In October, Abi was invited to give a workshop on German pronunciation to A-level Music students at Hereford Sixth Form College. Awareness of, and receptivity to, different languages is extremely important for musicians and something the Music department was keen to promote. Abi spent two sessions working with year 12 students on general guidelines for pronunciation, as well as looking more closely at some of the specific musical terms the students would be likely to come across in the course. They rose admirably to the challenge, even getting their tongues around the deceptively difficult to pronounce Rohrau (Haydn's birthplace)! The feedback from the students was good and we look forward to collaborating with HSFC again in future. "I thought the German workshop was helpful as I now have a better understanding of German, which is incredibly helpful when reading music expression instructions. Abi’s PowerPoint made the learning process that much easier. She was patient when we had to repeat back, and offered us help and guidance when we needed it." (Grace FA, HSFC student)
Photo: Graham Bennett
On Saturday (5 October 2019), Abi attended the “Positionieren im digitalen Zeitalter“ [“Positioning in the digital age”] workshop organised by ITI GerNET (the Institute of Translation and Interpreting’s German Network) and run by specialist marketing coach Thea Döhler (Triacom). Our clients often ask us if we can provide 'certified', 'sworn' or 'official' translations, particularly of legal documents such as birth and marriage certificates.
The ITI (Institute of Translators and Interpreters) provides clear and comprehensive guidance on the different types of 'official' translations. Essentially, since the UK is a common law country and not a civil law county, there is no such thing as a sworn translator. This means the only options in the UK are certification, notarisation and legalisation. According to the official UK government website, in order to certify a translation, a translator (or translation company) must confirm in writing on the translation:
If further authentication is required, the signing of the document can be witnessed by a solicitor (in the form of an affidavit) or Notary Public (notarisation). However, the solicitor or Notary cannot endorse the quality of the translation so this step only verifies the authenticity of the signature. SImilarly, while an Apostille verifies the authenticity of the signature and ensures that the document is recognised in all States that signed the Hague Convention of 1961 (legalisation); it does not endorse the content of the document. You can find more information about the certification services we offer here. In the last few weeks we have had two young people join us here at Alphanumeric HQ to gain some work experience.
Hannah recently graduated from university and was looking to gain some professional experience in the industry while in the process of applying for jobs. She shadowed Jo for a period of four weeks, working on some translation jobs, getting to understand our systems and processes and familiarising herself with translation software and resources. She is now working as a Bilingual Customer Services Operator so her skills are being put to good use! Anna is currently studying for her A-levels and is planning to read Modern Foreign Languages at university. She has been exploring various career options and was keen to find out more about life as a freelance translator. She spent a day here learning about what our work involves and we gave her some advice on how to gain the necessary skills and further experience if she does decide to pursue a career in translation. It's great to meet young people that are enthusiastic about languages and translation, whatever stage of education they are at, and to be able to give them some help, advice and encouragement along the way! Jo and Graham recently spent six days cycling the Donauradweg from Passau to Vienna. The weather and scenery were fantastic! Here's a taster of what they got up to:
We have just found out that Abi has successfully completed the MITI examination and can now join Jo as an accredited member of the ITI. We are absolutely delighted with this achievement!
We are very excited to announce that Jo’s translation of a major theological work, “Crucified and Resurrected”, has been published and will be available in print and Kindle edition from 15 November.
The English version of this distinguished work on Christology by scholar and theologian, Professor Ingolf Dalferth, represents many months of detailed and painstaking work and research. We are extremely proud of Jo’s efforts and of the end result, which has been acclaimed as ‘an admirable translation’ by Professor Sarah Coakley, University of Cambridge. The book is available to pre-order now. |
Alphanumeric AssistanceA partnership of freelance translators offering translation from German, Indonesian and Malay into English. Archives
November 2019
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