is required to meet, one has to be flexible, creative, able to respond positively to new challenges and, most of all, ready to go the extra mile to make sure our clients get the best possible customer and candidate experience. None of this would be possible without the continuous support of the other in-house teams: Live Assessment, Development and Production, and Membership and Marketing. We are truly a family, working together to ensure that we operate, at all times, in a timely, well-orchestrated and efficient manner. It is fascinating to go through a whole examinations cycle alongside our candidates, starting from the first application for any given exam right through to issuing the individual results. What I find most rewarding is my role in enabling someone to realise their dream – supporting our candidates throughout their journey to gaining a qualification and becoming a better linguist. It is of paramount importance to CIOL both to support linguists and language professionals, and to promote proficiency in modern languages worldwide. I am proud to be a part of that process. Magdalena Bartłomiejczyk Dr Magdalena Bartłomiejczyk holds a PhD and a post-doctoral degree in linguistics. She is a professor at the University of Silesia in Katowice, Poland. Her interests include interpreting studies, pragmatics and sociolinguistics, and she has authored more than 30 scholarly articles and a book. See p.7 Sue Hyde Sue Hyde is a freelance professional London Blue Badge Tourist Guide. She studied Arabic and Spanish as an undergraduate, and learnt Turkish while living in Turkey. She is currently learning Egyptian Hieroglyphs. See p.14 Theo Merz Theo Merz is a journalist based in Russia who has reported for Agence France- Presse, The Economist, France 24, The Telegraph, VICE and others. He is a languages graduate and a former member of The Linguist Editorial Board. See p.18 Corey Miller Originally from Long Island, New York, Corey Miller studied linguistics at Harvard College and the University of Pennsylvania. Currently working at the MITRE corporation, he is co-author of A Frequency Dictionary of Persian (Routledge). See p.22 Jessica Oppedisano Founder of Style Translations Jessica Oppedisano MCIL is a translator and interpreter specialising in employment law, higher education and fashion. She is currently working towards a PhD in Audiovisual Translation, and is also a member of the Editorial Board of The Linguist. See p.10 Evelyne Tzoukermann Evelyne Tzoukermann is a principal artificial intelligence engineer at the MITRE corporation. Her research expertise spans many areas, including speech processing technologies, multimedia extraction and retrieval, interdisciplinary research involving language and video, and data mining. See p.22 CONTRIBUTORS