Languages, techniques, styles, tools and equipment are constantly evolving. That’s why CPD (continuing professional development) is important for all professions, and mine is no exception. I try to keep abreast of the latest developments in the translation world, fill in gaps in my knowledge and hone my skills.
CPD comes in several forms: studying online or classroom-based courses; attending workshops and seminars; going to conferences; reading books, articles and blogs; listening to webinars, podcasts, etc.
I also meet with some colleagues every week to talk about some of our past translations. We analyse the texts, make suggestions on how they can be improved and discuss the finer points of grammar, punctuation and terminology. The two formats I’m involved in are a RevClub (Spanish to English) and an Edit Club. The main difference between them is that in the RevClub we also look at the source, whereas in the Edit Club we only look at the target as all four of us have different language combinations (French, German, Italian and Spanish into English).
Below is a list of the more “formal” CPD I have undertaken in recent years with links where appropriate. Dates refer to when I did the CPD, and not, for example, when the webinar was first broadcast if I didn’t attend it live.
(Image by Walter Frehner from Pixabay)
2011
- Translation Theory for Practitioners by Janet Fraser (eCPD Webinars) – June 2011
- Revising Translations – How to offer a Professional Service (eCPD Webinars) – September 2011
2012
- Revision and Editing for Translators by Sarah Bawa-Mason (eCPD Webinars) – April 2012
2013
- LinkedIn® profile optimization for freelance translators (The Alexandria Library) – January 2013
- Technical Writing for into English Translators by Karen Tkacyzk (eCPD Webinars) – March 2013
- ES-EN Translation Workshop (eCPD Webinars) – March 2013
- Writing for the Web by Marian Dougan (eCPD Webinars) – March 2013
- LinkedIn® Winning Strategies for Freelance Translators (The Alexandria Library) – March 2013
- IAPTI International Conference (London) – October 2013
2014
- The Difference between Proofreading and Editing by E.C. Montana (Proz.com) – February 2014
- BP14 Conference (Budapest) – May 2014
- Lenguando Conference – (London) – September 2014
- Corpus-guided decision-making for editors and translators workshop by Mary Ellen Kerans (El Escorial) – October 2014
- Readability: 10 strategies for improving flow in translated or non-English speakers’ texts workshop by John Bates (El Escorial) – October 2014
- METM14 Conference (El Escorial) – October 2014
2015
- Translation in Travel & Tourism: Is It Really That Simple? by Irene Koukia (Proz.com) – February 2015
- Editing Non-native English: an Introduction by Joy Burrough-Boenisch (eCPD Webinars) – February 2015
- Editing Non-native English: Academic & Scientific Texts by Joy Burrough-Boenisch (eCPD Webinars) – February 2015
- Best Practices in Tourism Workshop (ITI MAT, London) – March 2015
- Spanish to English Translation Quality Assurance 1: Terminology by Gwenydd Jones (Proz.com) – April 2015
- Spanish to English Translation Quality Assurance 2: Style by Gwenydd Jones (Proz.com) – April 2015
- Proofreading 1: Introduction (SfEP) – April 2015
- Translation Quality (The Alexandria Library) – May 2015
- How to Write a Killer LinkedIn Profile (FreeAgent) – May 2015
- Translation Technology: The Next Big Thing (eCPD Webinars) – May 2015
- Workshop on Social Media – Shameless Self-Promotion! (ITI Wessex) – May 2015 (I was also a speaker)
- Secret Sauce of Great Writing by Shani Raja (Udemy) – October 2015
2016
- Lilt: machine assistance, not machine translation, to optimize your productivity
(Proz.com) – February 2016 - Translating Business Film Material Workshop by Jean-Pierre Mailhac (ITI MAT, London) – March 2016
2017
- Advanced Subtitling Workshop by Adriana Tortoriello (CenTraS, UCL, London) – February 2017
- The ABC of Copywriting by Tom Albrighton – May 2017
- Misused English Words and Expressions in EU Publications by Jeremy Gardner (European Court of Auditors) – June 2017
- Writing with Impact: Writing that Persuades by Clare Lynch (Udemy) – August 2017
- memoQ Workshop (ITI Wessex) – October 2017
- Hello memoQ! – an introduction for individual translators ¦ August 2016 (Webinar by memoQ) – October 2017
- Don’t Trust Your Spell Check by Dean Evans – November 2017
2018
- Want to know how to get started with memoQ (ITI Webinar) – January 2018
- German-English Translation Slam (Bristol University & ITI Western Regional Group) – February 2018
- Talking GDPR with Paula Arturo (Marketing for Translators and Interpreters, Facebook) – April 2018
- Mind your Ts and Cs! Watch your back! Terms and Conditions for language professionals (ITI Webinar) – April 2018
- Are you GDPR compliant? (ITI Webinar) – May 2018
- GDPR – what freelance linguists need to know (eCPD Webinars) – May 2018
- One Day in… Gray’s Inn (ITI Networking Event, London) – June 2018
- Teaching with Style: Using Joseph Williams’s Classic Guide with Students by Joseph Bizup (Pearson English) – August 2018
- ISO 17100:2015 – raising the profile of the translation industry (ITI Webinar) – August 2018
- Why translators and interpreters need professional liability insurance (ITI Webinar) – August 2018
- Copy Edit This! Quizzes 1-14 (The New York Times) – August 2018
- BP16 Translation Conference Videos – September 2018
- The 5 writing mistakes that are killing your sales and how to fix them by Marie Forleo (webinar) – October 2018
- Group Translation Practice Workshop DE>EN (ITI Wessex) – November 2018
- Introductory session and LinkedIn profiles hosted by myself (Group Translation Chats) – November 2018
