Time to say Goodbye

After spending two months with The Translation People’s Birmingham team, the time has come to say goodbye and to have a look back at what I’ve learnt.

As a second year student of a Bachelor in Translation Studies (English and French) at the Ruprecht-Karls-University in Heidelberg Germany, I wanted to gain insight into the translation industry outside of university and to use the skills I’ve acquired in a professional context. Consequently, I was delighted to be offered a work placement in The Translation People’s Birmingham office.

During my work placement, I was given the opportunity to complete a huge variety of tasks. These included proofreading translations, preparing texts for freelance translators, formatting and quality-checking of translations, creating and populating Translation Memories, and translating blog articles, parts of the new website, and other internal documents into German.

I also took part in the recruitment of new freelance translators. I viewed CVs, conducted telephone interviews, selected appropriate test translations for each translator, assessed completed German test translations, checked references and finally, concluded contracts. Leading other applicants through The Translation People’s ISO 9001 certified recruitment process has taught me which qualities translation agencies look for in new freelancers – something that will be very important to me if I intend to work as a freelance translator myself.

I also had the chance to work with the latest translation software such as Trados Studio 2009 and so I could consolidate my knowledge in the use of CAT-Tools. These are becoming more and more important to professional translators and so it was very helpful towards my future career, to learn more about TagEditor, Translator’s Workbench and WinAlign.

I thoroughly enjoyed the two months in the Birmingham office as my work was very varied. On top of it, all Account Managers were very friendly and eager to explain all details of their work to me. I felt welcomed as a part of the team from the very first day. During my work placement I saw how a translation agency really works and gained some first experiences in project management, a career option I’ve never considered before but which is a diverse and interesting field.

I would like to thank all The Translation People for the two great months I’ve spent with them at the Birmingham office; I really enjoyed my time and learnt a lot!

Vanessa Wagenblast