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The Linguist

CHARTEREDINSTITUTEOFLINGUISTS 51/6 DECEMBER 2012/JANUARY 2013

Threlford Lecture Your chance to read Baroness

Garden’s insightful lecture

How to market yourself Tips for improving your

chances of securing work

CELEBRATING 50 YEARS OF THE LINGUIST: 1962-2012

ProfessionalinternetSpecial focus on making themost of the web for businessand professional use



R e g i s t e r b y 14 D e c e mb e r 2 0 12 t o g e t y o ur e ar l y r e g i s t r at i o n d i s c o unt

IoL Educational Trust’s Certificate in Bilingual Skills certifies your ability to perform competently in two languages in the workplace.

Accredited by OfqualModular; Units can be taken in any order within a five year time period Stepping stone to further studyWide range of Pathways including Sports and Leisure and Public Services

Ages 16+

Want to know more? Contact us now on 020 7940 3100 or visit www.iol.org.ukIoL Educational Trust



Vol/51 No/6 2012 DECEMBER/JANUARY The Linguist 3

CONTENTS

News & editorial VITAL ROLE FOR TEACHERS . 5

Speak to the future WORST IN EUROPE? . . . . . . 6

How can England get better at languages?

Internet for business HOW TO WRITE A WEBSITE . 8

Top tips for an effective professional site

SOMETHING NEW

IN STORE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10

Inside Debenhams: the first department

store to launch a foreign language website

MAKING FRIENDS . . . . . . . . . 12

How to use Facebook for effective marketing

The editor reserves the right to edit all material submitted. Views expressed in The Linguist

are not necessarily the official views of the Chartered Institute of Linguists. All rights of

reproduction, translation and adaptation reserved for all countries.The Chartered Institute of Linguists, The Linguist , and officers accept no responsibility

collectively or individually for the service of agencies or persons advertised or announced in the

pages of this journal. The good faith with which we publish offers no implied/implicit guarantee.

18

The Linguist

Editor Miranda Moore Email: [email protected]

Sales Sarah HeapsTel: +44 (0) 20 7940 3100; Email: [email protected]

Editorial BoardMs J Fraser MA DipTrans IoLET FCIL FHEA FITIMs A M Graham BA DipTrans IoLET AMIOEEMs S Heaps BA (ex officio)Mr D Luddy BADr G A Makin MA PhD DPSI MCIL

Mr T Merz BAMr K Moffitt BSc DipTrans IoLET MCIL MITIMs M Moore BA (ex officio)Prof J Munday BA MEd PhD PGCE DipTrans IoLET MCILMr A Peacock BA (ex officio)Ms K Stokes MA (Oxon) DipTrans IoLET MITI FCILCL (Translator) (Chair)

The Chartered Institute of Linguists, Saxon House,

48 Southwark Street, London SE1 1UN; Web: www.iol.org.uk

Tel: +44 (0) 20 7940 3100; Email: [email protected]

Royal Patron HRH Prince Michael of Kent GCVO

PresidentDr N Bowen BSc MA PhD Dip TEFL RSA HonFCIL

Vice-PresidentsProf T J Connell MA BPhil DLitt PGCE FCIL

Mrs A Corsellis OBE BA HonFCILBaroness J Coussins MA HonFCILProf D Crystal OBE PhD FCSLT HonFCIL FRSAMr R Hardie MA FCA HonFCILDr J M Mitchell CBE MA DrPhil FCIL

Members of CouncilMr T Bell MA MPhil FCIL (Hon Treasurer)Mrs J Cambridge MA FCILMr M Cunningham BA MCILProf H Fulford BA MA PhD FCIL MBCS FHEADr M-M Gervais-le Garff MA Doct 3e Cycle FCILMs M J Lee MA DPSI MCILDr G A Makin MA PhD DPSI MCILMr K Moffitt BSc DipTrans IoLET MCIL MITI (Chair)Mrs C Pocock DipTrans IoLET FCIL (Vice-Chair)Mrs J A Ridgway BA FCIL MCMIMs K Stokes MA (Oxon) DipTrans IoLET MITI FCILCL (Translator)Mr P Shipman BSc (Hons) MScCEng MIMechE MCIL

Senior Institute personnelMs H Maxwell-Hyslop MA (Joint Acting Chief Executive)Mr A Peacock BA (Director of Membership &Joint Acting Chief Executive)

IoL Educational TrustThe examinations are provided under the auspices of the IoL Educational Trust. Senior officers:Prof T J Connell MA BPhil DLitt PGCE FCIL (Chair)Ms H Maxwell-Hyslop MA (Director of Examinations)

Printed by Hastings Printing Company, St Leonards-on-Sea.

Published six times a year and distributed free of charge to all

members. Annual subscription £41 post free. Overseas

subscription £54 (airmail Europe), £58 (airmail rest of world).

ISSN 0268-5965This issue will be available online from17 December at www.iol.org.uk/TheLinguist.html.

TheLinguist The Linguist , formerly The Incorporated Linguist , is theofficial journal of the CharteredInstitute of Linguists.

Features 50 YEARS IN PRINT . . . . . . . 13A concluding look at The Linguist archives

HARD TIMES, SOFT POWER . 14

This year’s Threlford Memorial Lecture

A STAR RISES IN THE EAST . 18

How singer Mary-Jess made it in China

A SUCCESSFUL START . . . . . 20

Tips for establishing yourself as a freelancer

GAELIC RENAISSANCE . . . . 22What has been the impact of official status?

STUFF AND NONSENSE . . . 24

A brief look at translations of Edward Lear

Opinion & comment FIRST STEPS . . . . . . . . . . . . 25

New column following a translator starting out

WHY KIDS NEED CLASSICS . 26

Why Latin is flourishing at primary schools

LETTERS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27

Institute matters

A DAY TO REMEMBER . . . 28

Join delegates at Members’ Day 2012

COUNCIL NEWS . . . . . . . . 29

DIVISIONS & SOCIETIES . . 29

ADMISSIONS . . . . . . . . . . . 30

Annual review

ANNUAL REVIEW 2011-2012 . 31

FRONT COVER © ISTOCKPHOTO



4 The Linguist DECEMBER/JANUARY www.iol.org.uk

NEWS & EDITORIAL

FROM THECHAIR OF COUNCIL

The Institute has had its offices at 14 addresses since

1910. Saxon House has been its home since 1997,

and the decision we have taken to sell the building

and move to more suitable accommodation has not

been taken lightly. When it was purchased, Saxon

House was described as a ‘striking-looking former warehouse which had been completely modernised

internally… a fitting home for the Institute and all its

activities’. Sadly, no one would now describe the interior as modern, and Council

has decided that the building, with its seven rather cluttered floors, is no longer fit

for the purposes of a 21st-century organisation. We plan to move to modern,

serviced accommodation for the immediate future, while taking appropriate steps

to protect the value released from the premises. We intend to stay in London, and

in the longer term the decision may be to acquire our own premises again.

There is no doubt that the move, which we aim to make in the spring, will

absorb a considerable amount of time and energy, not least on the part of

Adam Ladbury, our Office Manager, but we do not intend to lose focus on other

important issues. Still top of the list is the continuing controversy surroundingthe Ministry of Justice’s legal interpreting contract. The Institute submitted

evidence to the Justice Select Committee inquiry into interpreting and

translation services under the Capita/ALS contract, and I have been attending

the Justice Select Committee and Public Accounts Committee hearings, which

have drawn heavily on the recent National Audit Office report – highly critical of

many aspects of the new arrangements.

Also in the legal field, CIOL Vice-President Ann Corsellis and I took part in the

Antwerp workshop organised by EULITA (the European Legal Interpreters and

Translators Association) in October. It considered the EU directive on interpreting

and translation in criminal proceedings that is due to be implemented in October

2013. Many of our colleagues in other EU countries were dismayed to see how the

public service interpreting qualifications and register created by the Institute, which

Ann herself played a key role in establishing, were in danger of being undermined.On page 28, there is a detailed account of Members’ Day, which many

participants told me was one of the best they had attended. I am deeply

grateful to Baroness (Sue) Garden for her excellent Threlford Memorial Lecture

(see page 14), and to all the other speakers and members of staff who helped to

make it such a successful and memorable day.

Lastly, I am sorry to report that Hilary Maxwell-Hyslop, our Director of

Examinations and currently our Joint Acting Chief Executive Officer, will be

leaving us at the end of January 2013. Hilary has served the Institute and the

Educational Trust with great skill, graciousness and good humour for many

years, and she will be hugely missed in both roles.

Keith Moffitt

EDITOR’SLETTER

I was interested

to read the latest

research about

the use of

Scottish Gaelic in

the Hebrides,where it is most

widely spoken.

Although younger generations predictably use

the language less than older Scots, the study –

conducted at the University of the Highlands

and Islands (UHI) – found that many adults

who normally speak English use Gaelic in

conversations with children. This bodes well

for the language, which gained official status

in Scotland in 2005, generating new work for

linguists and boosting the revival effort (p.22).

A separate UHI study shows that Gaelic-speakers are actively promoting the language

using social media, indicating the influence of

online networking sites. Interpreting for

Europe is harnessing this power to encourage

language learning more generally, and has

some useful advice on how to use Facebook

effectively (p.12). The professional rewards

can be great, but most people still under-use

social media for business purposes. So our

three-article focus looks at the professional

internet, with tips on how to write web content

from Jonathan Stockwell, DG Translation (p.8).

Our three-part series on language andsong concludes with an interview with

classical-pop crossover artist Mary-Jess

Leaverland. It was refreshing to interview

someone so passionate about language

learning, and so aware of the limits of her

own linguistic and cultural knowledge (p.18).

We launch a column following a recent

MA Translation graduate as she starts her

career (p.25); and also hear from an

interpreter/translator who is a little further

along the career path and rapidly making a

name for herself in the profession (p.20).

Miranda Moore



The perception that booming economies

in the East currently offer more job

opportunities than in the West explains whyincreasing numbers of overseas students are

clamouring to study in Asia, particularly at

Chinese universities in Hong Kong, Beijing

and Shanghai.… The days when a Western

expatriate was able to land a job with few

qualifications besides English language

fluency are over, says Angel Lam, a Hong

Kong-based recruiter at the Robert Walters

agency. ‘Language skills are very important.

