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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JUNE/JULY The Linguist 33 INSTITUTE MATTERS @Linguist_CIOL for each language during Café Lingos. These fun, informal events provide people with the opportunity to talk in their second, third or even fourth language, so far covering French, German, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese and Slovene. A fluent or native speaker host makes sure everyone has a turn to speak and helps with any elusive words. One participant was speaking German for the first time in eight years! We are planning a December show-and-tell version for people to talk about food, decorations, music and other aspects of Christmas or a winter festival in their culture. As well as another film night to discuss the French film Voyage au Groenland, we have had several speakers. Eva and her Local to Global business partner Janina Neumann gave a thought-provoking presentation on being culturally aware in an international work environment. I spoke about literary translator Patricia Crampton at our most popular event to date (see page 7). Her son Daniel attended the talk, and gave a fascinating personal insight into his mother's life and career. I had the idea of setting up a CIOL Gloucestershire Networking Group last spring. After joining CIOL in January 2020 and discovering its regional networks, I wanted to provide a forum for Gloucestershire linguists to socialise and exchange ideas, and to find people with whom I could network, chat in French, German and Spanish, talk about foreign language films and books, and learn more about other languages and cultures. I mentioned my idea to Robert Beswick, Head of Membership, at CIOL Conference, and then met Training and Networks Manager Soheila Phillips and Sukhdeep Loyal in Communications. They set up our Facebook page and Twitter account, and publicised the network in members' newsletters. Jane Martin, Chair of the Midlands Network, was incredibly helpful, as were all the committee members. I hosted the French room at their Café Lingo, and the two groups continue to support one another. Members of the Brazil Network have hosted a Portuguese room at our Café Lingos. A select group attended our first event in September – a stimulating virtual film night to discuss the French film Jules et Jim. Two of the participants gamely agreed to join me to form an informal committee: Susanne Russell, a teacher and translator originally from Germany, and Spanish translator Eva Tunez Salvador. We are looking for more Gloucestershire-based CIOL members to join our committee; it's a great way to find out what's going on in all sorts of linguistic fields, plus you can organise the events you want to attend, with the speakers you want to hear. Due to the pandemic, our monthly events have taken place online. On the positive side, this has enabled people to attend from all over the world. Smaller discussion groups take place in Zoom break-out rooms, for example Gloucestershire gets connected From Café Lingo to film nights and talks – how Josephine Murray and her colleagues established a thriving Networking Group in Gloucestershire in the middle of a pandemic Topics for future events include effective and inclusive communication in an international workplace; working as a multilingual voice-over artist; and a forum with various local speakers on foreign language books and literary translation. Once in-person events are allowed, we want to organise networking sessions, restaurant meals and a cookery event. In the meantime we'll continue to share information and talk about languages and cultures through Facebook, Twitter and our online events. I would thoroughly recommend setting up a regional network; it has opened many doors for me both professionally and personally – and it's great fun too! Contact gloucestershire@ciol.org.uk to join the network, or find us on Facebook (CIOL Gloucestershire Networking Group) and Twitter @Ciol_Gloucestershire. SPEAKING THEIR LANGUAGE Participants at one of the Gloucestershire Networking Group's Café Lingo events