After a post-graduate translation course, I joined the Foreign & Commonwealth Office as an in-house translator in 1997, later moving to Philips in Eindhoven and the Ministry of Agriculture in London.  I turned freelance on coming back to Scotland, working from Dutch, French, German and Afrikaans into UK English. This range of source languages eventually led to a tight focus in terms of subject area. I now specialise in animal health and veterinary medicine, a natural choice given my own interests and the osmosis resulting from nearly 25 years of marriage to a vet (a job in itself!). I also have a sideline in psychology-related books (NL-EN).

Outside of work, any ‘me time’ is spent on yoga and horse riding, an ideal combination that helps to counterbalance the physical and mental stresses of translating.

I jumped at the chance of this conference. Rural North-East Scotland can feel out on a limb sometimes, and few opportunities come quite so close to home. Plus it’s an excuse to visit Newcastle, which I have only ever seen from a train. This will be my first conference since joining ITI in 2011, though I have attended several useful and highly sociable events organised by ITI’s Scottish Network. Judging by my experience there, Newcastle is bound to be well worth the trip.

Keen to squeeze in as much CPD as possible, I signed up for two pre-conference masterclasses. ‘Align This’ with Marek Pawelec and ‘The Sound of Music’ with Ros Schwartz seem perfectly matched to two areas that I want to address. As for the workshops, how on earth to choose between them? Expect to see me standing around glassy-eyed in a state of total information overload. Having said that, I will make a special effort to attend the ones presented by fellow ‘Scotnetters’.

I especially look forward to meeting and sharing experiences with other language professionals, so please do say hello if you recognise me in Newcastle (without my four-legged friends).