The ability to understand the local culture is

very important, so if you don’t have the

language skills and you haven’t been to aspecific Asian country, then getting a job will

be a challenge.’

‘Hopeful in Hong Kong’, 18/10/12


What thepapers say…

British officials believe diplomats fluent in

Hindi will develop a better understanding of

India and be quicker to spot business

opportunities for British firms… The increasing

mash of the two languages in India has forced

a policy move away from English alone being

regarded as sufficient for diplomats to

communicate with those who matter. ‘TheForeign Office under William Hague is

placing increasing importance on the ability

to transact business in foreign languages…’

said a British High Commission spokesman.

‘British Diplomats in India to Learn

“Hinglish”’, 10/10/12

The latest from the languages world

Vital role for teachers

The role of teachers in encouraging

language learning is paramount, according

to a recent survey by the European

Commission. ‘Friends’ of the Interpreting for

Europe Facebook page were asked how

they made decisions about whether tocontinue with languages studies. UK-based

respondents cited teachers as being the

greatest influence, followed by parents in the

early years and their own interests later on.

Least influential were careers advisers.

Interpreting for Europe is dedicated to

promoting interpreting careers across the

institutions of the European Union, and works

to encourage language learning in schools,

colleges and universities in Europe. Its

Facebook contacts tend to be young peoplewith an interest in studying languages, which

means that the survey sample was limited, as

well as self-selecting. However, 500 people

responded in the UK alone, revealing a clear

trend that will inform the DG Interpretation’s

ongoing awareness-raising campaigns.

See ec.europa.eu/dgs/scic/news/english_

native_speak_report.htm for the full report.

NEWS & EDITORIAL

[Bollywood] studios bother to subtitle their

films for export – presumably for second-

generation immigrants with a shaky grasp of

the mother tongue, and curious foreigners –

so why not extend the effort to some of the

overall marketing as well?

‘Why Aren’t More Bollywood Films Marketed in English?’ 23/10/12

BBC Cymru Wales will continue to supportWelsh language broadcaster S4C following a

new four-year deal. The renewal of the

partnership between the two broadcasters

ensures that the BBC will maintain current

levels of investment in Welsh-language

programming until 2017. Currently, the BBC

provides S4C with a minimum of 520 hours

of programmes a year. Rhodri Talfan Davies,

Director of BBC Cymru Wales, said: ‘Our

partnership continues to strengthen as we

look forward to even more creative

collaboration ahead.’Launched on 1 November 1982, following

a long campaign by language activists, S4C

has seen a decline in viewing figures and

revenue in recent years. As it marked its 30thanniversary, the British government decided

to end direct funding for the channel. From

April 2013, most of its budget will come

instead from the BBC licence fee.

In a bid to attract bigger audiences, S4C

Chief Executive, Ian Jones, is considering

adding more voiceovers in English: ‘If we’re

producing content, why not put an English

language track on the red button so that

everybody can enjoy the programming?’

• The Official Languages Bill, which gives

equal status to English and Welsh in theWelsh assembly, will no longer be challenged

by the UK government, despite concerns

raised by the Welsh Secretary, David Jones.

Investment in Welsh TV secured

NEW GENERATION: Students at the

DG Interpretation’s Open Doors Day 2012




SPEAK TO THE FUTURE

Bernardette Holmes calls for stronger language skills in England In June, the European Commission published

the results of the first European Survey on

Language Competences (ESLC).1 It came as

no surprise that, of the 14 countries surveyed,

England appeared bottom of the table, with

only nine percent of 14-15 year-olds able to

use their first foreign language to the level of

an independent user.

Before we attempt to assuage our collective

national embarrassment by any suggestion

that the goal of being an ‘independent user’

is overly ambitious for our school-age

learners, the Council of Europe’s definition is‘to be able to deal with straightforward,

familiar matters’ in the language of study.

The average across the 14 countries was

42 percent, with Sweden and Malta reaching

82 percent and the Netherlands 66 percent.

France was rather lower on 14 percent.

The results don’t get any better when we

look at the statistics for those reaching the

level of ‘a basic user who can use very simple

language with support’. Thirty percent of our

students failed to reach even this level after

three compulsory years of language study inour state-maintained secondary schools.

Sympathetic readers may be tempted to

exonerate our students and teachers by

Worst in Europe?

anxiety over the costs of the additional year

of study required by an undergraduate

course in languages, together with the

swingeing impact of the rising cost of student

fees overall is taking its toll on UCASapplications, but the decline is alarming. The

11.2 percent decrease in applications for

European Languages and related studies this

year was disturbing enough; more worrying

still was the dramatic drop of 21.5 percent in

applications for non-European languages and

related studies. With the business community

clearly calling for a wider range of language

skills to promote economic growth in

non-European markets, the move away from

Chinese and Arabic seems hard to reconcile.

Our understandable national preoccupationwith economic recovery should not obscure

the other equally valid reasons for promoting

the essential value of language learning in its

own right. Sir Adam Roberts, President of the

British Academy, urges us to broaden ‘our

national conversation’ and consider the

inherent merits and contribution of humanities

and social sciences to our society. It seems

incontrovertible that we need to preserve and

strengthen the ability of researchers to read

original sources in the language in which they

were written. Plainly, in a country renowned

for its world-class research capability in thesefields, we need to ‘maintain this strong

position… [and] attract and retain the very

best to our undergraduate programmes.’3

So, what must be done? If we are to

address issues of supply, we need more

language learners in schools and in Further

and Higher Education. The introduction, in

2014, of languages from the age of seven

could be a positive step. Equally, the impact

of the EBacc appears to have reversed the

decline in students continuing with language

study post-14. In 2010, only 22 percent of Year 10 students (ages 14-15) were studying

what are now deemed to be the rigorously

academic core subjects included in the EBacc.

Regular updates on the campaign for languages

FIND OUT MORE

See www.speaktothefuture.org for

the latest about the campaign or to

get involved. We’re also on Twitter

@speak2future, LinkedIn (search

for us in ‘groups’) and Facebook

(www.fb.com/speaktothefuture).

retreating to the fallback position that, as

English is the language of choice across

Europe, and, indeed, much of the world, it

would be invidious to compare our standards

of language proficiency with others’ learning

of English. It is this very lack of urgency and

low level of public engagement with the

importance of language skills that we must

challenge if we are to have any chance of

developing and maintaining our international

status politically, economically and culturally.

The economic case for languages has

never been more convincing. Reports fromthe CBI (Confederation of British Industry),

the British Chambers of Commerce and the

Education and Employers Taskforce confirm

both the deep dissatisfaction of employers

over the paucity of language competence

and the urgent need for language skills.

Former Treasury Economic Adviser, James

Foreman-Peck, has calculated the effects of

underinvestment in language skills, which

he now terms ‘the tax on trade’, and

estimates the annual loss to be £7.3 billion or

0.5 percent of GDP (gross domestic product).2 Yet students from state and independent

schools appear to be shying away from

language study in Higher Education. Perhaps

© I

S T O C K P H O

T O




SPEAK TO THE FUTURE

Firstly, teachers reported that the use of

the target language in lessons was

substantially less than in other countries and

this perception was shared by their students.

This is ironic given that the number of

teachers for whom the target language was a

first language was significantly higher than

average. There also appeared to be less

exposure to the use of the target language

through traditional and new media.

There was even less exposure at home, as

parents’ target language knowledge was

significantly lower than the average. Students’

rating of target language lessons, teachers and

text books was lower than average. Finally,we discover perhaps the most telling context

factors: English students’ perception of the

usefulness of learning the target language was

much lower than average but their perception

of the difficulty of learning languages was

much higher. In sum, students in England find

languages hard, rarely use them for real and

don’t think they are very important in any case.

Game over? No, it has only just begun.

There is an unquestionable need for greater

advocacy and societal change. The Speak to

the future campaign exists to unite those witha passion for languages and a belief in the

strategic importance of language capability.

We have to persuade government, employers,

parents, teachers and students that languages

matter. There are four main reasons why:

• Mobility. We want our young people to take

advantage of the opportunities that being

part of the European Union affords them.

Speak to the future (STF) has built a wide network of supporters and a strong organisation.

Our dynamic Project Manager, Dominic Luddy, took the work forward with energy andprofessionalism. Since he left to start a career in teaching, we have taken the time to review

our needs. Our priority for the next period is the message that the UK needs to act urgently

to increase its capability in languages. This need is apparent in all areas of society and in

every branch of education. We aim to get the message out to people who are not yet aware,

not entirely convinced, or not sure what to do about it, including learners and parents. And

we aim to address those who can make a difference, including leaders in business and

education, policy makers and the media.

We plan to develop our lobbying capacity, shaping the agenda of government; sharpen our

messages, responding to clear needs; and strengthen our communications strategy so that our

messages have a wider reach. We are encouraged that so many initiatives are now underway

to raise the profile of languages, and we will strive to add value to the work of STF’s many

supporters. We have two major sponsors – the CIOL and the British Academy – and a number of partners, and we will call on a wider range of supporters, so as to build the momentum.

Michael Kelly, STF Hon Secretary

The latest DfE survey shows that 49 percent of

pupils now in Year 10 are taking them.4 The

data also record an astonishing 310 percent

increase in the proportion of children on Free

School Meals who are studying this essential

core of key subjects so coveted by employers

and the Russell Group universities. It seems

almost counterintuitive, but the primary

beneficiaries of this new performance measure

are among the most disadvantaged learners.

Excellent! Mission accomplished? I think not.

Redressing the language skills deficit is not

only about supply but also demand. Does our

society value languages? Is England a

language-friendly environment? There is alsoanother elephant in our national classroom

and that is the issue of quality. Our weakness

in language outcomes cannot be rectified by

legislation alone. It is not simply a matter of

numbers studying languages but more an issue

of the quality of their learning experience. We

have to reflect on what is taught and how.

The ESLC report could shed light on these

matters and inform the agenda for change. In

addition to the language tests completed by

representative samples of 14-15 year-olds in

the countries surveyed, a questionnaire wasused to explore the relation of context factors

with the outcomes of the tests. There are

substantive findings in the results for England,

which we should take seriously at this time of

curriculum reform. Some relate to teaching

approaches and resources, and others are

about attitudes and perceptions, which are as

much about our society as our classrooms.

