I am a recent graduate of the University of Nottingham with an MA in Translation Studies and am currently in the process of setting-up as a French to English freelance translator based in Derby. It’s a city famous for Rolls-Royce, Bombardier, Toyota and local breweries - what better place is there to be for a budding technical translator to live, learn and unwind?

Fellow associates of the ITI East Midlands Regional Group (@ITI_EM) have welcomed me into the fold and I’m confident that the conference will prove to be an extension of their warm welcome to the translation industry. I’m looking forward to meeting many more linguists and hearing all about how they became ‘specialised’ - a buzzword which has followed me around since I graduated - in their field of expertise.

I’m not entirely new to the industry, having worked as a Project Manager at SDL which confirmed my love of languages, translation and all its nuances and idiosyncrasies. Working there gave me the confidence to take the leap and get qualified by returning to full-time education in pursuit of my dream job. Prior to the translation industry I was an original team member of the now hugely successful online retailer, notonthehighstreet.com.

This won’t be my first visit to Newcastle, one of my very good university friends and fellow linguist originates from and still lives there, bravely teaching French to secondary school children. My time spent as an English assistant in a tiny French town called Brignoles was an eye-opener to teaching and quickly sent me down the translation route!

As an emerging translator, I’m really looking forward to every aspect of the conference, but if I had to pick one, it would be listening to Roz Schwartz speak because I was so inspired by a talk she held last year on literary translation that I began approaching publishers about my own work. Watch this space!

I’m excited about attending this year’s conference because as I make my first steps into the world of self-employment it will give me a chance to put my questions to the professionals and learn valuable tricks of the trade. I’m sure #ITIConf15 will be the first of many ITI conferences in my career and a great opportunity for #LinguistsUnite.