ITI ScotNet Newsletter December 2015

December 2015

ITI SCOTNET NEWSLETTER

Isabel Hurtado de Mendoza MITI Tel: 07762 300068 / +34670488288 ITI Scottish Network Newsletter Editor Email: [email protected]

Is it time to make a change? Change is inevitable, and it comes in all

sorts of shapes and sizes. It can come fast

and unexpectedly as a result of

“sentimental reasons”, for example, as

happened to Lynda Hepburn. Or it can be

slow and predictable, like a project you’ve

been giving a lot of thought too, such as

publishing an academic book.

Humans tend to dislike change, but

sometimes it’s for the best. Now that

2015 is almost over, it might be a good

moment to sit still and seriously consider

if we could benefit from getting out of our

comfort zones in the New Year.

Alison Hughes taught us how to acquire a

new specialisation on a budget. Maybe you

could try a field you’re passionate about

to complement the one that pays the bills.

Or you could attend an intensive course

and finally embrace social media. I will

attempt to make friends with Dragon

Naturally Speaking. Anyone care to join

me?

You could also decide to work less and

read more. Perhaps a book from each

country in the world? Make sure you write

a review or two for us!

Whatever you do, take the bull by the

horns and make the most of it!

Isabel ♦

Change is the law of life. And those who

look only to the past or present are

certain to miss the future.

~ John F. Kennedy

Photo: Joshua De

Inside this issue

Dates for your diary 2

Expenses, expenses… 3

Engaging audioguides? 4

Bookworm adventures 6

Song in translation: Scotland, Russia and the

music of language 12

Cool customers 15

An Edinburgh translator in Italy 17

ScotNetter turns published author 20

Member news 23

ScotNet grants 24

Looking forward to the next issue… 24

Your committee at a glance 25

mailto:[email protected]

https://unsplash.com/photos/zUf0Qxlr1GU

ITI ScotNet Newsletter Page 2

Dates for your diary

ITI ScotNet AGM & Christmas lunch and “It’s not

what you spend but the way you spend it”:

Saturday 5th December, National Piping Centre,

30-34 McPhater St., Glasgow. Alison Hughes’

free workshop will start at 9:30 and the AGM at

11:00 (with tea and biscuits before, as usual!).

For further information, please check out the

call notice here.

ITI ScotNet 2016 workshops: Bought your new

diary but still have nothing to write in it? Let’s

fix that straight away! Save the date for these

two ITI Scottish Network events: 5th March

(Edinburgh) — spring workshop; 21st May

(Dunkeld) — summer weekend workshop.

Further details to come soon!

The Scottish Society of the Chartered Institute

of Linguists (CIoL): Please remember to check

the CIoL website for information on their

upcoming events:

www.ciol.org.uk/index.php?option=com_conte

nt&view=article&layout=coil:norelated&id=247

&Itemid=687.

Setting Up as a Freelance Translator ITI Online

Course: January-March 2016. Over more than

20 hours of webinars and individual sessions,

you will learn how to develop a freelance

translation business and gain an understanding

of how the translation market operates. For

more information visit

www.iti.org.uk/professional-development-

events/iti-online-courses.

ITI CPD workshop “High Level Writing With

Style”: 29th January, 10:00-16:00, Milton

Keynes Business Centre. This workshop takes a

close and analytical look at the challenges of

writing for a specialist audience or on specialist

technical subjects such as business, finance

and science. Tickets are £89 for ITI members.

For further details, visit


events/iti-events-

calendar/icalrepeat.detail/2016/01/29/2604/-

/high-level-writing-with-style.

ITI CPD workshop “Make an Impact with Social

Media and Digital Marketing How to

effectively market yourself online in 2016”: 26th

February, 9:30-15:00, Milton Keynes Business

Centre. During this interactive session, you will

go through the dos and don’ts of online

marketing and social media, and talk about

content marketing. For further details, visit


events/iti-events-

calendar/icalrepeat.detail/2016/02/26/2664/-

/make-an-impact-with-social-media-and-

digital-marketing-how-to-effectively-market-

yourself-online-in-2016.

For more events, remember to visit www.iti.org.uk, where you will find the

International Calendar of Events (ICE), or our own website www.itiscotland.org.uk/diary.

And, if you would like to advertise your own event, please get in touch with us:

[email protected]

http://www.itiscotland.org.uk/diary

http://www.ciol.org.uk/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&layout=coil:norelated&id=247&Itemid=687



http://www.iti.org.uk/professional-development-events/iti-online-courses

http://www.iti.org.uk/professional-development-events/iti-online-courses

http://www.iti.org.uk/professional-development-events/iti-events-calendar/icalrepeat.detail/2016/01/29/2604/-/high-level-writing-with-style




http://www.iti.org.uk/professional-development-events/iti-events-calendar/icalrepeat.detail/2016/02/26/2664/-/make-an-impact-with-social-media-and-digital-marketing-how-to-effectively-market-yourself-online-in-2016






http://www.iti.org.uk/

http://www.itiscotland.org.uk/diary



Expenses, expenses…

On 3rd October, ScotNetters met at a new venue, the Royal Over-Seas League (Edinburgh)

for their autumn workshop. New member Katherine Wren reports on Alison Hughes’

popular event.

As a new translator (German>English) with

around two years’ experience working in the

music industry, I have been considering

membership of the ITI for a while. When I saw

details of the ITI Scottish Network’s autumn

workshop on Twitter, I decided that it was

too good an opportunity to miss. Further

encouraged by a friendly reply from Alison

Hughes, I decided to take the plunge and see

what the ITI had to offer me.

Alison Hughes

Elena Zini’s opening gambit was to ask who

was new to the network. I stuck my hand up

and was informed that tradition has it that

new members write a report on their first

impressions and was I up for it? To be

honest, I thought she was joking at first, and

in any case I had to own up to not yet being a

member. This was simply met by friendly

comments that I would now have to join!

Actually, “friendly” was the overwhelming

impression that I took home with me from

the workshop.

The title of the workshop, led by Alison

Hughes, was “It’s not what you spend, but

the way you spend it”. The first session

focused on non-negotiable expenses such as

publicity materials, websites, ITI

membership, CPD and CAT tools. While I was

aware of all of these, there were numerous

additional tips, such as using postcards to

make a bigger impression than the

ubiquitous business cards and tailoring

approaches to individual clients, with a letter

often making a bigger impression than email.

Networking is definitely not something I find

easy (I’m aware I may not be alone in this!)

but the message from Alison was very much

to seize opportunities. The more you

practise, the better you will become at it.