- Lessons learned in 2018 and how to improve in 2019 hosted by myself (Group Translation Chats) – December 2018
2019
- LiveDocs in memoQ (Webinar by memoQ)- January 2019
- What we need in our translation careers right now (Group Translation Chats) – January 2019
- Bon appétit! Translating gastronomy – some case studies by Miranda Stewart (eCPD Webinars) – January 2019
- Quality assurance; Dragon Naturally Speaking; memoQ hosted by myself (Group Translation Chats) – February 2019
- Who’s afraid of transcreation by Bill Maslen (ITI SpanNet webinar) – March 2019
- BP17 Translation Conference Videos – March 2019
- Spring Workshop (ITI SpanNet, London) – March 2019
- Machine translation hosted by Jenny Zonneveld (Group Translation Chats) – April 2019
Reports on recent conferences hosted by Jenny Zonneveld (Group Translation Chats) – May 2019- Continuous professional development hosted by Lucy Evans Brooks (Group Translation Chats) – June 2019
- Websites hosted by Allison Wright (Group Translation Chats) – August 2019
- Better Together, so Let’s Connect (PEM Webinar) hosted by the Panhellenic Association of Translators, I was the speaker – September 2019
- Ethical and sustainable marketing hosted by Nicole König (Group Translation Chats) – September 2019
- Copywriting hosted by Andrea Bernard (Group Translation Chats) – October 2019
- VAT and UK’s relationship with other countries in the EU hosted by Lucy Evans Brooks (Group Translation Chats) – November 2019
- Mental health, wellbeing and life/work balance hosted by Sarah Bowyer (Group Translation Chats) – December 2019
2020
- Memsource introduction for translators by Cochrane (YouTube video) – January 2020
- How to keep fit and healthy hosted by Rea Gutzwiller (Group Translation Chats) – February 2020
- Déjà Vu X3 – Training for beginners by Atril Déjà Vu (Proz Webinar on YouTube) – March 2020
- Déjà Vu X3 – Training for advanced users by Atril Déjà Vu (Proz Webinar on YouTube) – March 2020
- Déjà Vu X2 – Aligning files by Atril Déjà Vu (YouTube) – March 2020
- Educating Clients hosted by Ellen Singer (Group Translation Chats) – March 2020
- The Pros and Cons of Doing an MA in Translation hosted by Sue Fortescue (Group Translation Chats) – April 2020
- The Copy Clinic with Katherine Wildman and Leif Kendall (ProCopywriters) – April 2020
Should we adhere to the source text or write a better version? hosted by Jenny Zonneveld (Group Translation Chats) – May 2020- 2019 ITI Conference videos – June 2020
- The Write Stuff Workshop by Ros Schwartz (ITI Cymru Wales) – June 2020
- Translating Without a Source Text – A Hybrid Approach Between Localization and Copywriting (Vistatec webinar) – June 2020
- CAT tools for translators who work with translation agencies hosted by Gwenydd Jones (Group Translation Chats) – July 2020
- ProBlogger Content Sprints by Darren Rowse – July, August and September 2020
- Changes to the profession driven by MT hosted by Ellen Singer (Group Translation Chats) – August 2020
- Client Portals hosted by Rea Gutzwiller (Group Translation Chats) – September 2020
- #CopyCon20 ProCopywriters Conference – October 2020
- METM Revisited – October 2020
- What we learned from the copywriting conference held by ProCopywriters (#CopyCon20) hosted by Andrea Bernard (Group Translation Chats) – October 2020
- What should and what shouldn’t we change when revising a colleague’s translation? hosted by myself (Group Translation Chats) – November 2020
- ITI’s Christmas Hamper including translation slam between Ros Schwartz and Martin Hemmings – December 2020
- Do translations only have to be good enough? hosted by Jane Davis (Group Translation Chats) – December 2020
2021
- Teamwork: the pros and cons of being a lone wolf or a pack animal hosted by Ellen Singer (Group Translation Chats) – January 2021
- Revision and Self-revision Workshop by Brian Mossop (ITI) – February 2021
- CPD Plans for 2021/22 hosted by Jenny Zonneveld (Group Translation Chats) – February 2021
- Editing humanities and social science texts by Maria Sherwood-Smith and Theresa Truax-Gischler (MET workshop) – March 2021
- GDPR for Translators and Interpreters by Viviana Mucharraz (ITI WRG webinar) – March 2021
- Seeing bright light at the end of the tunnel: successful, efficient proofreading by Karen Tkaczyk (MET workshop) – March 2021
- Online Writing skills for Translators by Simon Newsam (ITI Cymru Wales workshop) – March 2021
- Introduction to Keyword research for SEO by Sarah Tamsin (ProCopywriters) – April 2021
- Ask the Client! by Ana Grilo from First Edition Translations (ITI East Anglia webinar) – April 2021
- Why CPD is essential for success (ITI webinar) – April 2021
- Social media for translators hosted by Martina Abagnale (Group Translation Chats) – April 2021
- Fees or Rates? A Discussion on Translation Prices hosted by Robin Humphrey (Group Translation Chats) – May 2021
- Copywriting: What we can (and can’t!) learn from fiction (SENSE SIG Meeting) – May 2021
- ITI Online Conference – May 2021
- ITI Spanish Network Online Spring Event (ITI SpanNet recording) – May 2021
- Should a translator ‘inject’ anything into a translation? hosted by Andrea Garfield-Barkworth (Group Translation Chats) – June 2021
- CAT Tools: a look at the current landscape + Advanced Training in memoQ (MET panel + training) – June 2021
- An Introduction to PerfectIt by Timothy Barton (ITI webinar) – June 2021
- Chopping: In search of better texts – Using Hemingway and Grammarly to improve style hosted by Allison Wright (Group Translation Chats) – July 2021
- Transcreation Essentials by Nina Sattler-Hovdar (Proz.com course) – June/July 2021
