My name is Nicola Dean, and I am a freelance translator working principally from Mandarin Chinese into English, with further experience of French and Spanish to English translation. Since a very young age I have known I wanted to work with language – in fact, the more languages, the better! I began my journey with a BA in Modern Languages (Chinese, French, and Spanish) from Newcastle University, and spent a year abroad in Xinjiang, a far-flung and tumultuous province in western China which first ignited my love affair with North Asia.

I have around five years of professional experience now, which evolved from humble beginnings of tentative translations when I was a student in Taiwan to an all-consuming professional passion that has supported me through an MA in Diplomacy in Taiwan, language studies in Mongolia, and now an MA in Translating and Interpreting at Newcastle University. I have just this month begun trading as Altan Language Services, and it is truly exciting to watch my translation business flourish in front of my eyes. I mainly specialise in patent translation, politics, and contemporary affairs, as well as offering services in copy-editing, proofreading, localisation, back translation, and transcription. I dream of expanding into an agency focusing on the languages of the north-east Asian region (primarily Chinese, Mongolian, Japanese and Korean) and I am grateful for any insights and advice from translation colleagues who have successfully trodden this path.

This will be my very first ITI conference and I am delighted that it will be held just a stone’s throw away in Gateshead, giving me a chance to attend all the events and really make the most of the conference. In addition to the fascinating schedule of talks, I am most looking forward to hobnobbing with fellow like-minded translators and building lasting contacts to combat the famed isolation of this profession!