Clever ways of doing this, and also of

accruing CPD on a budget, included

volunteering to help at events, often in

exchange for free or reduced entry.

After a short break, with the opportunity to

put those networking skills into practice(!),

the attention turned towards creative ways of

approaching CPD and marketing without

breaking the bank. Alison continually

While it’s important to network with other translators, it’s at least as

important to attend events in your specialist area, making contacts and

keeping abreast of the language used in your area of expertise.


emphasised the need to engage with

potential clients. Again, there were things

that I hadn’t thought of that would help me

grow my new business. While it’s important

to network with other translators, it’s at least

as important to attend events in your

specialist area, making contacts and keeping

abreast of the language used in your area of

expertise. For those of us working in the

cultural and leisure industries, it can be fun,

too!

I left the session feeling that I had learned an

awful lot. I’d also connected with a lot of

people, ranging from other people like me,

just starting out, through people I’d known

on my MA course but not met for a while, to

people with years of experience who were

happy to connect with me and offer advice.

Will I be joining the ITI? You bet!

Katherine is a German

into English translator

specialising in culture

(particularly classical

music) and sport.

Contact: [email protected]

www.katherinewrentranslator.co.uk

Engaging audioguides?

I bet you’ve used a museum audioguide in the past. Some of you might have even

translated their scripts. But did you ever reflect on the translation process behind these

guides and their impact on museum visitors? Here Sarah Tolley reports on an event

discussing this.

Edinburgh University’s Language Department

held its first research seminar in the new

academic year on Wednesday 23 September.

Dr Sharon Deane-Cox was there to tell the

40-odd students and faculty about her

research into the way translations facilitate

access to the past for visitors to French

museums that contextualise events that took

place during World War II. Her talk was

entitled ‘Engaging audioguides?’ and she

used two translations of audioguides: one

from the Museum in Oradour-sur-Seine and

one from the Museum of Resistance and

Deportation in Besançon.

Dr Dean-Cox at Edinburgh University


http://www.katherinewrentranslator.co.uk/


Her method involves using the transcripts of

the original text and the translation for

comparative analysis, applying Michael

Halliday’s theory about language function.

She illustrated her approach with extracts

from the Besançon audioguide, which

provides an English language voice-over, and

allows the original words of the French

witnesses to be heard. Some wonderful

mistranslations were noted, but in general,

she thought that the voice-over was less

appropriating, allowing the original

intonations and emotion to be heard, and

providing a better sense of a real person.

The other case study featured an English

translation that mediated a more distanced

and factual version of the original script,

which was voiced by famous French actors.

This example raised issues about the way

meanings are negotiated, and how this can

affect the ability of visitors to empathise with

the museum’s presentation of past events.

Indeed, Dr Dean-Cox’s research uses the

concept of ‘prosthetic memory’, a term

coined by Alison Landsberg to describe the

way technologies of mass culture make it

possible for anyone to assimilate as personal

experience historical events that they

themselves did not live through. It was

fascinating to consider the extent to which

translations of relevant audioguides can

hinder or enable this process, and the

audience was keen to discuss Dr Deane-

Cox’s research after she finished her talk.

Sarah translates from

French and German into

English. Her specialist

areas are: art, art history,

history, architecture,

travel.


www.Tolleytranslationservices.co.uk

Dr Dean-Cox’s research uses the concept of ‘prosthetic memory’, a

term coined by Alison Landsberg to describe the way technologies of mass culture make it possible for anyone to assimilate as personal experience historical events that

they themselves did not live through.


http://www.tolleytranslationservices.co.uk/


Bookworm adventures

It’s no coincidence that translators love reading, so year after year a healthy

representation of the ITI Scottish Network attends various events at the Edinburgh

International Book Festival. This summer, Hugh, Katrin and Barbara volunteered to report

on their experience.

Stories without borders

By Katrin Frahm

Leafing through the Edinburgh Book Festival

2015 brochure, one event caught my eye

immediately. In “Stories without borders”,

moderated by Daniel Hahn, Michael Hofman

and Ann Morgan promised to enlighten their

audience on the question of whether it is

possible to enjoy a book in translation just as

much as in the original and the role

translation plays in introducing works of

literature written in other languages to a

broader, international audience.

Michael Hofman and Dr Anne Stokes, Course Director

of Stirling University’s MRes in Translation Studies and

herself a German to English literary translator (e.g. of

German poet Sarah Kirsch)

The event started with Ann Morgan and

Michael Hofman providing an insight into

their different approaches to reading in their

youth.

Although having regarded herself as a

“cosmopolitan”, Ann Morgan had only ever

read British and North American literature in

English in her youth and stated that she had

“distrusted” translations. This provided her

with the idea for her book “Reading the

world”, in which she described her

experience of reading one book from every

country over the period of one year. The

books were recommended to her by book

enthusiasts from all over the world and were

meant to be representative of their countries

of origin. In the process, she did of course

have to rely on translations. This posed a

problem, as there was a much larger

selection of suitable works available from

India, compared to a very limited choice of

books from francophone Africa that were

available in English translation. I started

wondering how many literary gems we were

missing out on as they never made it to

translation?

Compared to Ann Morgan, Michael Hofman,

award-winning poet and translator, had had

an entirely different experience of reading in

his youth. He described that, as a young

man, the works of “world literature” like

those by Gabriel Garcia Marquez and Gogol’s

“Dead Souls” had graced his bookshelves.

Hofman had just published his collection of

critical essays “Where have you been” about

authors whose books he had read, and was

able to read, in the original.


As many of us have to rely on translation

when reading books in languages that we do

not speak, this poses the interesting

question of whether it is of vital importance

to the reader, namely for their enjoyment/

understanding of the book, in which

language a book has

originally been written or if

language played just a

“trivial” part if something

similar could also be written

in another language. In his

attempt to answer this

question, Michael Hofman highlighted the

differences between translating novels and

poems. In his opinion, a novel, even in

translation, retains “something” of the

original whereas with a poem “everything can

get lost in translation”. He described the task

of the translator as “ferrying stories across”

and trying to meet the challenge of creating

an “experience”. The English translation of a

German literary work can at times be

“fortified” with “German elements”, i.e.