On the campaign trail

They need to be ready to study and work in

other countries, acquiring language skills as

needs arise.

• Employability. Being part of the knowledge

society means being highly educated,

culturally aware and critically literate; being

monolingual in a multilingual world is a

distinct disadvantage.

• Entrepreneurship. The commitment and

endurance young people show when they

invest in learning a language demonstrates

the kind of drive, creativity and flexibility

needed to take calculated risks, see ideas

through from inception to implementation

and communicate their message; thehallmarks of a future entrepreneur.

• Social cohesion. Our world is indisputably

multilingual. To understand one another and

build on each other’s strengths as part of a

diverse community means being willing to

respect and share the languages and

cultures of our neighbours. Only by seeing

the world through a different lens can we

appreciate our own values and open our

minds to fresh perspectives.

The Speak to the future campaign is a call

to action. It exists not simply for the languagescommunity, but through the languages

community. Decisions about what is taught

and how should not be left to specialist

linguists in schools and universities alone. We

are all stakeholders in languages education.

To engage in this debate and play your part

in influencing policy change, please join our

campaign and make your voice heard.

For further information, contact

Bernardette Holmes: [email protected].

Notes

1 First European Survey on Language

Competences, Final Report, 2012, European

Commission. See: http://ec.europa.eu/

languages/eslc/docs/en/final-report-escl_en.pdf

2 Foreman-Peck, J, ‘The Economic Case for

Language Learning and the Role of Employer

Engagement’, 2011, in Education and Employers

Taskforce, CfBT

3 Roberts, A, ‘Tongue-Tied UK Badly Equipped

to Join in the Conversation of Nations’, 2012,

Times Higher Education. See www.timeshigher

education.co.uk/story.asp?sectioncode=26&story

code=418901&c=14 Press Notice, DfE, 5/10/12. See www.education

.gov.uk/inthenews/inthenews/a00215171/ebacc-

means-twice-as-many-take-academic-subjects-




INTERNET FOR BUSINESS

Jonathan Stockwell , of the European Commission’s DG Translation, offers some invaluable advice

Read any good websites lately? If that seems a

strange question, it’s probably because you’re

about as likely to read a website for pleasure

as you are a dictionary, insurance policy or the

Highway Code. With the exception of blogs,

online journalism and social media, web text is

not there to be savoured.

Effective web writing is functional , it helps

users do practical jobs – from simple things

such as checking train times and ordering

books, to more complex tasks such as

comparing university courses or applying for a home-insulation grant. People want to

complete these tasks without wasting time

over unclear phraseology, or hunting for key

information in big blocks of prose.

Effective writing – and translation – for the

web begins with an understanding of how

people use websites, and what they want

from particular sites. Structure, style and

vocabulary follow from that. The best web

writing is unobtrusive and unnoticed by the

people it serves, ready to provide what they

want before they know they want it.

What’s the webpage for?The starting point for any piece of writing is

to be clear about its purpose: what job does

the text have to do? For commercial

websites, maximising sales is a likely priority.

Does that mean web writers have to be

good at writing catchy advertising copy?

Well, no, because advertising in the

traditional sense doesn’t work on the web.

Web users don’t sit at their screens passively

watching what’s fed to them; they actively

determine what they see. Usually, they arelooking for specific things and are liable to

ignore, or be irritated by, advertising blurbs

that distract from their search.

How to write a website

was interested (I wasn’t). Admittedly, this is a

rather extreme case, but it illustrates what can

happen when a writer doesn’t think through

who or what the page is for.

Even when writers do include relevant

information, a reader may have to wade

through irrelevant background first. Good

practice in academic essays, introducing and

contextualising the subject is often

misguided on the web. Mostly, the page

heading and the banner saying who owns

the site are introduction enough. The contextis provided by the user-need: if I’ve found my

way to a page on left-luggage facilities, I’ve

almost certainly figured out that they are

useful to bag-laden travellers. I don’t need an

introductory paragraph telling me that.

How to write itWe spend years being taught to write

polished, flowing prose. Perhaps we should

also study the art of writing minimally –

conveying essential information as concisely

and simply as possible. Put key information

first, be direct, and use the personal pronouns‘you’ and ‘we’, provided it is clear who they

refer to. Don’t be afraid to use a telegraphic

style, with bullet points where appropriate.

On the left-luggage page I mentioned, the

first paragraph read:

‘The left luggage office in the central

station offers fantastic prices on hourly or

daily storage with 24-hour storage costing

just £8. And our closed-circuit television

cameras ensure that your bags will be kept

under constant surveillance until you return

at your convenience.’However, much of this information was

superfluous, as ‘Central station in city X’ was

already in the banner, and the page header

Instead, commercial web writers require an

understanding of what users come to their

sites for, what terms they might be searching

for, and how to guide them through the

process of choosing and ordering. Web users

are quick to go elsewhere if they don’t find

what they are after. So, to succeed, corporate

websites must follow their users’ agenda and

provide a useful service. Understanding this is

the first step to good web writing and, more

specifically, to deciding what to write.

What to leave outAfter spotting a new dry cleaner’s shop, I went

online to find out more about their lockers for

out-of-hours drop-off and collection, and to

research their ‘eco-friendly’ claims. But those

interesting features weren’t mentioned at all

on their site, which didn’t even give basics

such as opening times and prices. Instead, the

page began with the startling revelation, ‘Dry

cleaning is any cleaning process for clothing or

textiles using a chemical solvent other thanwater.’ And it went on… and on… in the same

vein. The thoughtful writer had even linked the

word ‘water’ to a Wikipedia page, just in case I




LinksLinks are a crucial, and unique, part of web

writing. Like road signs, they enable users to

decide quickly whether or not to take a

particular turn-off. For that, they have to be

both short and specific. More tips:

• Avoid links that read ‘click here’. It doesn’t

identify the subject, can be confusing for the

visually-impaired, who use screen readers,

and misses an opportunity to help people

find your page via search engines (which pay

special attention to words used in links)

• Over-long links are equally bad, becauseusers won’t take the time to read them

• Don’t write a paragraph just to serve as a

frame for a link. Stand-alone links are fine.

• It doesn’t matter if the link text isn’t

identical to the title of the linked-to page,

as long as there is no risk of confusion.

If you want some practice at link writing,

have a go at improving this bad one (and

avoid looking at my suggestion):1

To read the European Union report to

the UNCCD on the policies, financial

instruments and projects that supported sustainable drylands management activities

in Africa over the period January 2009-

December 2011, click here.

Choice of wordsWith any writing, the concepts and words

you use will depend on the purpose and the

target audience. But

choosing the right

words is doubly

important on the web: the wrong words on

your page (or in your metadata) may mean

your content doesn’t get found. Try to

include the words that potential users might

enter in Google.

Take the example of swine flu: during the

epidemic, worried members of the public

might have googled ‘swine flu’, while scientists

and other experts searched for ‘h1n1’. But it’s

hard to imagine many people typing in ‘novel

influenza’, a term invented so that consumers

wouldn’t be put off buying pork.

On multilingual sites, such as those of theEuropean Union, users’ likely search terms will

affect how web texts are translated. Translators

may think it worth deviating from official

terminology to make a text more findable.

The French term ‘PME’, for example, can be

rendered in English as ‘SME’ (small and

medium-sized enterprise), but more people

would search for ‘small businesses’, so a

translator might consider using that in the text.

There is a wealth of advice out there about

writing for search engines, and about other

aspects of web writing not mentioned here,such as navigation labels. The web writing

section of useit.com is a good place to start.

But if, for now, you’d be happy with just the

most golden of golden rules, think of your

users and keep it short.

Notes

1 One alternative would be: EU report –

support for sustainable drylands in Africa

(2009-11).

announced the subject ‘Left luggage’. The first

43 words could have packed in so much more

information if they had read, for example:

Locker storage

• 24-hour access – for deposits and

withdrawals

• £8 for first 24 hours, £5 per 24-hour

period after that

• Payment by Visa/MasterCard or cash

(change available)

• Secure – video surveillance

• Locker size – 60 x 80 x 70cm

This kind of presentation works muchbetter than running text on screen, where

tracking lines of dense text is harder than on

paper. It also sits well with web users’

tendency to skim-read, scanning for relevant

keywords and links. A bullet list of top tips for

easy-to-read web writing might look

something like this:

• Use bullet points where appropriate – the

white space they create reduces the strain

on users’ eyes

• Don’t fill up space just for the sake of it

• Be inspired by the sparseness and focus of the Google search page

• Keep paragraphs to five lines or fewer, so

they can be read quickly

• Write lots of meaningful subheadings to

facilitate skim-reading (one per paragraph

isn’t excessive). And if you can’t come up

with subheadings, maybe it’s because there

is no clear focus to

your paragraphs.

I M A G E S © I

S T O C K P

H O T O





Miranda Moore goes inside Debenhams HQ to find out how it became the first UK department store to launch a foreign language websiteBritish viewers can’t get enough of

department store drama at the moment. Rival

primetime period dramas The Paradise and

Mr Selfridge are offering their fictionalised

accounts of how these retail emporia came to

dominate our major shopping streets. In the

19th and early 20th centuries, these glamorous

new shops impressed all who passed by;

today, new developments are less visible, with

marketing wars fought – and lost – online.

Few customers outside Germany will have

noticed when Debenhams launcheddebenhams.de in September, becoming the

first UK department store to establish a

foreign language website. Yet the move

caused ripples among the competition, with

other retailers equally eager to expand

globally. ‘“International” is key on everyone’s

agenda,’ says Lindsay Clifford-Smith,

Debenhams’ International E-Commerce

Senior Marketing Manager. ‘It’s nice for us to

be right up there at the forefront.’

At the same time, Debenhams expanded

sales from its UK-based website to 40

countries, and opened stores in Bulgaria andGeorgia for the first time, putting a 2.6 percent

rise in sales down to its international expansion

and multi-channel strategies. Having launched

debenhams.ie for the Irish market in 2010,

there were compelling reasons to look to

Germany next, not least because ‘it’s nice to

pick something close to home,’ says Clifford-

Smith when we meet at company HQ, behind

the flagship store on London’s Oxford Street.

