‘Minutes are worth more than money. Spend them wisely.’ ~Thomas P. Murphy
An award-winning, qualified personal performance coach and experienced English-to-French translator, Christelle Maignan is passionate about coaching fellow freelance translators, whether they are new to the profession or have decades of experience under their linguistic belt. With a keen interest in personal development, and over 15 years of experience in the translation industry, coaching seemed like the next logical step in Christelle’s career.
As I draw this series to a close and reflect on 2016, my overriding need and desire remain managing my time better so I can fit everything in: work, family and me-time. I’ve been struggling because family issues have swallowed up huge chunks of my time and look as if they will continue to require my attention for some months to come. Going forward, I’ll have to try to focus harder on what matters and get my priorities right by being more organised and ruthless because I haven’t always achieved everything I set out to do. On that note, I found this short TED Talk by Laura Vanderkam incredibly inspiring.
It’s nearly December now and here I am just getting around to writing about last month. Following weeks of working on one project after another, and being lucky enough for clients to agree to wait in the queue, I’m finally enjoying a bit of breathing space. Hopefully it won’t signal a famine period for me as I am only free because I couldn’t make the deadline for one largish project and didn’t fancy anything else I was offered.
I’d always planned to become a translator. The career seemed to fit my abilities and interests well so the die was cast on my academic path. The translation modules I did as part of my undergraduate degree in Modern Language Studies (French, Spanish and Dutch) only whetted my appetite further for continuing my study of translation. Then, as if almost by a stroke of fate, just as I was starting my final undergraduate year, the university’s Cultures, Languages and Area Studies department announced that they would be introducing a postgraduate programme in Translation Studies – with the option to study interpreting as a supplementary module. I leapt at the chance to apply for a place as soon as I could, and so began my
Today’s guest post is by Deepti Limaye and it’s our second on an MA course outside Europe.
I’m posting this rather late because October has been another busy month for me work- and family-wise. It’s also been quite hectic on the blog with the start of the
As I sat on a boat to Hvar, Croatia, knowing that I wanted to leave my job and mulling over the options available to me, I had my lightbulb moment: “I know,” I thought, “I’ll go back to university to study for a Masters in translation.”
Back in July and August I ran a 