German words like “Wurst” and “Schnapps” to

create a feeling for the original cultural

setting. I agree with Hofman who states that

a translation of a work of literature attempts

to provide “as rich an experience as possible”

and that in this process, the target language

has at times to “express things for which it

was not originally meant”. I found his view

that a translator cannot be “invisible” and

that every literary translation is a “game

between reader, author and translator” very

descriptive, engaging and — above all —

reassuring. Michael Hofman, who translates

works by the contemporary Swiss writer Peter

Stamm into English, stated that he found it

easier here to produce a translation that

reads like an original as there is little in

Stamm’s books that links them particularly to

Switzerland. When translating more difficult

concepts of other authors (e.g. the

experience of life on a Paris estate), he

recommends “translating like for like”, i.e.

substitution with an element that readers of

the translation are “familiar” with in their

culture (e.g. life on an

estate in London’s

Brixton) and so helping

the reader of the

translated work to “stay

at home”.

As someone who readily grew up surrounded

by international works of literature and has

enjoyed many books in translation since, I

was somewhat surprised to learn that a

general “distrust” in translation as a practice

prevents many people from reading literature

in translation altogether. Maybe my

judgement is clouded here and this topic

would lend itself for discussion in our

ScotNet group over the Christmas lunch?

Swiss author Peter Stamm (right) in discussion with his

translator Michael Hofmann

Another most interesting point touched upon

in Morgan’s and Hofman’s talk was the

notion of “world literature”. They alerted their

audience to the fact that “world literature”

I was somewhat surprised to learn that a general “distrust” in

translation as a practice prevents many people from reading literature

in translation altogether.


was usually displayed on a separate shelf in

bookstores (alongside other classifications of

literary works such as “women’s writing” or

“military writing”) and that separate tables for

“foreign books” in bookstores, which are

meant to attract attention, often made us feel

like entering a “quarantine zone” from

“literature proper”.

Furthermore, they stressed that it is a

selective process which determines which

books are actually translated — in the past,

publishers often had a special interest in

particular books from certain countries to

emphasise selected aspects they wished to

draw attention to. Interesting points to

consider when trying to determine one’s

understanding of “world literature”. Is the

latter simply literature from all over the world

and should we have a further classification of

“global literature” to refer to globally

successful literature?

Hofman stated that translators play another

important role — it is the translator who

often spots talented young writers from

another culture, and new media like Twitter

with #translationthursday encourage

translators, readers and publishers to

cooperate in looking for new talent.

I found it encouraging to hear that there is

an expectation of a translator to “champion a

cause”, of starting a wider discussion on

topics like what expectations we have of

literature.

With their engaging talk, which touched on

so many interesting points too numerous to

mention here, Ann Morgan and Michael

Hofman certainly provided much food for

thought and time just flew by! It was also

great to see a good number of ScotNetters at

the event — all engaging in a lively

discussion afterwards.

Katrin’s working

languages are English

and German. She

specialises in education,

science and technology.


Nothing but the poem - Poetry in

translation

By Hugh Fraser

Having done some poetry translation in the

past, I went along to this workshop at the

Edinburgh International Book Festival.

The event was led by Jennifer Williams of the

Scottish Poetry Library (gorgeous place — if

you haven’t been there, I warmly recommend

going along to soak in the airy, liberating

vibe). The audience consisted of about 15

people sitting round in rather a cosy circle in

the “Writers’ Retreat”, a particularly intimate

little tent at the Book Festival. Jennifer was

assisted by a Polish writer called Agata

Maslowska.

In short, the event involved us giving our

opinions on existing English translations of

various Polish and Hungarian poems. Before

we started, Jennifer pointed us to a lovely

quotation by the recently deceased Swedish

poet Tomas Tranströmer, which is probably

the thing that made the biggest impression

on me at the whole event:



“Let me sketch two ways of looking at a

poem. You can perceive a poem as an

expression of the life of the language itself,

something organically grown out of the very

language in which it is

written — in my case,

Swedish. A poem

written by the Swedish

language through me.

Impossible to carry over

into another language.

“Another, and contrary, view is this: the

poem as it is presented is a manifestation of

another, invisible poem, written in a

language behind the common languages.

Thus, even the original version is a

translation. A transfer into English or

Malayalam is merely the invisible poem’s new

attempt to come into being. The important

thing is what happens between the text and

the reader. Does a really committed reader

ask if the written version he reads is the

original or a translation?”

Jennifer was very much for the second

interpretation — she doesn’t buy into

negative definitions of poetry (think

traduttore, traditore). But she also urged us,

if ever we are reading a bilingual book of

poems, not to ignore the “foreign language”

part of the book (even if we don’t know a

word of the language), because even the

physical shape of the original can help us to

better understand the poet’s intentions.

Once we had got into the main part of the

workshop, we read poems by three different

poets, none of whom, I am afraid, I had

heard of: Wislawa Szymborska, Zbigniew

Herbert (both Polish) and Attila József

(Hungarian). It was very helpful to have

Agata, our Polish writer, there, as her

readings of the Polish poems, although

incomprehensible to most of us — me

included — gave us real insights into the feel

of the original poems,

and hence into what had

been lost, or retained, or

added, in the

translations.

The event was not aimed

especially at translators. I, as a translator,

already knew that it was possible to translate

the same text in very different ways; the

same was not true for the non-translators

present, however, and much hilarity ensued

as five different existing translations of

Szymborska’s poem Some Like Poetry

(Niektórzy lubią poezję) were read out. As an

example of the kind of variation we saw, the

last two words (“zbawiennej poreczy”) were

variously translated as “a saving hand-rail”,

“a saving bannister”, “a redemptive handrail”,

“a sustaining railing” and “a life line”!

I didn’t learn anything very concrete at the

workshop, but arguably nothing to do with

poetry should be about “learning anything

concrete” anyway. The event definitely did its

job of deepening my enthusiasm for reading

and translating poetry.

Hugh works from

German and Russian

into English, mainly

doing promotional and

technical texts.


www.frasertranslations.co.uk

The event definitely did its job of deepening my enthusiasm for reading and translating poetry.


http://www.frasertranslations.co.uk/


Translation duels: French — Ros Schwartz

vs. Frank Wynne

By Barbara Bonatti Divers

Frank Wynne, Ros Schwartz and Daniel Hahn

Translation duels are a relatively new and

hugely popular feature at the Edinburgh

International Book Festival. Their formula is

simple: give two English translators the same

excerpt from a foreign book to translate

prior to the event, then ask them to comment

on dissimilarities in front of an audience.

Knowledge of the original language is not

required, which is why my basic French and I

were happy to attend: I had met Ros

Schwartz at the ITI Conference in May and

simply wanted to see her in action.

On the stage with Ros, who since 1980 has

translated authors such as Simenon and St

Exupéry, was Frank Wynne, author of I was

Vermeer and translator from Spanish and

French of Allende and Lemaitre, among

others. Daniel Hahn, author and translator in

his own right, competently chaired the event

with tongue-in-cheek humour.

