22 The Linguist Vol/61 No/4 2022
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FEATURES
Karl McLaughlin checks in with a successful Translation
MA cohort to find out where their studies have taken them
F
ollowing our feature on the early
career experiences of graduates from
the MA in Applied Translation Studies
at Leeds University,
1
we now travel further
back in time to catch up with students who
commenced their professional training
exactly 20 years ago. In 2002-3, the
University of Bradford's MA in Interpreting
and Translating (MAIT), which closed just a
few years later, produced a cohort of
graduates who are now spread across the
world in cities from New York to Bangkok.
Daniel Pashley, Marcos Randulfe and Jo
Tillotsen took different paths to arrive on the
course. Daniel had been working in London
in various publishing, marketing and
communications roles since completing a BA
in Modern Languages eight years earlier.
Marcos was determined to become a
conference interpreter but wanted further
training to hone the basic skills he had
acquired from his degree at Salamanca
University. Jo's desire to become a
professional linguist was triggered on a family
holiday aged 13: a chance encounter with a
Spanish-Arabic interpreter in Cairo led her to
study a BA in Spanish and Russian with
modules in Dutch, Catalan and interpreting.
The opportunity to undertake a practical
internship as part of their studies at Bradford
proved crucial for all three. Daniel's stint in
Brussels allowed him to meet interpreters at
the European Commission's interpreting
service (SCIC) and do some dummy booth
exercises, whetting his appetite for a career
in interpreting. On passing his final exams at
Bradford, and then SCIC's 'insertion'
programme for newly qualified interpreters,
he was offered freelance work with the EU
institutions. He "never really looked back
after that", going on to hold posts as a staff
interpreter at the European Parliament and
European Court of Justice before taking up
his current position at SCIC.
A placement at the United Nations Office in
Vienna (UNOV) afforded Marcos the chance to
learn the nuts and bolts of the UN interpreting
section and "live, first-hand, the adrenaline of
working in such a demanding environment".
Jo, too, was Vienna bound, spending several
weeks at the International Atomic Energy
Agency, a time she recalls with fondness: "In
addition to receiving an excellent introduction
to the UN system, as a result of that
placement I was lucky enough to start working
straight away as a freelance translator and
precis-writer". The experience and contacts
she gained enabled her to grow her client
base. She considers herself very fortunate to
have worked constantly since graduating.
Twenty years on…
