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
Issue link: https://thelinguist.uberflip.com/i/857320
28 The Linguist Vol/56 No/4 2017 www.ciol.org.uk OPINION & COMMENT Q. What do you do? A. I'm an Account Manager at a translation agency in Hamburg. I look after a variety of clients, who come to us for translations of everything from business documents to school pamphlets. I source translators for the clients, who are all enrolled on the company database. We have around 3,000 translators in about 40 languages. Q. What attracted you to the role? A. I applied as part of the year abroad scheme. I decided I didn't want to study or teach, but instead to get experience of working in Germany. To be honest, the location came before the role; I fell in love with Hamburg after watching a film set there in the first year of my degree. Q. Why did you want to become a linguist? A. For me, it was never a question of whether to study a language, but rather which one. I grew up surrounded by languages; I have relatives who live in Italy, and my parents and my brothers speak different languages. I also had a great teacher at school, who challenged us and motivated us to work at a higher level than was normal for our age. Q. How has proficiency in German helped in the role? A. About 85% of the role is in German, and the rest is in English with British clients or for other nationalities who prefer to communicate in English. I definitely feel my German has improved since I started in the position. Q. Will you use your language skills after graduation? A. I really like the opportunities for vocational training available in Germany, so after I graduate I'm hoping to do a two-year training course here, or something similar. I'm really interested in ports and logistics, so hopefully something in that field. Q. Do you think Brexit will impact your career? A. The referendum took place on 23 June 2016 and I moved to Germany on 27 June, so it was incredibly disheartening. However, I think it'll take so long for the dust to settle that it won't affect my plans, and hopefully I'll be able to return to Germany and enrol on a course. Interview by Amy Wakeham. Anna Gower, a German and International Relations undergraduate at Leeds University, discusses her third-year-abroad placement Just the job Links online ALBA SORT Translator and integrated marketer Alba Sort shares her top tips for getting business results from social media. The best thing you can do if you want to use social media to grow your business is to start with an end in mind. Social media will swallow up your time and energy and give you little in return unless you have a clear objective. So ask yourself: what do you want to achieve? Typical social media business goals include networking, keeping up with what is happening in the industry, prospecting for potential clients and building an online presence. All social media networks are different, so depending on your goals, you'll be better off using one or the other. For example, Facebook groups are a good place to engage with fellow linguists and hear industry gossip. Twitter is useful to keep abreast of the latest news, interact with a broad range of people and follow live events. On LinkedIn, you can build your professional network and research potential clients. And if you have a Gmail account, claiming your Google+ profile may benefit your SEO (search engine optimization). Once you have defined your goals, assess the social media accounts you are currently using to identify which ones are getting you results. Be ruthless: focus on the networks that are delivering and limit your use of the channels that are not doing much for your business. Consider planning at least some of your social media posts in advance. Check out scheduling tools such as Hootsuite or Buffer, which both have free versions, or simply use a calendar. If you get organised, you will be able to do more in less time. Above all, knowing what you want from your professional use of social media will keep your social media activity focused, increase your productivity and help you avoid distractions, no matter how cute the cat videos or fascinating the life hacks. Share your thoughts @Linguist_CIOL using #TheLinguist.