Frank and Ros had been assigned a piece

from Flaubert’s Madame Bovary; they were

given the first chance to see each other’s

work while the audience took their seats.

They both looked a little nervous as they set

out to justify their stylistic choices. Just as

Daniel began assuring us that the word

“duel” does not imply violence on stage, Ros

murmured something inaudible and he

conceded that blood may be shed after all:

he observed how fitting it was that both

translators had won a Dagger Award and

suggested they throw trophies at each other

at the height of discussions.

We were all handed a copy of the original

excerpt and both translations, a PDF of which

you can find in a ScotNet Yahoo folder. The

translated pieces were first presented one

after the other, then again side by side and

sentence by sentence to enhance any

dissimilarity. It was clear from the first

paragraph that both translators had taken

some liberties and Hahn was not going to let

them pass unobserved:

Structure Ros admitted she dislikes

semicolons and tends to use full stops

instead. As a result her piece had 7

sentences more than Frank’s.

Whose voice is it anyway? Both translators

were clearly familiar with Flaubert’s novel

and felt the urge to influence the readers’

perception of the characters: they could not

help putting their own words in Charles

Bovary’s mouth, to either make him sound

more pleading (Ros: “Tell me I did”) or hurt

by Emma’s rudeness (Frank: “Well, now...”).

Frank went a step further by writing that

Emma “pretended not to hear”, rather than

“seemed not to hear”, but readily admitted it

was a liberty he should not have taken.

https://groups.yahoo.com/neo/groups/iti-scotnet/files/Translation%20Duel%20-%20EIBF%202015/


Accuracy Ros did not like Emma’s elbow

“on the edge of her plate” (“It would tip over,

surely!?”) so she opted for elbow “on the

table”.

The rendition of “ancienne pouliche” (old

filly) spurred quite a debate: both translators

opted for “mare” (or “old mare”), but Sabine

Citron from the audience remarked that

Flaubert’s intention had presumably been to

show Charles’ incompetence in equine

matters, which was lost in both translations.

As for the poor animal’s knee problem

(“un peu couronnée”), Ros went to great

lengths to find out exactly what it was (she

even consulted a horse specialist vet),

whereas Frank preferred to go for a simpler,

more colloquial rendition (“buck-kneed”).

“Son mari [...] lui trouva bonne mine” was

respectively translated by Ros as “Her

husband remarked that she had some colour

on her cheeks”, by Frank as “Her husband [...]

felt there was a healthy glow about her” and

by Google as “Her husband found her good

looks” (comment by Hahn: “One wonders

where?”).

Frank could not bear to

translate “joncs” with

“bulrushes”, as he

associates these with

Moses. He blamed his

Sunday school memories

for it, to which Ros

replied that she is Jewish

and they have Moses,

too, but the bulrushes gave her no trouble.

However, she did spend quite some time

listening to recordings of wind blowing

through them, to finally establish whether

they whistle, whisper or sigh.

ScotNet bookworms

Then Frank said something that caused a stir

among the Romance languages speakers in

the audience: he claimed that the Spanish

and French LOVE repetitions — unlike the

English — making them challenging

languages to translate. Knowing how Italians

ABHOR repetitions — unlike English! — I had

my doubts about this, which were confirmed

by numerous shaking heads in the audience.

For lack of a Dagger, a senior French lady

grabbed the microphone to challenge him,

but still left him unmoved (and mercifully

unscathed).

Overall, it transpired that

Ros had strayed a bit

more from the source

than Frank. A translator

chap in the audience

asked Ros what makes

her go for more liberal

translations and

explained that he also translates rather

liberally, possibly to rebel against his very

strict mother (a maths teacher). Her answer

was that her aim is to achieve the same

feeling, music and general response as the

original, rather than to be loyal to individual

sentences.

Frank’s translation, with its poetic and antiquated language, evokes

the right atmosphere, flows harmoniously and arouses more emotions in me as a reader than

Ros’s does.


Throughout the event Ros appeared a little

more defensive than Frank, while he readily

offered her his admiration for her work and

more than once conceded that her renditions

were better than his. I wonder now whether

he did it out of gallantry, or because the best

defence is flattery. It certainly did not do him

much favour at the time: I remember being

unimpressed by his lack of assertiveness and

conviction in his own choices. When I got

home, however, and had a chance to properly

read the two translations in full, I rather

changed my mind. Frank’s translation, with

its poetic and antiquated language, evokes

the right atmosphere, flows harmoniously

and arouses more emotions in me as a

reader than Ros’s does. I really like his “Do

say” and his “lofty heights” and his “lyric

throng of adulterous women”. I felt a little

sorry for my rushed judgement of him and

rather wished he had been less gallant and

more assertive. This is of course just my

humble opinion. I wonder about yours.

Barbara translates

English into Italian.

Specialisms: tourism

and environment.


Song in translation: Scotland, Russia and the music of

language

So far in this issue, you’ve read about poetry in translation and the impact of translated

audioguides on museum visitors, among others. Not quite the work we deal with on a

daily basis, right? What if we now added that translations sometimes need to sing? Read

Elena Zini’s report if you’d like to find out when!

On Friday the 9th of October I spent an

enchanting evening listening to the songs

and translations performed by Russia-

based Scottish bard Thomas Beavitt at

the Wee Red Bar, in Edinburgh’s Art

College. I came to this event not knowing

exactly what to expect. The atmosphere

was warm, intimate and welcoming. The

stage, dimly lit, induced the audience to

sit close to the speaker. By the end of the

evening, we had been transported to a

world of poetry and fascinating,

sometimes interweaving, stories from

Scotland and Russia through past and

present times.

Thomas Beavitt is a Highland-raised,

Scottish musician and linguist who, at

some point in his career, found himself

naturally looking for a ‘bigger place’ than

his home country, but the American, Bob

Dylan-centred folk music scene was not



the answer he was looking for. After a

chance meeting with a Russian group in

Edinburgh's folk pub Sandy Bell’s, he was

impressed by their positive attitude and

surprisingly deep knowledge of the

Scottish Bard Robert Burns. Following

this, he was invited to perform at the

Moscow City Day festival, where he truly

fell in love with Russian language and

culture. Since then, Beavitt has been

invited to perform at numerous events in

Russia, among which was a sell-out

concert in Moscow dedicated to Robert

Burns’ 250th birthday. Beavitt reflected

that this closeness in the sensitivities of

Russians to those of the Scots was one of

the driving forces in his move to Russia, a

country he declares himself to be

"addicted to" today.

