The Linguist

discussed our communication (or lack thereof) with clients (see cutt.ly/XtlTalks). A warning for anyone planning to curate an account: once you've been notified that you have been chosen as a curator, use the time to prepare yourself. I created questions ahead of time and used a social media management platform to schedule them to sync with the various time zones of participants. I even held a TwitterChat with a colleague I admire a lot and who I knew would love the idea – Rafa Lombardino, an instructor at the University of California San Diego Extension. Instant messaging For more immediate content consumption, the free instant-messaging systems WhatsApp and Telegram are good, although the latter is said to be more secure. I signed up to Telegram in order to join two specific groups, which can register over 2,000 posts a day each: Tradutores Agregados and Translators101. The platform allows me to mark exchanges of interest and archive them for later reading or research. Nevertheless, WhatsApp is the clear favourite. I keep it open on my desktop all day, but with sound notifications turned off. It allows users to create groups and business accounts, and I belong to a few professional groups – Hotsauce Interpreters being the most active. Created by Mike Lemay, a Canadian conference interpreter, the group brings together colleagues from all over the world. We discuss working conditions and practices, technology and terminology, and share events, publications and jobs. After the internet, social media is the development that has had the biggest impact on my professional life, enabling me to collaborate with and learn from wonderful colleagues. If you are not yet making the best use of these platforms, I invite you to be bold. Take a chance. You may be pleasantly surprised. OPINION & COMMENT @Linguist_CIOL FEBRUARY/MARCH The Linguist 27 These allow for the quick exchange of ideas, and many keep reference files in their archives. Searching through posts is easy and helps keep the conversation fresh and flowing. I suggest that those who have a Facebook account use the search feature and explore boldly. Aside from Facebook, the platforms I use most are LinkedIn, Instagram, WhatsApp and Twitter. I couldn't find many colleagues who were using Snapchat, while TikTok seemed to have too much information that was of no interest to me. Learning how to best use each platform is simple thanks to their FAQs and information sections, which are very thorough. On LinkedIn, I follow people I believe I can learn from, plus a few companies and potential clients. Engagement is key and that can take different forms: responding to a post or a comment, starting a post or writing an article, which I do sporadically. A premium account provides access to LinkedIn Learning and individuals outside your immediate network, which is useful. Not too long ago they started offering streaming. I was recently a speaker at a live event for the market research company Nimdzi, discussing the 'Past, Present and Future of Interpreting' with Ewandro Magalhães of the multilingual meeting platform KUDO and Sarah Hickey of Nimdzi. The experience was frustrating because the platform constantly failed, and the streaming was interrupted twice. However, LinkedIn was still adjusting the platform, so it should improve in time, and participating in events such as these can help to create your expert persona, which attracts the attention of prospective clients and other experts. Instagram has also proven to be a strong marketing platform, helping to keep users in the minds of potential clients and colleagues. I follow a few accounts, including the Brazilian Association of Translators and Interpreters (Abrates), which I curate. Tradutor Iniciante, run by Laila Compan, offers valuable content for beginners, while Descomplicando o Inglês Jurídico focuses on comparative law and terminology. The account owner, Bruna Marchi, is a lawyer herself and teaches legal English to translators, judges and lawyers, as well as at universities in Brazil and the US. I have been a guest speaker at Tradutor Iniciante sessions and have presented for Descomplicando o Inglês Jurídico. Go-to platform Twitter is my go-to platform to gauge what is going on in the profession and learn about professional events of interest. It is very versatile and can be used for marketing, learning, finding jobs, hearing about professional events, courses and much more. You can follow colleagues from around the globe, and create lists of who you want to follow, which can be public or private and come in handy when browsing time is short. In addition to individuals, I follow one account: TranslationTalk. Created by Jost Zetzsche, a translator and author of the monthly publication Translator's Tool Box Journal, and Alexander Dreschel, an interpreter and part of the quartet that brought us the Troublesome Terps podcast, TranslationTalk is curated by a different individual each week. Followers of the account fill in an online form suggesting names of translators or interpreters they would like to see as curators, the areas the candidates work in and a few more details. I was a curator in June 2020. As curators, we lend our voices to the account's content. We discuss the subjects that most interest us in our profession, inject current events into our exchanges and use the language(s) we work with. Colleagues have discussed sign language, literature, games localisation, ethics, professional relationships and interpreting. The Black Lives Matter movement was the hot topic in the US during my curation week, and we were able to ensure Black language professionals had a voice to discuss representation, racism and related issues. Among the many subjects covered, we Giovanna Lester is President of Abrates. Her career has included advocacy, mentoring, speaking, and co-founding the Association of Translators and Interpreters of Florida. TL IMAGES © SHUTTERSTOCK

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