After the UK, Germany is the largest

e-commerce market in Europe, with 41 million

German customers spending €6.34 billiononline in the first quarter of 2012. ‘Once we

had the business case it was about putting it

to the systems team, to decide how we were

Something new in store

with German retail laws and obligations; and

determining the logistics of everything from

press campaigns to deliveries and returns.

The website itself looks very similar to the

.com site, although the large homepage

image often differs. It is designed as a ‘wire

shell’, ready to be filled with text and images,

which helps to minimise the pitfalls involved

in web translation. They have encountered

standard problems, such as templates that

didn’t work with German grammar rules and

long compound words that didn’t fit theallotted space, but Clifford-Smith is confident

that the web design suits their needs: ’Having

image-led pages, where we can fill that with a

German message, makes it really customisable,

really dynamic and really fast-paced.’

On Tuesday, they might be selling

evening dresses; on Thursday,

pushing scarves and gloves.

Speed is key, and this is one of

the few frustrations they have

with the German-language

website. Although there is a

German-speaking teamin-house, they use an agency

to translate the product

details and buying guides for

tens of thousands of goods.

This includes information

such as the product

name, composition and

description, as well as style

and care advice. ‘Another

challenge is the time,

because there is that

extra step,’ admitsClifford-Smith. ‘It’s about

educating the business

and building that into

going to optimise and localise our UK

business for German customers,’ adds

Clifford-Smith.

The process took about a year, from

green-light to online launch. If that seems

short, considering the logistics involved in

selling more than 2,000 brands in a foreign

language and territory, bear in mind that

Debenhams was already distributing to seven

overseas markets, including Germany, and

had an order management system dealing

with nearly three million orders every month.‘It’s not possible for us to suddenly launch a

bunch of international websites globally,’ says

Clifford-Smith. ‘But we’ve got a lot in place, so

we can leverage our systems and everything

we’ve already got in the UK.’ Debenhams

Direct, the retailer’s online division, has

been in operation since 1998. In 2010,

it launched its first app allowing

customers to shop at Debenhams from

their mobile phones. So when a new

international team was created to

support the German, Irish and

future international websites,they had a lot of in-house

experience to draw on.

Aside from the issue of

localising the web content,

there were other challenges,

such as the implications of

trading in euros and the

company’s approach to

reconciliation; differing

rates and reporting

systems for VAT;

registering the onlinestore for trade in

Germany; making

sure they complied





dresses” for the UK and we might say “ball

dresses” in Germany, if we know that the

school-leavers’ ball is coming up,’ explains

Stott. A recent ‘designer deal’ was labelled

‘London Fashion Week’ for the Germans,

because that was likely to grab customers’

attention while at the same time helping to

establish the Debenhams brand.

Selling itself as ‘the British high street

online’, Debenhams Direct aims to bring UK

fashion to Germany, so establishing the

brand is vital. On the German website, theytalk a lot about who they are. ‘We’ve got

the recognition in the UK, our customers

know who we are. We don’t have that

following in Germany, so we design the

website in a way that ensures we’re also

educating,’ says Clifford-Smith. ‘We have a

saying that we’re 2,010 brands under one

roof. We’d never bother saying that in the

UK; we don’t need to.’

For this reason, much of the German web

content is original, written by Stott and her

team. They have the in-house language skillsto send emails, post on social media, and

write features and web content in German.

However, the press agency and customer

services team are based in Germany, so that

they can provide a local service that meets the

needs of both the customer and the company.

They also work with local agencies that

have in-depth knowledge of online consumer behaviour in Germany, and employ ‘insight’

specialists who work directly with customers,

observing the way they interact with the

website. This information has enabled them

to create a fully localised website. The

differences are subtle but significant – and

based entirely on customer behaviour.

There is a unique sort order at the top of

the homepage, for example, so that ‘when

the customer is buying, we’re always showing

them what they want,’ says Clifford-Smith. In

English, the categories start (from left to right)

‘women’, ‘beauty’, ‘home and furniture’, withshoes listed seventh; in German you get

Damen, Herren, Kinder, Schuhe…

Continual use of analytics tools enables

them to further improve the website’s

performance by assessing how well each

element is working – what items are (and

aren’t) clicked, how formatting changes affect

consumer responses, etc. This cycle of analysis

and optimisation is a familiar process for the

e-commerce team, but there is a lot they have

learnt from their first foreign language venture

that they can take forward to future onlinestores. They are already working on their next

foreign language website, but which language

it will use is still a closely guarded secret.

IN FASHION

At the launch event in Munich, models and

designers strike a pose (above and left);

and the International E-commerce team,

including Lindsay Clifford-Smith (2nd r)

and Sarah Stott (r) pause for a photo (inset)

your timelines. We want to do it all yesterday,

but it needs to be right as well.’

Selling British fashion to GermanyBased at Debenhams HQ in London, the

German e-commerce team is led by

native speaker Sarah Stott. Having a German

manager who knows both the brand and the

target market has been essential to

establishing and maintaining a localised online

store. ‘I know the German market and I also

know the culture,’ says Stott. ‘That’s a bigplus – just being able to see how something

would be received in Germany. Why certain

things would work in the UK and might not

work in Germany.’ Each campaign is assessed

on its own merits; sometimes UK and German

promotions coincide but often debenhams.de

runs its own, localised campaigns.

Covering home products, gifts and toys,

as well as clothing, the website nevertheless

offers a restricted product range. Apart from

the logistical issues of selling items such as

furniture, there are differences in standard

measurements, so they need to make surethat bed linen fits German requirements, for

example. Tastes differ too, with bold prints

selling better in the UK, so some ranges are

unlikely to perform as well in Germany.

Stott’s team has to be aware of everything

that is going on in Germany, despite being

based in the UK. ‘So if it’s a lovely weekend

in Berlin and actually blustering blizzards over

here, we’d localise our content,’ explains

Clifford-Smith. This might mean selling

dresses to the Germans while promoting hats

and scarves in the UK.It’s not only about choosing what to

promote but also how to promote it. ‘If we’re

pushing dresses, we might say “evening

After the UK,

Germany is the largest

e-commerce market in

Europe, with 41 million

German customers





Ian Andersen explains how the European Commission uses social media for marketing and promotionsThe ‘Interpreting for Europe’ Facebook page

was created in November 2009, as part of a

wider strategy to attract new recruits to the

European Commission’s Directorate-General

Interpretation, and to interpreter training more

generally. The choice of Facebook as a forum

for dialogue with young people was

straightforward. We needed to engage with

young language-learners with an international

outlook in the space they inhabit.

After a gentle start, our Facebook page

grew to 25,000 participants by 2011. We now

find that helping our Facebook ‘friends’ is thebest way to increase awareness of the

profession. The page aims to be the (potential)

interpreting student’s best friend, and most

reliable source of factual information.

Maintenance of the website is spread

between several people at the DG

Interpretation, including trainees. The

workload amounts to less than one full-time

post, with further contributions from the

interpreting services of the European

Parliament and Court of Justice. In designing

posts, we keep a number of ideas in mind:• All posts should create value for our

Facebook ‘friends’ by providing them with

useful information or links, events, interesting

Making friends

and advertising campaigns on Facebook. The

page benefits from the buzz created at events

or in the press, and it is an effective tool for

spreading messages quickly.

Generally speaking, a post on Facebook is

likely to be seen by about 15 percent of the

members of a page. Most Interpreting for

Europe posts are seen by 20-30 percent of its

members, so we are doing relatively well. Still,

it is not possible to be certain which posts will

connect to a large proportion of our fans.

These are some of the lessons we’ve learned:

• Keep a record of all published posts to avoid

repetition, and keep track of all questionsasked on the wall and via email. This analysis

shows what information our audience is

lacking, which can be used for future posts.

• Keep up to date. Do not use old sources. If

you miss a ‘hot’ topic it is better to avoid it.

• Although we generally post in English, we try

to answer all queries and comments in the

language in which they are posted.

• Every post and reply should be checked by a

native speaker of the language of the post.

Grammar and spelling mistakes are not

acceptable in pages about languages.• Communicating with ‘friends’ by participating

in discussions, answering questions and

commenting is a big part of our approach.

Thanks to specific campaigns and (limited)

targeted advertising on Facebook, Interpreting

for Europe now has 4,000 UK friends. That is

16 percent of the total EU-based pages – and

proportionally far more than any other.

Facebook statistics are thorough and

immediate once a certain number of people

have ‘liked’ your page. But it is easy to get

carried away with virality (the percentage of

people sharing a post or commenting to their friends) or reach (number of unique people

who have seen a post). In the end, the only

worthwhile statistic is the number of applicants

to and graduates from interpreting courses.

The results are persuasive. The number of

applicants to conference interpreting courses

in the UK has increased substantially since

2008. I am convinced that all language and

interpreting courses can benefit from

establishing a social media presence and

working together with other sites, blogs and

forums, in particular in the UK, where there isplenty of work to do in raising awareness of

the benefits and job possibilities created by

foreign language training.

discussion points, application deadlines,

work opportunities – and even comic relief.

• All posts are connected to interpretation or

languages and can provide links to courses

or events at interpreter schools/universities.

• Useful contributions by the European

Commission to language studies or the

language professions are highlighted.

• Light-hearted posts are designed to build

audience figures, to increase the likelihood

of people looking at more serious messages.

Other posts engage ‘friends’ in discussion.

• All questions are answered truthfully andcomprehensively as soon as possible,

normally within 24 hours.

There are obvious pitfalls to avoid, such as

publishing propaganda pieces, sounding

bureaucratic and inundating members with

posts. The book on social media is still being

written. What is true for one group is not

necessarily true for another. So your best bet

is to experiment, be factual but don’t be

afraid of being controversial, and keep an

eye on the statistics of your page.

