As a Northerner born and bred, albeit from the North-West, not the North-East, I was delighted to hear that this year’s ITI conference will be in Newcastle, a city I last visited over 30 years ago when my then boyfriend was doing a work placement there. He stayed in the University halls of residence and, apart from the peculiar hexagonal design of the flats, I have great memories of the city as a really buzzy, vibrant place – I can’t wait to renew my acquaintance!
I’m primarily a technical translator, as I started out translating in-house for British Nuclear Fuels in Warrington, in North-West England, in the early 1980’s. I went freelance after taking maternity leave in 1988 and have been self-employed ever since, working mainly in the nuclear and energy sectors, but also on health & safety and environmental matters.
Anyone who has come across my blog www.clairecoxtranslations.wordpress.com will know that I’m a real conference aficionado! I attended the last two ITI conferences in Birmingham and Gatwick and also the Joint ProZ/CioL/ITI conference in London in 2008, as well as a number of other ProZ conferences and the FIT Congress in Berlin last year.
Given the isolated nature of a freelance translator’s job, I think it’s so important to take these opportunities to network with other translators and get a feel for what’s going on in the industry as a whole. If the last ITI conference, and last summer’s flagship event in Berlin, are anything to go by, you will come away with renewed enthusiasm for your profession and have had a ball to boot! The Hilton at Gatwick did a splendid job with the food and facilities last time, so I’m hoping for even greater things this time round. The yoga sessions, including Gabi Bocanete’s presentation on Breathe and Change your Life (brilliant in Berlin!), Marian Dougan’s chocolate-themed talk and Chris Durban’s session on Budgets feature highly on my wish list – oh, and I’m definitely going to take advantage of the conference photographer to update my professional portraits this time!
Looking forward to meeting old friends, putting names to faces and making new contacts – see you there!
See you here Claire .. by the way I am already signed up for singing but would like to do a bit of yoga, something I used to do years ago when working In Denmark and not since .. will see if I can find details on the Fringe events ! BW, Anna
Hi Anna,
The yoga is being finalised as we speak. Keep an eye on your Conference Update email, Twitter, Facebook for details. They will be published as soon as we can.