Thomas Beavitt on stage

I was fascinated by the fact that, from the

very start, Thomas Beavitt reiterated

something I had previously heard from

Massimo Bocchiola, an Italian translator

of several books by Irvine Welsh.

Sometimes the standard, official

language of a country does not do justice

to certain types of texts in translation.

Similarly, Thomas Beavitt told us he

found that the Scottish register was more

apt than standard English to translate

certain songs from Russian. The common

thread of the evening was the idea of a

translation of sounds, rather than words,

for, to quote Beavitt, “the sounds of the

languages carry the meaning in a way

that maybe the semantics don’t”.

Music translation, he specified, also

needs to take into account aspects such

as the rhyme scheme, syllable count and

the stress patterns of the original song.

Furthermore, the translator of a poetic

song needs to have a musical sensitivity.

For example, when translating a song

from Vysotsky, which was originally

performed in two versions, one in 3/4

and one in 4/4, in his English version He

hasn’t returned from the battle, Beavitt

used 3/4 and 4/4 rhythms in the same

version. This time signature duality drew

a parallel with the story of the song’s

protagonist, a soldier who has lost a

comrade and, while adjusting to his

death, is living between two realities.

The evening continued with translations

and performances drawn from Thomas

Beavitt’s several works, including

translations into Russian and English

“The sounds of the languages carry the meaning in a way that maybe

the semantics don’t”.


respectively of Burns and Vysotsky. The

latter could be said to have a similar role

to that of the Scottish bard, as a poet

who is “as Russian as they come, but with

a universal character”. To those who may

argue that translating poetry is not

possible, Beavitt opposes the idea that “if

these translations help you into your

appreciation of Vysotsky — and, I would

add, of any poetry and music worth

sharing — my job will have been done”.

When asked about his translation

process, Beavitt explained that he uses

tools such as Wordfast to aid with

terminology, and his approach involves a

first draft translation, then amendments

taking into account the rhyme scheme,

followed by a final adaptation. His focus

is on the fact that “the main point of the

song is to be singable, only then I think

about the meaning. You have to capture

the emotion of the song, if you do that

people will be more forgiving of your

adaptation”.

And indeed, his translations were well

done. Despite having no knowledge of

Russian whatsoever, I thoroughly enjoyed

the songs, which were performed

between storytelling, explanations of

their origins and anecdotes of Beavitt's

life and work. The songs translated into

English seemed to flow naturally, they

had an innate musicality. While my

opinion might not take into account the

Russian text, the members of a Russian

family, who were sitting in the first row,

were vocal admirers of his translations.

During the performance of a very

touching Russian song in its English

translation, the daughter was moved to

tears, and the father proclaimed: “You did

it very, very right”. What better

confirmation could a translator ask for?

Thomas Beavitt is still living in

Ekaterinburg, teaching English and

translating, as well as developing and

performing his bilingual repertoires in

collaboration with Russian musicians,

writers and translators. He is the initiator

and promoter of a project called the

Global Village Bard, which involves

translators, songwriters and bards in an

“attempt to revitalise the traditional role

of the village bard in the context of the

present globalised situation”. You can

listen to Beavitt's songs, watch his videos

and learn more about his project on the

website www.globalvillagebard.org.

This event was part of the ‘Scotland and

Russia: cultural encounters since 1900’

project, organised by Edinburgh

University and sponsored by the Royal

Society of Edinburgh.

Elena translates from

English, Portuguese,

Spanish and French into

Italian. Her specialisms

are: law, media,

literature and art.

Contact: www.elenazini.com

http://www.globalvillagebard.org/

http://www.elenazini.com/


Cool customers

Some time ago, Helen Robertson contacted me about writing a piece on an unusual

translation project of hers. As we discussed the details of her contribution, her

interesting pro-bono work turned into a deeply satisfactory experience. Go on, you know

you want to read all about it!

When a client in Stuttgart first recommended

me to Die Brueder she told me “I hope it

works out, they’re incredibly creative”. One

look at their website confirmed that and I

was hooked. I’ve supported them on a few

communication projects from racing bikes to

wheeled caravans that convert into boats to,

most recently, a music festival — the latter

caused quite a stir on the ScotNet e-group in

the hunt for an English term for “Wegbier”.

Photo credit: Malte Spindler/Die Brueder

Last year they asked for a quote on a non-

profit project of their own, but I quoted at

normal rates and lost the chance. This year, I

wasn't going to let it get away and said “tell

you what, I'll do it for free”. Rare words from

an Aberdonian.

That’s not the interesting bit, though. The

fun freebie was “Is Indie Forever?”, the

second outing for Indiecon, an annual festival

for indie mags (independent magazines: with

presentations in both German and English —

of interest to ScotNetters from both the

linguistic and the content point of view). The

transformation of the media to digital and

the major publishing houses’ search for new

business models make this a super-exciting

field, as the men and women of the indie

scene play their part in supporting the rise of

print.

Held at the palatial Heine-Villa in Hamburg,

this year’s Indiecon included a conference on

28th and 29th August followed by a big Free

Trade Zone for Printed Goods at Hamburg's

Oberhafen on the Sunday which was open to

everyone, independently of Indiecon, a great

chance for people to sell and publicise their

magazines.

It’s aimed at independent magazine (indie

mag) makers, and this year was so small —

100 places were available — that if you

weren’t a mag maker you might have been

pushed to get a ticket. Voluntary helpers are

welcome, though I am very sure their input is

nothing to the unpaid work the creators did.

Indiecon has some public funding and also

generates revenue from ticket sales, but is

far from breaking even at present. While any

I think it would be a great conference for linguists to visit, scrutinise your training budgets!


additional money will be channelled back

into the Conference — co-organiser Urs

Spindler makes it clear that Indiecon will

always be non-profit — it would be great to

be able to pay contributors. The theme was

therefore of crucial interest not only to

delegates, but also to the Indiecon

organisers. An excerpt from the programme:

“The governing question of Indiecon 2015 is:

‘Is Indie Forever?’ — and it's a question that

really pushes our buttons. We've been self-

employed for some years now ourselves and

live by selling our ideas, marketing our

creativity and, not least, from our labours as

copywriters, photographers, graphic artists

and programmers.

The question of survival — what will pay the

bills at the end of the day — will also be part

of this year’s Indiecon. However, we won’t be

content with mere survival. We want to go a

step further and ask: what can our work

achieve, for our environment, the world

around us, the social context we operate in?

What can it contribute to making our world a

fairer, freer, slightly better place for

ourselves and others?