DG Interpretation language campaigns arelaunched with a press event and followed up

with media interviews, speaking tours of

schools and universities, direct mail campaigns,

COMIC RELIEF: A post by one member




FEATURES

abounds throughout the decade, from Cate

Avery’s tips on ‘Getting your CV Noticed’

(TL 42,1) to the ‘Going it Alone’ series for

budding freelancers in vol. 46 (2007). In his

article on marketing skills (TL 47,3), Stephen

Hackett writes: ‘Lack of experience is difficult

to counter, but you can mitigate its impact

by stressing your selling points’. An eight-

page feature on continuing professional

development (CPD) in TL 49,5, included

Janet Fraser’s tips on reflecting on CPD

activities: ‘Be patient, keep at it, and aboveall, enjoy the process.’

Articles on career opportunities in newer

areas of translating and interpreting begin to

appear more frequently in the second half of

the decade, with features on computer game

translation, remote interpreting and

translating advertising material. The practical

focus is also reflected in the regular Trade

Secrets column and in articles on areas

ranging from forensic linguistics to working in

aid organisations.

While the journal became increasinglyoutward-facing throughout the decade and

more inclined to reflect current events, it

retained its key role as a means of

communication with members. It continued

to record key events in the life of the

Institute, including the 2010 centenary

celebrations and paying tribute to one of its

longest-serving contributors, Professor Peter

Newmark, on his death in 2011.

I would like to thank my past and present

Editorial Board colleagues Tony Bell, Anne

Marie Graham, Janet Fraser and Jeremy

Munday for their contributions to this series

of brief overviews of The Linguist in its first

half-century. One element that emergesstrongly is the journal’s ability to keep up with

changes in the world of linguists and

languages, thanks to the work of the two

editors and successive chairs: Peter Melville-

Smith, Keith Moffitt and Piotr Kuhiwczak.

The current Board is committed to

continuing the trend and in that vein, we

marked the start of our anniversary year

by launching the first online issue of

The Linguist. While a straw poll at this year’s

Members’ Day confirmed our instinct that

most members value their paper copy of the

journal, the lower production costs of anonline version open up exciting possibilities

for special issues or compilations of articles

on particular themes, not to mention the

ability to retrieve and share items more easily.

Finally, I hope members will be pleased to

note that we have revived the practice of

producing an annual index for The Linguist –

look out for more news early next year.

The most obviously striking change in the

most recent decade of The Linguist (2002-

2012) came in with volume 45 (2006), with a

dramatic redesign of the cover to include the

now-familiar red banner and eye-catching

photographs. A thorough redesign of the

inside of the journal followed in volume 46

(2007), creating a more modern, professional

feel. The same period saw our current Editor,

Miranda Moore, step into the role vacated by

Pat Treasure, with Miranda’s first issue (TL 45,5)

featuring articles on subjects as varied as themultilingual constitution in South Africa, the

challenges of teaching Chinese in the UK and

German spelling reform.

This was the decade in which the Institute

celebrated the granting of its Royal Charter,

with the President, John Mitchell, noting that

‘the award of the Charter also carries with it

recognition of the linguistic profession as a

whole’ (TL 44,5). Reflections on

professionalism are, in fact, a leitmotif of this

period. Ross Smith, writing in 2003, lamented

the ‘belittlement of the translator’s trade’

(TL 42,2) but was optimistic about theprospect of a Charter.

Paul Wood’s article on translator status in

2004 (TL 43,2) was similarly positive about the

Charter, though it is somewhat disheartening

to see a reference to the (2001) ITI rates

survey suggesting that ‘the average annual

income for freelance interpreters and

translators in the UK is around £31,000’. If

that figure sounds familiar, compare the

findings of the 2011 joint CIOL/ITI survey:

‘The median annual gross income for […] full-

time translators and interpreters was in theregion of £31,000’ (TL 51,2).

With increasing numbers of practitioners

working on a freelance basis, practical advice

The journal became

increasingly outward-

facing and more

inclined to reflect

current events

In the last of the series, Karen Stokes examines the increasingly professional focus of The Linguist

50 years in print

Karen Stokes is a freelance

translator and visiting universitylecturer in translation. She chairs the

Editorial Board of The Linguist.

TL




FEATURES

… and the role of languages. In the Threlford Memorial Lecture 2012, Baroness Garden looks at Government’s role in improving languages in UK business and education

When I was eight, my civil servant father took

up an appointment in Paris and I found

myself in a class where teacher and pupils

spoke only French, and I spoke only English.

The lack of communication was frustrating

and disturbing. I learned fast to survive. Our

live-in cook spoke no English. Her mousse

au chocolat was to die for, but her crises de

foie and mauvaise humeur worsened

considerably if she heard us speak English,

so, in the interests of a quiet life, we adopted

a family Franglais.After 18 months of French immersion, my

parents sent me back to boarding school in

England, where there was another steep

learning curve, in a different world. There was

derision when I bobbed a curtsey and tried

to shake hands with my teachers in the

morning. In the 1950s, the English rarely

shook hands except to seal a deal – or if they

were Freemasons.

At mealtime, I was severely rebuked for

putting my clenched fists on the table and

cleaning my plate with a lump of bread –

good table manners at my French school. Inhistory lessons, the towering figure of

Vercingétorix was unknown and, whereas in

Paris, Joan of Arc had been cruelly betrayed

and put to death by the dastardly English, in

Buckinghamshire, the dirty deeds were down

to the dastardly French. All very confusing.

It was an early practical lesson in

international awareness, in understanding

that foreign languages not only involve

different words, they also open doors to a

rich variety of customs, culture, courtesies –

and contradictory views of history.As you will well know, young children are

all the more accepting and tolerant of

diversity. They acquire a new language more

Hard times, soft power

the capacity of the primary workforce. In

2011, Ofsted reported that teaching was

good in two thirds of the lessons observed at

primary level, and that the level of

achievement was good or outstanding in

60 percent of schools visited. Speaking and

listening were the areas where the greatest

progress was identified.

Secondary concernsThe ending of funding for programmes such

as the primary initial teacher training (ITT)

course in a languages specialism also raises

concerns about workforce capacity. Under

the current National Curriculum, the study of

a modern foreign language (MFL) is statutory

at KS3 (ages 11-14). At KS4 (14-16), there is a

statutory entitlement for every pupil to take a

course in a foreign language leading to a

recognised qualification, if they wish to.

The Department for Education (DfE)recently announced plans for changes to the

qualifications that pupils take at the end of

KS4. The proposals are for six core academic

subjects, including a language, leading to a

new qualification: the English Baccalaureate.

This may address the key challenges facing

the teaching of modern languages. Take-up

at GCSE has continued to decline since 2004,

when the National Languages Strategy (NLS)

removed the compulsion to study at least

one MFL at KS4. From a high of 79 percent

of pupils taking a GCSE in 2000, last year thishad fallen to 40 percent.

Ofsted expressed concern in its 2011

report about the quality of teaching in

readily. They absorb learning, have no

hang-ups about making strange noises, can

treat language learning as natural and fun.

Some vowels and consonants are best

acquired while mouths are still forming,

such as the hard French ‘u’ or guttural ‘r’.

And once a second language has been

tackled, many of the intellectual and

psychological barriers to learning others

have been overcome.

In recognition of this, the previous

government emphasised languages atprimary level, but sadly overlooked their

value at secondary level. The consequent

drop in language take-up has been dramatic.

The latest published evidence1 shows that in

2008, 92 percent of primary schools were

offering pupils the opportunity to learn a

language within class time at Key Stage 2

(KS2; ages 7-11). This represented a rise of

eight percentage points from 2007 and

22 percentage points from 2006. This trend is

set to continue, as within a new National

Curriculum, a language will be statutory atKS2 from 2014.

However, concerns remain about the

sustainability and depth of this provision and

MEMBERS’ DAY

Baroness Garden, with CIOL President

Dr Nicholas Bowen, after delivering the lecture




FEATURES

Until March 2013, there is funding for CfBT

Education Trust to work with 31 ‘teaching

schools’ (a network of schools helping to train

teachers throughout the secondary system)

to identify problems and issues with the

teaching of languages, and to come up with

their own solutions. These should be

sustainable after the funding ends.

The steer is that the findings of the Ofsted

report should be a key guide to the areas

that the teaching schools consider. The

teaching school alliances involved cover around 300 schools. For the lifetime of the

project, schools can draw on the expertise of

nine language programme mentors. The

Government will be looking for actions to

implement from their recommendations.

Amid concerns about the UK’s language

deficit, it should not be overlooked that we

are a multilingual country. Many schools have

world maps on the wall indicating the

countries of origin of each of their pupils,

along with a list of first languages. It is not

unusual to have more than 40 ‘first languages’,

particularly in inner-city schools. Herein lies acontradiction. If, in their personal lives, large

sections of this country are multilingual, why

is there such a deficit of language skill among

those with English as their first language?

And what about our own language? The

great Miss Buss, who, along with Miss Beale,

revolutionised women’s education in the 19th

century, stated: ‘It is almost impossible to

teach English well unless another language is

studied with it, and that other language

should be Latin or French or German.’

I was brought up with Munro Leaf’speerless work, Grammar can be Fun. Every

school day in France had sessions of

‘analyse’, where we deconstructed sentences

grammatically. I studied Latin too, so I do find

grammar and the development of language

both fascinating and fun. In teaching foreign

languages it was, and is, impossible to make

headway without tackling these building

bricks of written communication. Yet when I

was teaching French and Spanish some years

ago, pupils constantly asked why nouns and

verbs were only found in foreign languages,

when English managed so well without them.

This blissful ignorance of parts of speech

was brought home to me in a particularlymemorable piece of homework from one of

my brighter pupils, who wrote of her

weekend: ‘Je suis allée à l’écraser massue

pour évêché mes amis.’ I found the clues in

the smallest of dictionaries: écraser = ‘to

squash’, massue = ‘club’ (as in caveman’s

club), évêché = ‘see’ (as in ‘episcopal see’).

Simple! She had been to the squash club to

see her friends. Her class found themselves

with an intensive lesson on nouns, verbs and

the use of dictionaries – knowledge they

were able to apply to English, where formal

grammar can still be woefully neglected.

Turning to Higher EducationI spoke earlier this year at a seminar on the

year abroad. When I read Modern Languages

at Oxford in the 1960s, women made up

around 15 percent of the undergraduate

population and we were particularly

discouraged from spending a year abroad,

lest it interrupt our academic studies and

lead us to poorer degree classifications. The

spoken language was considered peripheral

to mastery of medieval texts, prose andtranslation, and analysis of literature.

