Christian Nielsen-Palacios is a man who has learned the meaning of the word “enough”. At 65, with two grown-up sons, a steady stream of texts from his favourite agencies, his house in upstate New York paid for, and all his essential bills covered, he’s reached a place of satisfaction that will no doubt be the envy of many. But it’s been a long and winding journey, which began far from where he is now, with several serendipitous events as milestones along the way...

Andrew Morris

Generations of kids have been transfixed by the cartoons of Loony Tunes, Bugs Bunny and Daffy Duck into global celebrities. Cartoons are said to increase creativity, language development, promote laughter and relieve stress, while giving toddlers a window on another world. Detractors say they encourage violence and lack of empathy. Whatever the pros and cons, they played a significant role in the living room of a family home in Moinești in Eastern Romania, where the young Leda Costea was fascinated by the characters and the strange sounds that came out of their mouths. 

Andrew Morris

Aktan Aydoğmus is firing on all cylinders – a man at the top of his game. When not interpreting at international conferences for the UN or NGOs, he’ll be at the Ministry of Family, or of Justice, or Health or Fisheries, in his home city of Ankara, attending high-level talks on the pandemic, the ongoing war, fish stocks in the Mediterranean or other weighty political matters. Given that Turkey occupies a very strategic geopolitical position, there’s always plenty to say. And seeing as these talks often spill over into dinners, the working day can be long. But Aktan has all the energy required for the job, and plenty more to spare…

Andrew Morris

What chance do you have when your grandmother steals into your bedroom and whispers “Bonne nuit, good night, Gute Nacht and buona notte” – along with your native Martinican into your ear every night as she tucks you into bed? None, basically – you’re hooked on the incantatory magic of foreign languages from your most formative years. Languages come intimately bundled up with feelings of warmth, security and love – and you’re won over for the rest of your days.

Andrew Morris

Whatever route our journey towards freelance translation or interpreting has taken, the chances are that along the way, there have been a few key figures who’ve helped us, and pointed us in a certain direction. A parent, perhaps, a boss, or a mentor within the profession. In the case of Daniel Coria in his late teens in Buenos Aires, that role was played by an inspirational English teacher, who not only spotted his classwork but actively encouraged him towards a career in translation, putting him in touch with contacts of hers in the local industry. And the rest, as they say, is his story.

Andrew Morris

Back in our schooldays, our teachers would tut-tut if we ever used the expression “very unique”. “Unique” is an absolute, they’d say, with no degrees of relativity. Well, having spent an hour in the delightful company of Ana Laila Hagen, I beg to differ. “Very unique” is the perfect way to describe her…

Andrew Morris

In our younger years, our dreams of what we’ll do when we grow up can vary wildly. Firefighter? Astronaut? Sports star? Or perhaps increasingly these days, the most common aspiration is merely to be famous…

Now picture a young Bart Roelands growing up in the southern region of the Netherlands, not far from Eindhoven, feasting on TV series featuring famous lawyers such as Perry Mason or Matlock, and planning to follow in their footsteps, valiantly convincing judges with the sheer force of their arguments. Or alternatively reading One Hercule Poirot novel after another (in English, if you please), being transfixed by David Suchet’s definitive onscreen performances, and harbouring hopes of one day being a great detective.

Andrew Morris

Some translators are born into cosmopolitan, international households. Others have linguistic aptitude in their genes because of a long family history of learning and speaking foreign tongues, along with copious amounts of travel and exposure throughout their childhood and adolescence… and still others appear out of nowhere, landing like alien beings in a family with neither an interest in nor a history of languages, inexplicably showing up with the language gene. And not only that, but going on to make a living out of it.

Andrew Morris

For some of us it’s the first magical encounter with an exotic culture on a childhood holiday, or an (imaginary) love affair with a faraway star singing in a foreign language, but for the young Simon Barnes, it was the quiet presence at home of his father’s French and German books that provided the first gateway to a new world. There can’t have been many shelves lined with such books in the small Leicestershire town of Market Bosworth (the scene of a defining battle in a civil war that marked England’s history), but then again his father had started out as a French and German teacher, before leaving to work for Rolls Royce.

Andrew Morris

Like a trail of breadcrumbs in a fairytale, we can trace Elke Fehling’s love for languages all the way back through the decades. Her mother, who had been an au pair, was keen for her daughters to learn to speak other languages, so she encouraged them to watch Sesame Street from a young age (in English with German subtitles, which the 4-year-old Elke couldn’t read). Along with family trips to Italy and Spain, that early exposure sowed the seeds and inspired a sense of the magical properties of foreign languages.

Andrew Morris

In some ways, Jonathan Downie’s journey to the prominent position he now occupies within the interpreting industry occurred against the odds. Being born on a working-class council housing estate in the West of Scotland to a father who worked on the country’s railways, and a mother who took on various jobs over the years, didn’t exactly point straight to a degree, a Master’s, a doctorate, and a career in languages, with extensive research work and the publishing of two acclaimed books along the way.

Andrew Morris

The answers ranged from “None whatsoever” to “I would not be able to function without it”. But what was the question? 

Andrew Morris

In the series on 50 Steps to optimising your ProZ Profile being discussed at the Translators and Interpreters (ProZ.com) facebook group, group moderator and author Andrew Morris has turned the group's attention to recommendations.

Mike Donlin