It’s under this banner that we want to talk

with you about independent magazines and

the working and living models behind them:

how they function, what drives them, how

they become stabilised — and what they can

accomplish.”

It was clearly a vibrant event, and my great-

to-work-with contacts Urs Spindler and

Malte Brenneisen — one half of each the two

pairs of brothers for which the company is

named — were still recovering the last time I

was in touch.

Why am I telling you about this in such a dry

fashion instead of producing an up close and

personal reportage as planned? I was meant

to be there helping out and was prevented at

the last minute by urgent personal affairs —

nothing tragic, not even work-related, but it

had to take priority. Maybe I was just scared

of “sitting in [someone’s] lap and interpreting

simultaneously” as offered by the website

Q&A! I’m told that in the end two interpreting

students helped out. Anyway, there’s always

another year, and hopefully many more. I’d

love to meet these guys in person.

I think it would be a great conference for

linguists to visit, scrutinise your training

budgets! I don’t think it conflicts with the

ScotNet summer weekend workshop, either.

There’s one snag — or incentive: bear in

mind that to get right to the top of the list

for tickets you need to be making an indie

mag. There must be room for a few of those

in translation and interpreting…

Indiecon was kindly supported by the

GANSKE VERLAGSGRUPPE, one of the largest

publishers in Germany.

Helen is a German and

Dutch into English

translator. She translates

business, management

and marketing material.


www.hertranslations.co.uk


http://www.hertranslations.co.uk/


An Edinburgh translator in Italy

On a warm summer day, Lynda Hepburn decided to tell us about her lengthy stay in Italy.

But her descriptions of the Italian way of life and the stunning pictures she attached

pushed me to save this article for the snowy winter days. I hope this piece will warm you

up and Italian members will reply to Lynda’s cry for help!

While it is not uncommon for translators to

live in the country of their source language —

this probably applies to half the ScotNetters I

know — it is probably less common for a

translator to go off to live in a country whose

language they don’t speak at all. Why would

anyone choose to do that?

Lynda’s photo of Rifugio Pedrotti in the Brenta

Dolomites

But this was my choice, nearly two years ago,

when I arrived in Trento in the Dolomites in

northern Italy knowing only the 3 Ps, i.e.

pasta, pizza, polenta. I was here, as some of

you know, because my husband had landed a

research post at an Italian institute and,

thanks to the great portability of our job, it

was no problem to follow him here for what, I

was later to learn, the Italians quaintly refer

to as “motivi sentimentali”.

I knew from the start that I was not going to

just shut myself away for 2 years with

broadband and a punishing work schedule.

For, with the dolce vita on the doorstep,

there were just too many things out there

that I wanted to see, do, eat and experience.

So the very first weekend saw us climbing the

biggest mountain we could see from our

window. Don’t think of the Edinburgh

Pentlands, don’t think of bog and moorland,

think of something very nearly vertical,

gleaming white limestone (actually dolomite),

2000 metres high and covered in the most

fantastic wild flowers.

Then the old town of Trento (famous for

being the seat of the Council of Trent in the

16th century), with medieval winding streets,

a stunning central piazza, countless churches

in pale gleaming stone, beautiful mansions

decorated with frescoes, the medieval

castle… plus the energy added by a vibrant

university. All this is just a 10-minute walk

from our flat beside the river Adige where I

sit typing on this hot June evening.

Wild flowers


But what of daily life, we surely can’t have

spent all our time in the mountains or

enjoying the art and architecture? Daily life is

leisurely, involving cappuccino and brioche

(more of a croissant), but only before 10.30,

after that coffee is drunk black and strong.

Italians still eat a cooked meal in the middle

of the day, followed by the siesta, even here

in the north, and shops all shut until 3.30. I

stuck to my bread and cheese for lunch —

but what cheese! So many local cheeses to

choose from — but the bread proved a

problem, probably because it is really an

“extra” to the meal and not its basis, Italian

varieties all seem very insubstantial — so

bread baking was regularly on the agenda.

A surprise at the beginning was that

supermarkets are full of Italian food. This

may sound obvious, but whereas in Scotland

we have acquired a taste for food from the

Middle East, India, China and much of the

rest of the world, here there are 5 aisles of

pasta, 1 aisle of risotto rice, 1.5 aisles of

coffee, lots of cured meats, cheeses and what

I unkindly refer to as scrapings from the

bottom of the sea i.e. seafood. It can be hard

to locate a packet of tea and there is usually

no couscous, bulghur, houmous or any of

that sort of thing. But probably the most

stunning thing for my northern eyes are the

fruit and vegetable markets — so many kinds

of green things I’ve never seen before, such

wonderful fruit (in season of course), all the

freshest of the fresh, no Italian housewife

would accept anything less.

River Adige and Lynda’s house on the left bank

Photo credit: Visit Trento website, 2015 Trentino

Marketing S.r.l.

And then the Italians… we have made so

many friends here that leaving is already

weighing heavily, like one of the brooding

thunderstorms. As we enjoy making music,

my husband quickly joined the local band

and I found a choir. So I’ve had 2 years of

singing Italian style — with much feeling —

and performing in concerts singing excerpts

from Italian opera with incredible soloists

and an atmosphere that you might be

forgiven for mistaking for La Scala Milan.

But what about the language — did everyone

just speak English to us? No, Italians do not

seem especially inclined to foreign languages

(and we thought that was just a British trait).

Here, being next to Südtirol/Alto Adige which

is bilingual, everyone learns German at

school… but no one admits to speaking it.

There are cultural and political reasons for

this which I can’t go into here. But of course

we wanted to learn the language — it is a

must in a foreign country. We ended up at a

school for foreigners run by an organisation

which does a variety of cultural and other

work for Trento’s many non-Italians. Lessons

are free and happen four times a week with

different volunteers. So we have been

immersed in the Italian language, along with

A surprise at the beginning was that supermarkets are full of Italian

food.


fellow students from so many countries I’ve

lost count: Indonesia, the Czech Republic,

Russia, Switzerland, Scotland, France,

Albania, Pakistan.

Is Trento particularly multinational? Probably

not, though the university and research

institute bring in many foreigners. Added to

this are the economic migrants from Eastern

Europe and some of the huge influx from

Africa and the Middle East currently arriving

in the south and dispersing northwards.

Being foreigners too, you meet other

foreigners because, whatever your

background, you are all in the same language

boat, so to speak.

Piazza Duomo, Trento

Photo credit: Visit Trento website, 2015 Trentino

Marketing S.r.l.

