Hello! My name is Eloise Wyke and I am freelance translator based in Bristol. I am no stranger to the North East as I completed my BA in Modern Languages at Durham University and spent six months working in Newcastle after graduating. Originally from Shropshire where I grew up on a dairy farm, I am definitely not a city girl at heart but Bristol is a great place to be.

I work from French, Russian and German into English, specialising in international development, marketing and music. As well as translating, I teach the violin and piano to children and adults which adds some well-needed human interaction to my day! In my free time, I also play with the Bristol Metropolitan Orchestra which performs three concerts throughout the year. Music and translation aside, I enjoy skiing, swimming and cycling, and am currently training for the Bristol Harbourside triathlon which will take place in June.

As for my route into the translation industry, I completed an MA in Conference Interpreting and Translation Studies at the University of Leeds in 2012.  I then moved to Moscow and worked for a private tutoring company for 12 months. My job involved a considerable amount of translation and I realised that was what I wanted to do full-time so when I returned to the UK in September 2013 I took the leap and became self-employed. It has not been the easiest of rides but my highlights over the past 18 months include volunteering at the Sochi 2014 Paralympic Winter Games and translating (remotely!) for the FIFA World Cup Brazil.

This will be my first conference and I am really looking forward to meeting and learning from other professional translators, as well as catching up with some familiar faces. See you soon!