Language Show Live 2013: What language and linguistic skills will native English speakers need in the 21st century?

The seminar discussed how the UK could better equip its next generation to meet the country's linguistic needs. The panel consisted of Peter Downes, Association of School & College Leaders, Helen Campbell, NNI Routes into Languages, Ian Andersen, EC Directorate General for Interpretation, John Worne, British Council, Juliet Park, Director of MFL at Yewlands School, and Nikki Perry, National Association of Language Advisers.

The first point came from John and summed up the whole session: speaking English simply isn't enough in a world where multilingualism is the norm. French, German and Spanish remain the most in-demand languages, but there is an increasing need for emerging languages such as Arabic, Chinese, Portuguese, Italian, Japanese, Russian and Turkish, to meet the country's economic needs. Japan's investment in the UK's car manufacturing industry, China in infrastructure and France in utilities were just some examples given as to why monolingualism is a hindrance to economic development.

Juliet stated how multilingualism is not just for the academic elite - and I can understand her point. Gasps of surprise when you tell others that you speak another language are far too common. The idea that if you learn a language, you need to be fluent to make use of it can be dissuasive. Functional languages skills applicable to the workplace are what is needed, and fluency is not necessary to use language in the workplace.

Ian highlighted that the main mission for schools in this regard is not to discourage the learning of languages. There are still teaching methods employed that are too academic and old-fashioned, instead of engaging and appealing. The goal should be to help maintain a lifelong interest in language learning, and offer an insight into how to speak like a German or think like a Frenchman, which in turn will help one to understand one's language. Ian stated that British civil servants are among the best trained in the world, but the fact that they lack the language skills inhibits their career prospects, leaving them unable to access the EU; rather than linguists, the UK need economists, administrators and lawyers who speak another language, for example.

Nikki raised the point that language teaching scores pupils down on what they can't do rather than scoring them up on what they can do. In 2014, language teaching will at long last be rolled out in primary schools, but just 2.5 hours per week is dedicated to this at secondary school.

Helen took the approach that forcing children and teenagers who are not and never will be interested in languages to learn them may not be the best way to do it. Primary school pupils should be given a good grounding in a common foreign languages, in a light-hearted and non-academic way, in order to diversify later on. If they are not interested by the time they are teenagers, let them drop it, Helen argued, rather than flogging the proverbial horse.

Peter rounded off the discussion by stating it is well established that it's harder to achieve a good grade in a foreign language than in other subjects. Moreover, everyone should not be expected to reach the same high level in all four disciplines of speaking, reading, writing and listening. Certainly, as a translator and not an interpreter, my speaking and listening in particular is not as up-to-scratch as my reading and writing.

The seminar was overall very thought-provoking in addressing these urgent issues, and the concerns highlighted in the discussion will actually be submitted in a report to the government.

Language Show Live 2013: A Day in the Life of an Interpreter

Valeria Aliperta gave a presentation on A Day in the Life of an Interpreter at the Language Show Live 2013. Translation and Interpreting are two highly connected, yet separate, industries. Whereas I only work in the latter, I thought it would be useful to gain an insight into my sister industry.

Valeria and me at the
Language Show Live 2013

Interpreters are super heroes, Valeria started off by saying. Their hours are long and taxing, they require hardcore training, they need to perform promptly and instantaneously, and they need to have a profound knowledge of their specialist areas. But it's a rewarding career nonetheless.

Valeria explained the various types of interpreting, such as corporate, conference, court and live events, each with their various merits and drawbacks. Corporate interpreting allows a close relationship with your client...conference interpreting not so much. In some types, more so than others, the client may speak too quickly and it's hard to keep up. Court interpreting could entail long delays and there's a chance that the defendant won't even show up!

Val gave some tips and tricks to the audience, though. Firstly, her interpreting checklist, including your computer, headphones, cables, USB sticks, pen, paper, post-its, deodorant  snacks, tissues and spare batteries.

She also shared some wise pieces of advice: know your topics, don't go hungry, look after your voicebox, ask questions and above all...heart what you do.

Create your own niche and your own market, Valeria recommended, by specialising and doing what you do best, in order to be competitive.

Questions from the audience included how to recover from making mistakes, to which Val replied: work in pairs...it's like having a proofreader for a translation. The audience were also curious about up-and-coming language pairs, and, like in translation, German appears to be in high demand at the moment.

Finally, a question came about how to balance your work if you are a translator and interpreter. Why not partner up? Share your workload with others (provided the client is aware of this). And ask for flexibility from your client. If you're good, they'll want you and they'll oblige.

Language Show Live 2013: Translation and Interpreting Leaders' Panel Discussion

Saturday started with the Translation and Interpreting Leaders' Panel Discussion with four representatives of UK agencies: Clare Suttie of Atlas Translations, Lynn Everson of Lifeline Language Services Limited, Miguel Martinez of Hogarth Worldwide and Tanya Behiels of APT Transtelex.

The panellists were first asked to explain where the demand lies and to tackle the precarious issue of rates. One of the core sources of business is of course the EU and its major languages (so-called FIGS, i.e. French, Italian, German and Spanish...and Dutch), although the demand from Chinese is continuously increasing, according to Clare. The key points regarding rates were that it is the translator who is in control, and freelancers should aim to increase rates appropriately each year in line with experience and professional development. It is natural for a translator to charge an additional fee for more challenging jobs and for urgent jobs, but a piece of advice here was to offer two quotes: one that meets the urgent deadline with an extra charges, and another at your normal rate for a normal deadline. Translators will find that agency pay various according to countries, with Scandinavia and France as particular examples of countries that typically pay higher than the UK.

The downward pressure of prices was of course discussed, one cause of which is the use of machine translation and post-editing, and the panel highlighted that translators have a responsibility not to accept low rates, as this will become expected by clients thereafter.

Great emphasis was of course placed on specialising, and the advice was not only to become an expert, but become the expert for a particular field.

The audience was naturally curious about the qualifications required to be a freelance translator/interpreter. Atlas Translations, for example, looks for a postgraduate qualification in the field and 2 years' experience, or 5 years without a Master's or equivalent, as these agencies want their suppliers to be qualified and want them to take charge of their professional development. In terms of in-house employment, many agencies do recruit language graduates with a BA who don't possess a postgraduate qualification. These agencies actively enjoy taking on these graduates, and mentoring and training the next generation.

One point about experience was that aspiring translators should seek to develop their portfolio of volunteer (pro bono) translation, and it may not be necessary to highlight this on your CV as being unpaid, as it is as valuable as paid experience. Taking up a role as a project manager, however, may also be a good way to get a foot in the door, and to see how the translation industry works from 'the other side'.

Language Show Live 2013: Sat 19/10/13 08:57

Good morning everyone!

I'm currently twenty minutes outside of London, travelling down for this year's Language Show Live. Dozens of exhibitors will be promoting language learning products, linguistic services, foreign travel, study abroad programmes and the like. Many teachers travel to the exhibition each year to discover the latest techniques in language teaching. Moreover, there are free several language taster sessions on offer over the three days. However, I am travelling down namely for the broad range of seminars. 

To get the best out of this weekend, I've carefully planned what I hope to do today and tomorrow:

A packed programme, as you can see. Of course, I don't expect it all to go to plan, particularly with half of the London Underground closed this weekend, but I'll do my best.

If you'll be at the Language Show yourself this Saturday or Sunday, why not tweet me? I'd love to meet colleagues and fellow other industry professionals in person, which is a rare privilege due to the nature of the job, as you'll all know. If not, you can keep up to date with blog posts and tweets from me. Whatever you're doing, have a great weekend.