I’ve been in a rather special position as a

native English speaker, in high demand to

help Italians with their English. So I’ve

peppered my days with “language tandem”

sessions where you meet up and spend half

the time speaking English and half speaking

Italian. I’ve also been the guest of honour in

a group of Italian ladies who meet monthly to

improve their English. After several hours of

hard work there is always a wonderful supper

to which everyone brings along Italian

dishes. Needless to say, I’m coming back to

Edinburgh a few kilos heavier than I left.

Castello Buonconsiglio, Trento

And now our time here is nearly over: just a

few weeks to cram in one or two more

mountain walks, say goodbye to our friends,

get rid of all the extra things we’ve acquired

out here, sing in one more concert, have a

few more cappuccinos and one or two of the

best ice creams you can imagine and —

whitewash the whole flat! Yes, it’s standard

procedure (for extra stress when leaving the

country).

But I’m planning ahead for my return: where

do they do really good coffee in Edinburgh?

Where can I find an Italian class? Who will

chat to me in Italian over a glass of Prosecco?

I know there are Italians in ScotNet, so I’m

banking on you having all the answers.

Lynda works from

German into English. Her

fields of expertise are

environment, technical,

science and philosophy.




ScotNetter turns published author

Next spring, Jonathan Downie’s book Being a Successful Interpreter: Adding Value and

Delivering Excellence will be published by Routledge. Now that he’s putting the final

touches to it, Silvana Vitale has discussed the writing process with him. If you’d like a

preview of what’s coming in 2016, don’t miss this interview!

Jonathan Downie

First of all, congratulations on your new

book. I’ve only read a taster and can’t wait to

read the rest. How did the idea of this book

come about?

That’s a good question. I was in the final

stages of my PhD thesis (now submitted) and

had been writing for the ITI Bulletin for a

couple of years and had started writing for

the VKD Kurier. Almost everything I had

written was about taking research and

applying it to practice. I started wondering

whether that might form the core idea of a

book. Being a wise man, I had a chat with my

wife about it and her response was to ask

why I hadn’t started writing it yet!

Wise man indeed — and ever wiser wife! Who

are your target readers?

The main target is interpreters with less than

20 years of experience, as I feel that people

with that amount of experience are most

likely to be open to the main messages of the

book. A secondary audience would be those

who are currently training as interpreters as I

would love to see them pioneer a whole new

way of looking at our profession.

When you say interpreters, do you mean

conference interpreters, public sector

interpreters or both?

It is aimed at interpreters of all stripes. I

deliberately used stories and research from

every form of interpreting I could find.

You’re absolutely right in saying that

interpreters are a lot more than “dictionaries

on legs”. You also challenge one of the main

tenets of the interpreting profession:

neutrality/impartiality. Can you elaborate on

this?

They are actually closely linked. What we

recognise now as neutrality is very much a

product of how modern interpreting

professionalised in the 40s, 50s and 60s. In

those days it was all about conference

interpreters, working for growing

international political organisations and

learning their craft around diplomats.

Even now, people still talk about interpreters

being like channels, or ghosts or the ‘voice

of the speaker’. It is a short walk from there


to the ‘dictionaries on legs’ or ‘google

translate in a suit’ idea. As I mention in the

book, this same ethical and professional

stance would be passed into other forms of

interpreting as they professionalised, without

anyone ever asking if that was either realistic

or effective.

It turns out that it certainly was not realistic.

Just about the only established result of

research into real-life interpreting is that no

one ever finds traces of interpreters taking

on that kind of neutral and invisible role.

What might be surprising is that this applies

right across the board, from courts to

business negotiations, to the point where

research on the ‘position of the interpreter’

is now seen as old hat by some researchers. I

looked at that in more detail in a recent

article in the ITI Bulletin called ‘Interpreting

by the book?’.

A bigger question is whether this neutral,

impartial, language-machine view of

interpreting is actually any good for us as

professionals. That one I will leave for those

who read the book.

You say, and rightly so, that interpreting is

not seen as valuable. We must work on

increasing our value. How can we do that?

That is a big part of the book but I can briefly

give two ways of doing that. The first is to

work hard to actually listen to what our

clients really need and want from us. The

sooner we realise that we are service

providers hired to do a specific job, the

better. Of course, to start with we are likely

to get the same old pat answers but there are

good ways of really getting to the heart of

why we are being asked to do at each

specific job.

The second way of being seen as valuable is

to be more open about the impact of our

work. We need to respect client

confidentiality but saying something like,

“my work at a press conference for a leading

player in the construction industry led to two

articles in the French press” or “this month, I

have helped 15 people receive urgent

medical treatment” is absolutely fine. Those

kinds of hard numbers and real-life case

studies, couched in terms that make sense to

our clients, can go a long way to improving

our position as businesspeople.

Do you think we have a lot to learn from our

“pyjama-wearing/CAT-tool using colleagues”

in terms of how to become successful

entrepreneurial linguists?

Absolutely! It still stuns me that translators

have cottoned-on to the fact that they are

businesspeople and service providers while

interpreters are still arguing over whether

remote interpreting is a bad thing, rather

than how we can use it effectively. I would

recommend that all interpreters read The

Entrepreneurial Linguist by Judy and Dagmar

Jenner and do a course like the ITI Starting

Up as a Freelance Translator course so we

get exposed to the realities of being business

people. We also need to get used to being

more flexible in our approach to work.

Obviously, we need to use our common

sense and not be taken advantage of but the

truth is that people who keep saying “that’s

not my job” are likely to find that they end up

with no job at all. If it’s okay for translators

to offer copywriting services and give advice

on layout and style, surely interpreters can


find it in their hearts to offer training for the

professionals who might work with them

and, as part of the pre-job brief, give a few

notes on any likely cultural clashes, without

favouring one party over the other.

A very biased question: how does all this

apply to PSI? As a PS interpreter, I feel I am

highly valued by clients and end users, and

yet this is not necessarily reflected in the

amount I bank for each job. How can we

change the perceived value of interpreting in

the public sector?

That is something that is very much on my

mind at the moment. I think there are two

dynamics at work that need to be addressed.

The first is interpreting has a real image

problem. People still tend to see interpreters

as doing a job that can and should be done

by computers and our own ways of talking

about the profession haven’t exactly helped

us. We need to be pro-active in seeking and

publishing cases where interpreters really

added value, especially when the value can

be written up in politically valuable terms,

such as reductions in follow-up doctor’s

appointments or increased integration. In

short, we need to be talking about the results

of interpreting in terms that politicians and

business leaders will understand.