These days, the spoken language is an

intrinsic part of any modern language

secondary schools. While overall progress

was deemed to be good or outstanding in

more than half of the lessons observed,

there were weaknesses in many lessons,

and use of the target language was often

limited. Reading was often not taught

beyond exercises in course books or past

exam papers, and insufficient use was made

of authentic material in the target language.

Why, when these days it is so easy to access

material on the internet?

What more can be done?The Government is fully committed to the

teaching of languages in schools, not only

because it benefits individual social and

economic prospects and the economy more

widely – which addresses the ‘hard times’ in

my title – but also because learning a

language improves the mind and helps

pupils to understand the world in which they

live and different international cultures – the

value of ‘soft power’. The Secretary of State,

Michael Gove, said recently: ‘I am deeply

concerned that fewer and fewer students arestudying languages. It not only breeds

insularity, it means an integral part of the

brain’s learning capacity rusts unused.’

We are encouraged by the recent CfBT

Language Trends Survey,2 which shows

that 51 percent of state secondary schools

now have a majority of their pupils taking a

language in Year 10 (ages 14-15), compared

to 36 percent in 2010. The English

Baccalaureate may be helping this trend.

The same survey shows that languages are

compulsory at KS4 in 23 percent of maintained state schools. Of the remainder,

where languages are optional, the majority

(59 percent) report increases in take-up.

Many schools have

world maps on the

wall indicating the

countries of origin of

each of their pupils © ISTOCKPHOTO



subjects (SIVS), which triggers additional

support to ensure the continued availability of

languages places in Higher Education (HE)

institutions. Would it be asking too much to

aspire to an increase in places available?

For international experience, Erasmus is

the European Union’s educational exchange

programme for HE students and staff. Since

its creation in 1987, more than 200,000 UK

students have undertaken a placement

abroad. Traineeships were added to the

traditional study visits in 2007 and have met

with increasing success.

A recent Hefce (Higher Education Funding

Council for England) study showed that

75 percent of Erasmus students obtained a1st or a 2:1. Six months after graduating,

29 percent of those who had spent a year

abroad earned more than £20,000 a year,

compared to 15 percent of those who didn’t

go abroad.

All English students studying abroad are

eligible for a maintenance loan to assist with

their living costs, and the fee-waiver for

students on the Erasmus programme

spending at least 24 weeks abroad will

continue until 2013/14. After that, English

HE institutions will be allowed to chargeyear-abroad students a tuition fee of up to

15 percent of the maximum fee.

For the first time, this support extends to

student placements at overseas institutions

outside the Erasmus scheme, both within and

beyond the EU. Knowledge and proficiency in

the languages of the emerging economic

powers will become increasingly sought after.

To that end, the second phase of the UK-India

Education and Research Initiative will receive

£2 million of BIS (Department for Business,

Innovation and Skills)

funding. Each year,200 UK students

go to India to

learn about Indian culture and language on a

three-week Study India programme. In 2010,

1,350 students applied. There is no shortage

of interest.

A similar UK-China Partners in Education

initiative will also receive £2 million funding.

This year it will take more than 400 UK

students to China for three weeks. Students

learn about cultural diversity on trips to

Europe – how much wider will contact with

China and India open their eyes.

Moving into workLanguages are an invaluable asset for

employment. When I worked for City &

Guilds I was involved in developing andpromoting vocational qualifications within the

UK and overseas. Skills for construction,

engineering, hairdressing and care may be

transferable to other countries, but even the

most skilled craftsperson or technician will

not be fully employable in a country where

they have no linguistic competence.

City & Guilds was founded in the

19th century to promote the UK’s trading

prosperity. Sir Lacon Threlford, the Institute’s

founder, was a Liveryman who belonged to

some of those guilds. I am also a Liveryman,and Past Master of the Worshipful Company

of World Traders. Our members bring

expertise in countries including Ukraine,

China, Malaysia and Sweden, and work

with the Lord Mayor on trade missions

overseas, where language proficiency is an

immense asset.

FEATURES

qualification. So there has been progress in

some aspects of language learning. In a

recent House of Lords EU Committee

Report, The Modernisation of Higher

Education in Europe, one recommendation

reads: ‘Universities could also do more to

encourage language skills among their

students through language centres and

extra-curricular courses.’

And this is happening. UCL, for example,

says: ‘We believe that knowledge of a

modern foreign language and the

possession of intercultural skills are an

integral part of a 21st-century education.’

From this year, they are introducing a foreign

language requirement for UK students. Thiscould be a GCSE, but there are also options

of doing a UCL language summer school,

taking a language course as part of a degree

or studying for a language certificate at

UCL’s Language Centre, where 18 languages

are offered.

Aston University, which prides itself on its

graduate employability, is offering free

language tuition for all eligible first-year fee-

paying undergraduates. Courses are available

at three levels, with a choice of Arabic, French,

German, Chinese, Portuguese or Spanish.UCAS figures show that the number of

applications for languages in 2011 far

exceeded the number of places available,

which has remained pretty constant in recent

years. Provisional figures suggest this was

also the case in 2012. Since 2005, modern

foreign languages have been classified as

strategically important and vulnerable

Within the City many

businesses requirestaff to be multilingual P I C T U R E S © I S

T

O C K P H O T O




FEATURES

Within the City many businesses require

staff to be multilingual. A recent CBI survey

reported that 71 percent of employers are

not satisfied with graduate language skills. A

report by the CIHE (Council for Industry and

Higher Education) showed that 60 percent

of the UK’s top employers indicate that

experience of international study enhances

employability. Language skills are all the

more valuable if they are linked to

international experience.

We should not take for granted the

dominance of English. Only six percent of the

world population speaks English as a first

language and 75 percent of UK trade takes

place with countries where English is not thefirst language. Why should people buy our

goods and services if we do not afford them

the courtesy of engaging in their language?

As Willy Brandt said: ‘If I’m selling to you,

I speak your language. If I’m buying, dann

müssen Sie Deutsch sprechen.’

British employers tend to identify French

and German as key, but as we build up

trading markets beyond Europe and the

Commonwealth, including the BRIC countries

(Brazil, Russia, India and China), language

proficiency will also be required in Spanishand Portuguese, in Russian and Arabic, in

Mandarin and Cantonese. Some of these we

shall find much more challenging to master

than others.

Some jobs will need specialist language

skills and fluency; many more will call for

conversational ability, to break down barriers,

build friendly relations and generally ease the

way in which business can be conducted. If

we need languages to address the hard

times of the economic situation, so too do

we need them to address what the brilliant

political scientist, Joe Nye, pioneered as thetheory of soft power. He has said:

‘Effective public diplomacy is a two-way

street that involves listening as well as talking.

Soft power rests on some shared values. That

is why exchanges are often more effective

than mere broadcasting. By definition, soft

power means getting others to want the

same outcomes you want, and that requires

an understanding of how they are hearing

your messages and fine-tuning it accordingly.

It is crucial to understand the target

audience… Not only do actions need toreinforce words, but it is important to

remember that the same words and images

that are most successful in communicating to

a domestic audience may have negative

effects on a foreign audience.‘

It was encouraging to hear the ForeignSecretary announce a £1 million programme

to improve the language skills of FCO staff

last year, following the much lamented axing

of the Foreign Office Language School in

2007. Recent figures indicate that 90 percent

of the Diplomatic Service has no recognised

language abilities for the country where

they are posted, a situation which is surely

ripe for improvement.

Within the European Union, the UK should

be playing a full role. Yet we find that the

decline in language competences is having a

very damaging impact on our effectiveness.The EU needs lawyers, scientists, doctors,

security and military experts, as well as those

from business and industry. But where are the

British high-fliers? In last year’s competitive

recruitment drive for EU jobs in Brussels, only

seven of the 308 successful candidates were

British graduates. Only 1.5 percent of the

51,000 applicants were British. Our influence

and interests cannot be adequately

addressed if we have so few of our nationals

at the heart of decision-making – decisions

which affect us all in everyday life.This shortfall may be due, in part, to a lack

of enthusiasm about careers with the EU,

partly because the European fast-stream calls

for exams to be taken in a second language,

usually French or German. That assessment

involves translating into and out of the

second language. The practice of prose, as

well as translation, has declined significantly

both at school and university levels. Our

candidates find themselves disadvantaged by

lack of proficiency in this use of language.

I am told that another handicap is the poor

grammar of many British candidates, who

find themselves out-performed by candidates

from other English-speaking countries, where

the structures of language are still taught.

Bring back Munro Leaf!

This languages deficit is of concern in

international institutions, such as the EU andthe United Nations, where business can be

seriously hampered by inadequate numbers

or standards of interpreters.

Modern foreign languages are a key

component in enriching lives and promoting

good international relations. Tolstoy once

said: ‘Tout comprendre, c’est tout pardonner.’

We may not forgive everything, but if we

understand a little better, we condemn a little

less. Developing that understanding depends

on communication, on familiarity with

languages which leads to respect for thecustoms and cultures of different peoples.

Academia and industry have incentives

and provision to help in remedying the UK’s

language deficit. The Chartered Institute has,

for more than a century, promoted language

solutions to create a more peaceful and

prosperous world. If we all work together, the

UK will have the will and the means to equip

the country with the language skills to face

up to hard times and to exert soft power.

This is an edited version of the Threlford

Memorial Lecture, given on 6 October 2012.

Notes

1 ‘Primary Modern Foreign Languages:

Longitudinal survey of implementation of

national entitlement to language learning at Key

Stage 2 – Final Report’, July 2009, National

Foundation for Education Research and

Department for Children, Schools and Families

(www.education.gov.uk/publications/

eOrderingDownload/DCSF-RR127.pdf)

2 ‘Language Learning in Secondary Schools in

England: Findings from the 2011 LanguageTrends Survey’, March 2012, CfBT Education

Trust (www.cfbt.com/evidenceforeducation/

pdf/Language%20Trends%20Report.pdf)

Figures show that the

number of applications for languages in 2011

far exceeded the

number of places




FEATURES

Mary-Jess Leaverland shot to stardom after winning theChinese ‘X-Factor’. Miranda Moore asks about her

passion for Mandarin and how it has helped her career

Mary-Jess Leaverland is working on her new

album. Since winning the Chinese version of

The X-Factor in 2009, the singer has been

busy making a name for herself as a classical-

pop crossover artist. But despite recording

the theme tune to popular UK costume

drama Downtown Abbey , performing the

traditional Abide With Me at the FA Cup final

in May, and countless radio and TV

appearances, she has yet to reach the level of

stardom that has made the likes of Katherine

Jenkins and label-mate Russell Watsonhousehold names – in the UK, at least.

