Editorial

At the time of writing, the UK was enjoying an extended period of balmy summer weather, and international sports competitions were dominating the headlines.  With sport on our minds, this edition’s puzzle has a tennis theme.  Now all we need are some strawberries to enjoy while perusing this newsletter!

This edition contains reviews of two recent ITI events by French Network members, and although many of us are starting to wind down for a summer holiday, make a note of the autumn translation events listed on page 2. This newsletter also contains a freebie offer, so keep your eyes peeled!

Articles for publication in the next newsletter should be sent to

Articles from the Newsletter

ITI French Network 'Kings and Tarts', March 2010
by Mike Hanson

Two months had elapsed since the snow forced the postponement of our Fête des Rois but this event had not certainly gone stale.  Quite the opposite in fact: the cakes and tarts were delicious, the wine flowed freely and everyone commented on what a good party it was.

Birmingham may not be top of everyone’s list of places to visit but it is certainly easy to get to, and people had travelled from London, Bristol, Yorkshire, Manchester and beyond to be there.  These days, the city’s most iconic structure is probably the futuristic Bull Ring shopping centre, but there is also plenty of heritage on offer in central Birmingham, and the building hosting our party (the Old Joint Stock Pub and Theatre) was worth a visit in itself.  The impressive frontage, high ceilings and oak panelling suggested that it had a lot of history to tell.  We were in a function room upstairs from the pub, and in addition to the usual doors to be found in such places, marked “Ladies”, “Gentlemen” and “Private”, there was one carrying the intriguing sign “Theatre” I now wish I’d satisfied my curiosity by pushing it open…

So thank you to the organisers, Mireille Bord and Emmanuelle Jeannot, who must have been anxiously watching the weather forecast in the preceding days, but in the end, were surely pleased with the outcome.  Special congratulations are also due to Mathilde Gervais: not only did her traditional northern galette des rois win her the Grand concours de galettes des Rois et de tartes, first prize being a copy of ’The French kitchen’ by Joanne Harris, but her 9-month old son Adrien also won the Beautiful Baby Competition.

French Network e-group members can find more pictures of this convivial event by clicking on the link posted by Paul Appleyard on 7 March to his Flickr photostream (not available externally).

Last year’s Fête des Rois party in London was also a memorable event, and I for one hope this will now establish itself as a French Network tradition, in the same way as the ITI German Network holds its annual party in the run-up to Christmas.

 

ITI Style Matters Workshop - February 2010
By Lydia Smith

This ITI workshop at the University of Westminster in February was aimed at anyone who works primarily with marketing and creative texts and is looking for tips on how to improve their writing style.  However, the workshop also had a strong secondary message: you are the expert, take control of your business and find yourself premium clients who will pay you well for your premium style.  It was very well attended by translators working from various languages into English, but as the speakers were Chris Durban and Ros Schwartz, who both work from French, most of the source texts we looked at were in French.

Chris opened the morning with a lively presentation which challenged our perception of ourselves – are we translators, or writers? We have to get away from the ‘humble servant’ mindset and take control of our texts.  To develop good writing style, we need quite simply to read a lot and write a lot! Controversially, she thinks that overuse of translation memories is one reason for poor writing style.  When working with segmented text, you are more likely perhaps to lose sight of the translation as a whole and to stick too slavishly to the source text.  I think there may be some truth in this; at least, it is something we need to watch out for.  Chris also claims that, especially when using TM, we may simply take too much work on sometimes, or agree to deadlines that are too short, which can affect quality.

Ros then followed up with some practical tips on how to improve your style, a lot of which related to French.  These included avoiding Latinate words, checking punctuation style, condensing phrases (get rid of “of”!) and pruning superfluous text, e.g.  “The Board decided to appoint a new director...” could simply be “The Board appointed a new Director...”.   It is far too easy to lapse into “translationese” (for example why write “products that respect the environment” when you can use “eco products”?) and to use the first solution that pops into your head, particularly when you are pressed for time.  Ros advocates that you should always build in time for several proofing stages, print your text out as hard copy, read it aloud, and best of all have it read by someone else.  It is best to sleep on a translation if you can and look at it with fresh eyes in the morning, but even when you are really pressed for time, at least take a 15-minute break, have a cup of tea and then come back to your text!

After the first session, we split off into two groups to do a practical workshop, which involved improving awkward or “clunky” translations, in my case with Chris first and then with Ros.  If you have read Chris’s Onionskin column in the Bulletin, you will now that she has a never-ending supply of dodgy translations! I particularly enjoyed working on a museum description of a woolly mammoth model, which raised some interesting issues about how far you should go to change the text in order to produce something closer to what you would normally see in an original English text.  This was even more apparent in a business text we worked on with Ros, as a couple of the groups in the room completely rewrote the text, changing the syntax and even reordering the paragraphs.  The translation sounded completely natural in English (and was undoubtedly better written than the original!), but it’s probably best to check first with the client that this is part of your brief or convince the client that this is how the text should be in your target language.

Which leads on to the most interesting part of the day, in my opinion.  In the final session both Chris and Ros explained how they work with their clients, and how they have managed to obtain such high-end clients who trust them to make their texts work in English (as Chris says to her prospective clients “Je fais chanter des textes!”).  The key message was about educating your clients and building up a working relationship with them so that they will trust your judgment as the expert.  This may mean, however, that you need to completely change your client base! Pitch to direct clients and raise your prices, and consider charging by the hour – if you do not value yourself, no one else will.  Rework your own marketing material and website, ensuring it reflects your premium style.  Of course, there are many ways you can market yourself, from identifying a ‘dodgy’ translation and offering to correct it (tactfully!), to attending client events and introducing yourself to key people in your chosen sector.  Many of us, I suspect, might prefer to build up direct clients through contacts and word of mouth recommendations.  Not everyone has the time, energy or indeed the sheer nerve for direct networking.  But for those who do, Chris certainly had some good tips and amusing anecdotes.

Of course, once you have obtained these good clients, you need to learn how to keep them onside.  Ros stressed that you must convince the client of the benefits of your added value and your expertise.  In particular, she thinks it is very important to meet clients face to face if you want to establish a long-term, mutually beneficial relationship.  This way you can educate clients on the translation process and even show them how they can save money by harnessing your expertise.  The benefit of working like this is that you gain a higher profile, increased job satisfaction and – hopefully – increased turnover. 

The workshop certainly gave me a lot to think over, as I am at a turning point in my career, trying to relaunch my business (after several years of severe distraction in the form of small children) and keen to move away from demanding and not very communicative agency clients.  So once I have the time, energy and nerve to get out there and market myself, I will certainly be putting much of this invaluable advice into practice.  Thank you very much to the French Network for giving me a grant to attend this event.