Hello! My name is Catherine Slater and I am originally from Cardiff but now live in Alton, Hampshire. I work as freelance translator (FR>EN) trading as Asellus Languages and specialising in medicine, pharmaceuticals, tourism and advertising. Following a spell working in Paris, I returned to the UK to do my Masters and PhD in Translation at the Centre for Translation Studies, University of Surrey. I then worked part-time for a number of years as a Research Fellow at Surrey where I worked on EU-funded projects which investigated the use of new and emerging technologies for interpreter training (see http://www.virtual-interpreting.net for more information about the IVY and EVIVA projects). I balanced my research work with working as a freelance translator and now I enjoy the combination of precise, technical translation work and jobs which require a much more creative approach. I am a Member of the Chartered Institute of Linguists and obtained Chartered Linguist status in December 2014. I have been working full-time as a freelance translator since March 2015.

I teach the applied French to English translation modules at the University of Surrey and really enjoy working with our translation students, where I try to give them insights into the profession and the industry alongside helping them to develop their translation skills. I am actively involved in encouraging language take-up at school level too and give talks about translation as a career and why learning languages is important.

In my spare time, I am a keen photographer, Formula 1 fan and Twitter addict (@asellus_langs). I am also a devoted aunty and as such I have recently learned a lot about Minecraft and all the songs from Frozen.

I am really looking forward to meeting everyone and having a productive few days in Newcastle.