But we’re here, at her agent’s offices in

Soho, to talk about languages and their

influence on her life, and Mary-Jess is happy

to oblige – without so much as a passing

plug for the forthcoming release. And what

an impact language has had on her career!

The 22-year-old soprano says she can’t

remember a time when she didn’t want to be

a recording artist – both her mother and

grandmother were singers – but it wasn’t until

she went to Nanjing, as part of a degree in

Music and Chinese at the University of Sheffield, that she got her break.

When she entered Min Xing Chang Fan

Tian (I Want to Sing to the Stars ), during the

first semester of a year abroad in Jiangsu

Province, she could never have imagined that

millions of viewers would text-vote her to

victory. ‘There was a lot of piecing things

together,’ she tells me. ‘I didn’t know much

about the show. I didn’t know how many

people were watching.’ As the contest’s first

foreign winner, Mary-Jess gained instant

fame, with huge media interest throughoutthe country, giving her a taste of ‘celebrity’.

She returned early to the UK, signed a

recording contract with Decca Records and

A star rises in the East

tears, he refused on the grounds that she

wasn’t in the top set in French. ‘So I said,

“Fine, I’ll learn Chinese instead”,‘ she laughs.

She fell instantly in love with the language.

Adversity, it seems, only makes Mary-Jess

more determined. When it looked as if she

would have to give up Chinese – they moved

to Stroud and she had no way of getting

home from after-school class – she started

staying at her dad’s house one day a week. ‘I

absolutely loved it. There was nothing that

was going to stop me,’ says Mary-Jess, whotalks in superlatives – the words ‘absolutely’

and ‘amazing’ peppering the conversation.

Her enthusiasm for music, Mandarin and

food (surprising, given her tiny frame) are

infectious. China is ‘absolutely amazing’. ‘If you

get to go, definitely go,’ she says. Her first

experience of the country was on an exchange

trip to Xiamen, aged 15. Even then, her

singing was the subject of press interest, with

her amateur performances making headlines

in the local papers. ‘It was the first time I

thought “Oooh, singing in China, that would

be great!”‘ she laughs.After GCSEs, she hit a common obstacle:

there were no A-level courses in her area. But

Mary-Jess was resolute. ‘I just thought, “I’ll do

it at university.” It did work out really well,’ she

laughs at the understatement.

Conquering China is now a big part of the

dream. ‘I’m hoping that I’ll be able to do two

albums really, in that I’d do a fully Chinese

album for the Chinese market and an English

album for the English and American markets,’

she explains. ‘It would be a great research

project. There are so many treasures inChinese music, it would be great if I could

delve into that. They’ve got all these different

proverbs and they use them in their songs.’

began co-writing an Eastern-influenced debut

album, Shine. Tracks include the self-penned

single Glorious and Yue Guang Ai Ren, from

the film Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon,

sung in English and Mandarin. On the cover,

Mary-Jess holds a Chinese parasol; the music

incorporates the Chinese harp, Mongolian

horse-hair fiddle and Chinese flute, which she

recorded in Beijing with traditional musicians.

This unusual journey into the music industry

seems even more unlikely when you learn that

it all began with a ‘mean’ languages teacher who put Mary-Jess off French at the age of 12

and wouldn’t let her swap to Spanish. Despite

her pleas, promises to work hard and even




FEATURES

me” and then everything else is over there,

because I’m more important.’Mary-Jess isn’t making any judgements.

She revels in the best of Chinese, British and

any other cultures she encounters. She

laughed when an Italian friend told her,

sternly, that under no circumstances should

she snap spaghetti into the pan – but she

hasn’t done it since. There’s nothing like

Chinese food, she says, yet her face lights up

when she talks about ‘good old shepherd’s

pie’ and ‘quintessentially English’ cups of tea.

She admits to feeling homesick while away,

but ‘always told myself to make the most of

every opportunity, so in times of feeling cultureshocked, I concentrated on that.’

She certainly took her chances, and ran with

them. In applying for Min Xing Chang Fan

Tian, she threw herself into a situation that

was completely alien: a hectic live TV studio

where she was dependent on her developing

language skills. ‘It was probably the most

scary thing I’ve ever done,’ she says. Ironically,

the one person she couldn’t understand was

the stage director. ‘I never had a clue what he

was saying. He was the one person that I

really should have understood,’ she laughs.‘Being in the studio every day was a great

learning curve for my Chinese.’ Her listening

skills ‘shot up’, although her writing skills

suffered. Between morning lessons,

rehearsals at the studio, the live

evening show and a few hours’ sleep,

there was little time for homework, so

she took shortcuts to pass end-of-

module exams.

She also had to find time to learn

the songs; those in Chinese were

harder. ‘In English, the vowel sounds

compared to Chinese are very open, so

it’s quite similar to Italian in that way,

whereas in Chinese all the pronunciation isat the front of the mouth. So it’s very different

singing in Chinese, but I do love the

challenge,’ she says.

‘I’m quite often asked “how do they use

the tones when they’re singing”, and they

don’t.’ That is one advantage of singing, but

she still worries about getting the tones right

when she speaks. ‘The sounds are so alien –

they are really different – it takes quite a

while to get used to pronouncing them. But

you’ve got to try, haven’t you? You’ve got to

speak it as much as you can and just laugh

when you make a mistake.’‘I think it’s always the same, if you go to a

new place and you speak some of the

language, you get more involved and you

see so much more,’ she adds. ‘I’m really

hoping that one day I’ll be able to do a

massive tour of China, see everything and

meet all the people. It’d be so interesting to

go round in a big circle – or maybe a spiral –

and see all the different dialects and all the

different ways of pronunciation and the way

the language changed. It’s the most

incredible language, honestly, you have tolearn it.’ Such is Mary-Jess’s enthusiasm that,

by the time the hour’s up, I am seriously

considering it.

INSPIRED BY CHINA

Recent photo shoots (above and left), and

the cover artwork for debut album Shine

It is clear that one of the things Mary-Jess

‘absolutely loves’ is learning itself. At university,

she did a lot of research for her performance

modules and it’s been a good habit to adopt.

‘I looked at o babbino mio caro and you look

up all the meanings of the words and look at

all these different performances of it.’

Naturally inquisitive, she is soon asking meabout the structure of Spanish – a language

she is still determined to learn – gender and

verb endings (two things she is ‘grateful’

Chinese doesn’t have), cultural differences and

misunderstandings. She is less keen to discuss

her own experiences of cultural differences in

China, if only because she is refreshingly aware

of the limits of her cultural understanding of a

nation that covers 9.6 million sq km and has

a population of more than 1.3 billion.

As a joint honours student she missed out

on ‘cultural lessons’, she points out, and

although she has been on several trips toChina, she has spent less than a year there in

total. ‘I’ve got a lot of learning to do where

that’s concerned. Even growing up here and

being English, I don’t know everything about

our culture, and Chinese culture and Chinese

history is so much bigger.’

When I ask if learning another language

has changed her perception of her own

culture, Mary-Jess does venture an answer:

‘The way they think about things is different

to the way we think about things. Just a small

example of that is the way they write anaddress: they put the bigger things first.

Because they’re part of a community, that is

how they see things. Whereas we are “this is

She threw herself into

a hectic live TV studio,

where she was

dependent on her

language skills




FEATURES

How can you make a name for yourself as a trusted translator or interpreter? Marta Stelmaszak shares her experiences of getting established in the field Wouldn’t it be interesting to follow a translator

or interpreter and see how they got started,

established a business and developed their

dream career? Wouldn’t it be useful to have a

look at a professional timeline of events and

milestones? I’m somewhere in the middle of

this process, as I’m still working on establishing

myself as a language professional, but I hope

the lessons I have learnt so far might be of

use both to newcomers and to more

experienced linguists.

September 2009: Joining the industry

Milestone: Obtaining the DPSI

When I moved to the UK, I found translation

work through my existing contacts, but I

struggled to find local clients. I started with

thorough research, reading as much as

possible about the industry. I ordered copies

of The Entrepreneurial Linguist, A Practical

Guide for Translators and The Prosperous

Translator in order to learn the basics of being

a freelance translator. I also started reading

professional blogs, including Translation

Times , About Translation and Musings froman Overworked Translator. These taught me

the practicalities, from issuing invoices through

chasing up late payments to detecting scams.

It was important to get the more formal side

of being a translator and interpreter right too. I

joined the Chartered Institute of Linguists

(CIOL) and other relevant bodies. Obtaining

the Diploma in Public Service Interpreting

(DPSI) created plenty of opportunities.

I’m glad I did my homework at this stage

and devoted so much time to learning about

the industry. I wish there had been mentoringschemes at that time, or that I had been bold

enough to ask one of my more experienced

colleagues for background information. You’d

A successful start

being an entrepreneur (yes, I believe every

freelancer is one), and the structure of my

business started to emerge. The best piece

of advice I was given at this stage was to see

myself as a business and to take care of every

aspect, from marketing and production to

supply chain management (making sure I’m

never out of ink, picking the best internet

provider for my needs, etc).

November 2010: Branding

Milestone: Hiring a marketing consultantI was quite satisfied with the direction my

business was moving in, but I didn’t want to

be too dependent on translation agencies. I

was keen to explore the direct-client market. I

approached a friend who works in marketing

and asked for some advice.

I had no idea about branding, unique

selling points and positioning. My business

cards were awful (homemade, too few

details, Word Art-style design). Apart from

getting my business stationery right and

defining the added value of my services,

I started reading Smashing Magazine (anonline publication for web designers),

Copyblogger and the blog of marketing

guru Seth Godin. I also bought Essentials of

Marketing, Cross-Cultural Marketing and

When Cultures Collide. I even drafted my

own marketing strategy! At that time, I

didn’t think I needed one. A business name?

