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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30 The Linguist Vol/55 No/3 2016 www.ciol.org.uk INSTITUTE MATTERS DIVISIONS & SOCIETIES KEY DIVISIONS Business, Professions & Government: Interpreting: Translating: SOCIETIES Cambridge: German: Hong Kong: Lincolnshire: London: North West: Scottish: Spanish: BPG TD CAM GER LINC NW SCOT LON SP HK ID CONTACT DETAILS bpg@ciol.org.uk Judith Ridgway id@ciol.org.uk Christine Pocock td@ciol.org.uk Michael Cunningham cambridgesociety @ciol.org.uk Leslie Ray germansociety@ciol .org.uk Stephanie Tarling hongkongsociety @ciol.org.uk Francis Lee lincolnshiresociety @ciol.org.uk Candia Hillier londonsociety@ciol .org.uk Rannheid Sharma northwestsociety@ ciol.org.uk Katrin Hiietam scottishsociety@ ciol.org.uk Anne Withers spanishsociety@ ciol.org.uk Jean Boyd BPG ID TD CAM GER HK LINC LON NW SCOT SP LUNCH, TALK AND CAMPUS TOUR Friday 30 September University of Essex, Colchester, 12pm An oyster or vegetarian lunch followed by a talk on multicompetence by Professor Vivian Cook and a guided tour of the university campus. Wivenhoe House, University of Essex, CO4 3SQ. £40pp. November NETWORKING LUNCH WITH TALK Saturday 19 November Wig & Mitre, Lincoln, 12-4 pm For details or to attend, call Candia Hillier on 01522 526695 by 12 November. 30 Steep Hill, LN2 1TL. LINC BPG June AGM, LUNCH AND TALK Saturday 25 June Civil Service Club, London SW1A 2HJ, 11am Formal meeting with talk by CIOL Council member Captain Dan Howard. July ANGLOPHONER TAG 1-3 July FFFZ, Düsseldorf With the theme 'Reaching your Audience', activities include talks on how to pitch, and tailoring the message to your audience. September STUDY WEEKEND 9-11 September Weimar The society also celebrates its 30th anniversary at this event on 'British Visitors to Weimar across the Ages' (see www.ciol-gs.de). GER BPG GER Our first speaker at the 'Improve your Direct Marketing, Negotiation and Business Skills' event in April was Jessica Rathke (picture above), who told us a little of her background in the USA. After a brief introduction, she moved to the central themes of her talk entitled 'Handling Rates Negotiations for Greater Profitability': understanding today's customers, building one's value, how value impacts negotiation, and basic concepts in negotiation. During this very interactive session, Jessica stressed that it is essential to persuade customers of the interpreter's value to their business, which means demonstrating that your price is fitting in terms of their needs. Negotiation is just that; it isn't surrender. If necessary, don't be afraid to be appropriately assertive. The customer has so many ways of finding out basic information about interpreters that it is worth making your unique specialities, education and interests a selling point. Ask what you can do to assist clients with their current needs and, to quote Jessica, endeavour to "understand your customers, just as you want them to understand you". She concluded the session with a scripted exercise for attendees to try out some of the techniques she had outlined. Kirsty Heimerl-Moggan, a well-known member of CIOL and a Chartered Linguist, followed with her talk 'Interpersonal Skills: How not to become a diva'. Kirsty has been an international conference, business and legal interpreter since 1994, and covered interpersonal skills, working with and retaining clients, and being a professional. Amicable teamwork is clearly a requirement in the booth, but interpreting in a business setting demands it too, even though it is likely to take place in a more 'open' environment. Interpreters should always be aware of being part of a team, regardless of the type of interpreting. In terms of the many facets of working with and retaining clients, Kirsty particularly emphasised pre-meeting preparation, quality, reliability, general good manners, appropriate attire, flexibility and diplomacy. While not underselling what they can do, interpreters should be confident enough to turn down assignments outside their area of competence – essential in complying with CIOL's Code of Professional Conduct. Being arrogant, grumpy, insecure or incompetent is not good for client retention or for the profession more broadly. Kirsty's session concluded with a lively Q&A session. For a detailed report, see www.ciol.org.uk > Interpreting Division > ID Past Events and Reports Careful negotiations JOIN TREVOR ADCOCK AT THE RECENT ID EVENT