Spencer Allman has been a freelance translator of Finnish into English for 18 years. He has given talks to groups of translators on various subjects, including the translation of musical texts, translation revision (the subject of his MA dissertation), and the use of the internet as a translation tool. He is also a tutor on the University of Birmingham’s MA in Translation Studies. Spencer will be presenting a paper on the notion of translational expertise on Sunday 17th May – check out the rest of the conference programme here.
1. In two sentences, please describe what you’ll be talking about at the conference, and what translation and interpreting (T&I) professionals will gain from hearing it.
The hierarchy of expertise as it relates to translation revision. An awareness of the need to tighten up translation revision procedures in order to be able to deliver a more ‘sustainable’ product.
2. If you could wave a magic wand and change one thing to make your workplace more sustainable, what would you do?
Nothing
3. Which business leader, politician or public figure do you most respect?
4. To what degree do you feel involved in and supported by your professional community, and why?
Somewhat. Geographical distances.
5. Freeform – here’s where you are free to riff on anyone or anything, good or bad, or just share a pearl of wisdom.
There are too many translation agencies in general and far too many bad ones. They often have bad attitudes – they need to realise that they need us more then we need them. For example, if I get a job with loads of conditions and they presume to offer me a low rate and I tell them to piss off, the job sometimes gets back to me from a different quarter anyway.
Thanks Spencer.
This is the first in a series of short interviews run in the lead-up to the ITI International Conference on 16th – 17th May.
Great point about agencies needing us more than we need them. Unfortunately too many translators also have bad attitudes, in that they readily let agencies call the shots when it comes to rates and conditions. As a profession, we need to be more assertive.
Tom Ellett´s last blog post… Paying for the privilege of working
Great point about agencies needing us more than we need them. Unfortunately too many translators also have bad attitudes, in that they readily let agencies call the shots when it comes to rates and conditions. As a profession, we need to be more assertive.
Tom Ellett´s last blog post… Paying for the privilege of working