The second dynamic is that we need to be

very careful about our stance to our clients

and their management. While it is absolutely

fine to disagree with certain policies and to

choose not to work under a given contract,

we need to be very careful not to get stuck in

‘protest mode’. The people who make cuts

are doing the job they are told to do and

even senior officials make decisions for

certain reasons. Until we make an effort to

understand the pressures on them and talk

their language, we are unlikely to see real

and lasting change. Graham Turner’s work

on the Sign Language Bill is a great example

of how you can mobilise a community and

work with government to make real change.

It’s an example we should follow.

I couldn’t agree more. A topic for your next

book perhaps?

Funny you should say that, I do have an idea

for a second book. I will wait until book 1

hits the shelves before burdening my editor

with another proposal, though!

Silvana is an English into

Italian translator

specialised in criminal

law & with a penchant

for literature and the

arts. She also works as a

public service and liaison

interpreter.

Contact: www.silvanavitale.co.uk

http://www.silvanavitale.co.uk/


Member news

With the introduction of the new ITI membership structure recently, quite a few people

have recently moved category within ITI. If this applies to you, please remember to notify

the Membership Secretary of any changes to your ITI membership status since you joined

the network. In particular, let the MemSec know when you upgrade to MITI, as your

details will then be made available to Joe Public online.

New members:

Jennifer Alexander: I am a Portuguese to

English translator, not long getting started

again as a freelancer after some years out

(mostly working as a teacher). At the moment

I do all sorts of general work, but my

preferred areas are education, social

subjects, literature and marketing/websites

etc. My Portuguese was learned in Brazil

where I lived for some time — in Rio, Porto

Alegre and Salvador — and I still love all

things Brazilian! In the past I have also

studied German and Danish language and I

hope to translate from Danish again in the

future. I work from a wee village in Fife and

am so pleased to be joining the network and

meeting similar people in such a friendly

group.

Elisa Cristobal: I am an English/French into

Spanish and Catalan translator, and a sworn

translator (EN-ES). I specialise in legal, IT,

marketing , tourism and travelling , literature

and environmental translations, and have

been doing quite a few sworn translations

lately. I come from the east coast of Spain,

where I studied Translation and Interpreting.

After finishing my degree, I was a language

teacher for a while, translated two novels and

worked as an interpreter for the Spanish

Police. A year ago, after 3 years working for a

big translation company, I decided to move

to Scotland, settled down in Perth and started

my freelancing career. I am still in the early

stages, so while looking for clients I keep

myself busy studying some law, trying to

build my website and working as an

interpreter for the public services in Tayside.

I am now looking forward to meeting

ScotNetters and making some connections in

area!

Claudia Cuero: I am a Colombian bilingual

Spanish-English/English-Spanish translator

and interpreter. I moved to Scotland in 2012

and recently completed an MSc in Translating

and Conference Interpreting at Heriot-Watt

University. My work as a translator includes

the translation of legal documents, manuals,

business presentations, product descriptions,

academic texts, among others. I am

proficient in using Microsoft Office

applications, Trados, and WinCAPS. As a

subject for my MSc dissertation, I

successfully analysed a South American

dialect and its translation in an audiovisual

text. I am also a certified TEFL teacher with

experience of teaching adults and

adolescents.

Finally, please note that Deputy Convenor

Elena Zini now has her own Scottish Network

address: [email protected].



ScotNet grants

The ITI Scottish Network offers 2 levels of

grants to members as a contribution towards

the costs of attending ITI events:

1) Grants of up to £30 are available for

attending Scottish Network meetings.

2) ScotNetters may also apply for grants of

up to £70 for attending national ITI events.

How to apply for a grant

Contact our treasurer (currently Norma Tait)

at [email protected] before

registering for the meeting. Subject to

availability and meeting the eligibility criteria,

she will approve the grant and notify you.

In due course, forward her a copy of the

receipt for the event or transport expenses

and provide her with your bank details. She

will then pay the respective amount into your

account.

General conditions: Maximum one grant per

person per subscription year. You must be a

member of ITI, so Friends of the Network are

not eligible. Also members living in the

central belt are not eligible to receive grants

for network meetings in Edinburgh/Glasgow.

All recipients must be willing to contribute a

report on the event they attended to the ITI

ScotNet Newsletter.

The level of grants is reviewed every year at

ScotNet’s AGM. Under the current budget, 10

grants of £30 and 10 of £70 are available

each year. From time to time the committee

may also decide to offer additional grants to

enable ScotNetters to attend particular

events, such as they did for the 2013 ITI

Conference. ♦

So who needs a translator anyway?

Remember this?

Ahem! Apologies to all avid readers of this section and thank you to the eagle-eyed

member who alerted us to our mistake in the last issue.

Barbara Bonatti Divers wishes to apologise to our readers and the wider

francophone community for having mistaken "baby foot" for a wrongly spelled offer

of baby food at a Swiss restaurant. Thanks to Hugh Fraser she now understands

that this is what the French call "table football". She blames her miserable

knowledge of French (and football) for her last newsletter’s bloopers’ blooper, and

considers herself lucky to have managed to survive unscathed for a week in the

beautiful French Swiss Alps. Sacrebleu, quel bordel!

P.S. Our editor Isabel Hurtado de Mendoza and our proofreader Kay McBurney

wished to apologise, too, for failing to notice, but they have been gagged and tied

and thrown into the boot of the car until they become more reasonable... Never

argue with an Italian!

Next time you’re sure about a translation blooper, please send your own So who needs a

translator anyway? photo to [email protected].

Looking forward to the next issue…

With Christmas around the corner, you’ll be busy buying presents, baking cookies and

entertaining the in-laws but, after all that fun is over, remember that I’ll still be here, waiting for

your contributions. I already have some proposals, but there’s room for a lot more. Could I ask,

for example, for our first review of a foreign film? Do drop me a line ([email protected])!




Your committee at a glance

Convenor

& Deputy Webmaster

Marian Dougan

0141 9420919

[email protected]

Deputy Convenor

Elena Zini

07765 987207

[email protected]

Treasurer

Norma Tait

0131 5521330

[email protected]

Newsletter Editor

Isabel Hurtado de Mendoza

07762 300068

[email protected]

Membership Secretary

Ute Penny

01368 864879

[email protected]

Deputy MemSec

Nathalie Chalmers

01888 562998

[email protected]

Events Coordinator (East)

Angelika Muir-Hartmann

0131 3334654

[email protected]

Events Coordinator (West)

Audrey Langlassé

0141 5603482

[email protected]

Webmaster

Iwan Davies

01738 630202

[email protected]










ITI ScotNet Newsletter December 2015

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