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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thelinguist.uberflip.com DECEMBER 2016/JANUARY 2017 The Linguist 31 OPINION & COMMENT This period has seen some interesting reporting on language matters relating to our impending withdrawal from the European Union. When word spread that the EU Brexit negotiator, Michel Barnier, was expecting to use French, this was seized upon by a press eager to report a snub to our national standing. It was left to Angela Merkel to point out that it is a core principle of the EU for everyone to use their own mother tongue. However, her message was a bleak reminder that, once we leave, Brits will no longer enjoy this privilege. Press coverage shows that many people believe there will be an increased need for language skills once we leave the EU: 'Plan Now to Avoid post-Brexit Languages Crisis' was the BBC headline over a report on the All-Party Parliamentary Group's four-point plan to avoid a critical language deficit. This was echoed by Geoff Ho in The Express, who argued that 'Learning Languages could Make for a Smoother Brexit'. "Too many people revel in their ignorance," he wrote, saying that this attitude would not 'cut' in a world where Britain is trying to expand its horizons. Elsewhere, we heard that, in response to concerns about take up of foreign languages in Wales, the Welsh government has extended a mentoring project designed to give pupils the confidence and aspiration to tackle a GCSE in French, German or Spanish. And The Independent reported on analysis of more than 1 million job adverts which showed that German was the most common language required and that those roles commanded the highest salaries. Several broadsheets discussed the grammatical gender of 'Brexit' in different languages. Although it is masculine in most gender-based languages, in Italian experts have said that it should be feminine to reflect its association with the Italian word for 'exit': uscita. It must be a record for a word to enter the lexicons of so many languages without anyone knowing exactly what it means. Teresa Tinsley is Director of Alcantara Communications; www.alcantaracoms.com TERESA TINSLEY Having enjoyed a summer off from translation theory and picking texts apart "until the point of breaking", as Man Booker- shortlisted translator Charlotte Collins mused at International Translation Day 2016, I've looked forward to returning to the nitty gritty. This semester I'm concentrating on the practical side of translation. Cue hard skills such as CAT tool knowledge, and translation industry insights. My outlook was optimistic. With theory sitting in a box on my desk, pulled out only to support more tangible realities, I thought these modules would be a walk in the park by comparison – albeit a kind of power walk preparing me for a long, healthy professional life. The truth of the matter has been much more vigorous. The sheer range of approaches to the profession have had me sifting for gold this research-led semester. It has been invaluable to structure my thoughts on the advantages and challenges of the two areas that most interest me: freelance work with creative specialisms and literary translation. The translation industry module has given me the opportunity to evaluate the two side by side, thinking about how different the two worlds are. As a literary translator, publishing events, book fairs and specialist short courses are priorities, as I discovered at Translate in the City this year. An excellent online resource has been the Emerging Translators Network, which I urge anyone aspiring to literary work to join. On the other side of the coin, a more general freelancer benefits from local events, either set up by translators or organisations such as CIOL, or the ITI Western Regional Group (WRG) in my Bristol- based case. That said, the WRG's most recent talk was about literary translation meaning, happily, that the two worlds sometimes meet. Although I'm familiar with using translation software, it is helpful to look into common slip-ups, and to find out about the full potential of CAT tools in an education environment. The module is arming me with the tools I'll need once I join the translation world as a full-timer. I have also had the opportunity to take part in group work, a welcome addition to the e-learning aspect of the course. A few weeks in and I'm enjoying the linguistic workout once again. After the summer break, modules focusing on hard skills and industry insights prove challenging Master in the making WEEKEND AWAY Hannah in the French Alps HANNAH EMBLETON-SMITH Hannah Embleton-Smith is an MA Translation student at Bristol. TL