The Linguist

Interpreters shine The UK media has increasingly been reporting on what life is like for translators and interpreters, including several pieces on sign language interpreting for music audiences. The BBC interviewed Ali Gordon, who has been signing at musical gigs for 20 years, and followed her as she prepared for and interpreted at a Billy Joel concert in Cardiff – his only European tour date. Targeting a younger audience, BBC Bitesize spoke to Marie Pascall, who runs a BSL (British Sign Language) interpreting service for major events, going into some detail about what the work involves. Aspects readers may not have thought about include how interpreters "use their whole body to represent the music" and what to do when there are no lyrics to translate. One domain where there is a lot of work in translation and interpreting is international networks of religious groups. The World Council of Churches (WCC) interviewed Roswitha Ginglas-Poulet, who grew up in Germany and has spent 30 years as an interpreter for the WCC and other organisations, NGOs and businesses. She has worked in over 130 countries so far. Discover Magazine took the longer view, with an interesting piece on how ancient civilisations mediated across different cultures at trade routes or on diplomatic missions. They pointed out that translators of the time would only very rarely have executed formal written translations, and that most of the work would have been oral and carried out in real time. 6 The Linguist Vol/63 No/4 ciol.org.uk/thelinguist NEWS & EDITORIAL The Language Show 2024 saw the Chartered Institute of Linguists run a dedicated programme of specialist talks for language professionals. The CIOL stream, held online on Friday 8 November, brought together six expert sessions from CIOL Council members and the senior team, who shared their insights with fellow linguists. All the talks were recorded and are available on 'catch up' for Language Show attendees and post- event subscribers. The day kicked off with Mariam Aboelezz talking about the care needed and the rewards of working in cultural heritage in languages, while John Worne tackled the hot topic of how AI is changing the context and affecting the work of linguists. Participants also heard from Ana Ilievska Zavrsnik about the challenges of translating Balkan food, and Liudmila Tomanek spoke about the importance of being flexible, expert and agile in today's language industry. Rasha Alajouz covered the vital topic of looking after your mental health as a linguist, while Dom Hebblethwaite rounded things off with advice and resources to support building a career in translation and interpreting. CIOL CEO John Worne said: "For just £12 you can still get an 'on-demand' ticket with recorded access to all six CIOL talks (and all the others from the three days of talks and presentations) to watch for six months after the event. The success of this first Language Show 'CIOL day' suggests it could become a regular fixture at future events. Watch this space!" https://cutt.ly/veKYDhz0 CIOL at the Language Show In September, court interpreters and translators at Chelmsford Crown Court withdrew their services in protest at the introduction of a new app by service provider thebigword. The interpreters said it had led to problems with bookings and payments, compounding existing issues with fees and conditions. Similar action was reported from courts around the country. Industrial action CIOL is still receiving entries for its light- hearted competition to propose a new collective noun for linguists. This contest aims to find the most original, witty or apt term to describe a group of linguists or language professionals. Entries from CIOL members and readers of The Linguist will be judged by a panel including CIOL Vice-President Jean Coussins, with the winner receiving a prize. Piqued by the delightful collective noun 'a parliament of owls', Baroness Coussins proposed the idea as a way to celebrate the wonderful skills and creativity of the linguistic community. This is all about fun, but with a serious message too. Creativity, wordplay and wit are skills that linguists have in abundance. Send your entries to comms@ciol.org.uk by 31 December. A competition for word lovers The latest from the languages world © SHUTTERSTOCK

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