A logo? I was rather sceptical.

Those doubts turned out to be misplaced.

The sooner you start building your brand, so

that it is recognised and valued for quality,

the sooner you can start to attract morebusiness. Defining my brand helped me to

get a clear idea about my services and

enabled me to pitch them to more clients.

be surprised how many interpreters and

translators are willing to share their knowledge.

February 2010: Setting up a business

Milestone: Attending a business workshop

Realising that you have to set up a formal

business entity can be pretty scary,

especially if you’re used to working for a

company. Suddenly you’re faced with all

the complexities of national insurance

contributions, income tax, self-assessmentsand VAT. For me it was a real challenge.

The best thing I did was to attend a few

business workshops. Much to my surprise, my

local council offered them to start-ups for free.

HMRC also organises free tax-related events.

At an event in North London, I met bakers,

hairdressers, accountants and shop-owners all

setting up their own businesses. That’s how I

made my first contacts! One future restaurant

owner realised that a portion of her clients

were Polish and we made a deal that I would

translate a menu.Learning the basics of managing my own

business was certainly a milestone in my

career. I started feeling less anxious about




FEATURES

great. My website jumped up in Google, I

gained more followers on Twitter and

Facebook, and colleagues started to

recognise my name. I received an email from

a client who had seen the e-book and

wanted me to do some work. In the book I

offered a free CV assessment. I made a lot of

contacts that way. Many returned the favour

by referring me to a few of their clients. I was

invited to run a webinar on the topic and the

fee for that partly offset the cost of spending

so many unpaid hours writing the book.

November 2011: Attending events

Milestone: ‘Interpreting for the Media’ event

I was attending a healthy number of online

events, talks and presentations, but I decided

it was time to move to face-to-face meetings.

One of the first events I went to was the

extremely popular ‘Interpreting for the

Media’ event, organised by the CIOL’s

Interpreting Division. I went there not

knowing anyone and left with a few new

colleagues and a bunch of business cards.

I had never considered myself to be achatty networker, but there I was, enjoying

the atmosphere and exchanging ideas with

like-minded people. I joined the division and

InterpNet, and I would recommend that all

interpreters do the same. In addition to

events for linguists, I also go to events in my

areas of specialisation – marketing, business

and law – but it is important to be selective.

I try to make sure that every event I attend is

likely to bring me some business, not just

more and more business cards.

April 2012: Becoming involved

Milestone: Joining the ID Committee

I had some knowledge of social media andinnovation from a number of courses I had

attended, so I contacted the Interpreting

Division and suggested running a session on

using social media in the languages industry.

Not only did I get to do a presentation, but

I was also asked to join the division’s

Management Committee. There were a few

new responsibilities, but the feeling of

becoming involved in the profession was

immensely rewarding.

October 2012: Being active

Milestone: Language Show Live

One thing leads to another, and I was asked

to write a few articles and talk at some

events. More than 200 people attended each

of the two short presentations I gave at the

Language Show Live, one on behalf of the

CIOL. I also developed my blog, added

online workshops and short videos, and

started guest posting. It all resulted in

more referrals.

As we approach 2013, I should be listening

to my business tutor and writing up a

business plan for the coming year. I’m not. Inthe end, I’m a translator and interpreter, not a

ninja entrepreneur.

www.wantwords.co.uk

Besides, I was proud of my new business

cards and I gave them to everyone. It soon

paid back.

June 2011: Launching a website

Milestone: Hiring professional web designers

With the help of my marketing consultant

and a web development team, I finally had a

professionally designed logo, business cards

to go with it, letterhead, compliments slips,

and my own digital marketing platform (yes,

a website). The team I worked with madesure I was able to edit the text by myself and

add or swap pages. With the little bit of

copywriting knowledge I had, I wrote my first

web copy. It turned out to be an SEO (search

engine optimisation) disaster. I did my

homework again and attended a few

webinars on writing for the web.

The benefits of having my own website

(wantwords.co.uk) were apparent from day

one. I felt more responsible for my business,

I had space to present my qualifications and

add elements from my portfolio. I was visible

online to clients from all over the world. Aprofessional Facebook page, Twitter account

(@mstelmaszak) and LinkedIn profile followed.

September 2011: Sharing experience

Milestone: Writing an e-book

As soon as I had my website, I started writing

a blog (see wantwords.co.uk or google

‘Business School for Translators’). Wanting to

go further, I started writing an e-book, How

to Write a Translator’s CV . Within 24 hours of

publishing it, the book had become the most

frequently shared document on Twitter. Todate, it has been downloaded 10,000 times.

I didn’t earn anything directly from writing

the e-book, but I still think the returns were

The benefits of having

my own website were

apparent from day one.

I was visible to clients

all over the world

THE RIGHT IMPRESSION

Getting the branding and logo

right for Marta’s business (left) has

helped to boost her career, as has

participation at CIOL events ( far left)



FEATURES

OUTER HEBRIDES

Calanais Standing Stones (top) and the

reconstructed Blackhouse village (inset) on

the Isle of Lewis, where around 70% of the

population said they spoke Gaelic in 2001


In 7 years, the linguistic environment in Scotland has changed dramatically. Georgina Collins andFiona Dunn look at the implications for linguists

Crossing the border from England into

Scotland, you notice a slowly

changing landscape, but you also

become aware that you are moving into a new

and very distinct linguistic environment. Fàilte

gu Alba (‘Welcome to Scotland’) is clearly

written on the image of the Saltire (Saint

Andrew’s Cross) – the first of many reminders

of Scotland’s unique cultural and linguistic

heritage, as you travel across the country.Many of these reminders are remarkably

new. The linguistic environment in Scotland

today is very different to that of just a few

years ago, demonstrating how quickly cultural

change can be generated. In 2005, the Gaelic

Language (Scotland) Act sparked an exciting

period of philological transformation, giving

official recognition to a language that has

been an integral part of its history for centuries

but was banished, in favour of English, in the

School Establishment Act of 1616.

This renewed focus on Gaelic has had a

huge impact on society, including businessand education. Led by Bòrd na Gàidhlig (the

national development agency for Gaelic), the

plan to develop awareness and use of Gaelic

in Scottish society has led to an increasing

demand for Gaelic translators, as more and

more texts need to be translated into the

local language. The implications for Scottish

linguists are significant, and serve as a

reminder that skills in a local language, such

as Gaelic, can provide the translator with a

unique and desirable portfolio.

But what is Scottish Gaelic? Unlike English,which is Germanic, it is a Celtic language and

therefore on a different branch of the proto-

indo-European family. Although it has

Gaelic renaissance

Note, the words ‘trousers’ (from triubhas via

trews ), ‘gob’ (meaning ‘beak/bill’) and‘shindig’ (sìnteag, meaning ‘to skip/jump

around’). The increased focus on Scottish

Gaelic is now about normalising the use of

Gaelic within a contemporary setting, rather

than returning to a Gaelic of the past.

This improved awareness of the language

can be seen in the media, with the launch of

BBC Alba in 2008; a proliferation of new

websites and online learning environments,

such as Learngaelic.net; and Gaelic language

publications, including bilingual Gaelic

learners’ magazine Cothrom. This renewedappreciation for the language has seen a

surge in demand for native and non-native

Gaelic speakers, translators and teachers.

developed its own unique identity and

linguistic features, it shares its roots with Irish

Gaelic and Manx (spoken on the Isle of Man).

In the 2001 census, more than 90,000 people

in Scotland were shown to have some Gaelic

language ability, with 60,000 able to speak

it. This figure is much higher worldwide.

The Gaelic Language (Scotland) Act 2005

made Gaelic an official language of

Scotland, granting it ‘equal respect’ withEnglish. Since then, the presence of Gaelic

has been increasingly visible throughout

Scotland. It is used to debate some issues

in the Scottish Parliament and is gradually

becoming an integral part of Scottish public

life through the development and

implementation of Gaelic Language Plans in

public bodies.

Cultural significanceSo why spend so much time and money on

promoting a language that is currently spoken

by only a small proportion of the population?The primary reasons must be culture and

identity: it is a language unique to the Scots

and therefore an integral part of Scottish

heritage. Speaking Gaelic is about embracing

your Scottish roots. Through the language you

can gain a deeper understanding of traditional

Gaelic tales, such as Diarmad and Gràinne, as

well as music and other forms of literature.

Gaelic is also very rich in vocabulary to

describe Scotland’s diverse landscape, with

more than 80 words for hills and mountains,

where English would need more extensiveexplanations. Gaelic words have become part

of the English language and infiltrate everyday

conversations within and beyond Scotland.

P I C T U R E S : V I S I T S C O T L A N D / S C O T T I S H V I E W P O I N T




is learning Gaelic herself and, with the widely-

cited benefits of bilingualism in mind, she

says it was a question of ‘why not?’ when it

came to sending her children to Gaelic school.

Following the success of Gaelic education

programmes further afield, with the

introduction of Gaelic courses at Harvard, for

instance, Scottish Higher Education institutions

now are launching Gaelic language initiatives.

The main aims of the programme at the

University of Glasgow are to promote

awareness of the language across the campus,

to develop Gaelic degree programmes, and

to work alongside related courses, such as the

MSc in Translation Studies, to provide students

with the linguistic skills they need to improve

their employability. One of the most important

aspects is to work with individuals who are

fluent in Gaelic, in order to increase their

confidence in using the language and tohighlight the career opportunities available

to them as young Gaelic speakers.

Job opportunitiesThere are growing chances of employment in

the field of Gaelic translation. At present, there

are approximately 20 individuals across

Scotland involved in professional Gaelic

translation work. Although few will be

earning a full-time salary from this and most

will combine it with other jobs, the pool of

talent is small and the opportunities can beimmense. Scottish translator Michael Bauer, for

example, is leading a small team translating

much of Microsoft’s software into Gaelic.

Much of the translation work is from English

into Gaelic and very rarely the other way

around. (MacMillan, a native speaker of Gaelic,

has also been asked to translate from Spanish.)

Because there are so few translators, not all

of them are native Gaelic speakers, which can

make for a more challenging translation

process, the results of which would be

interesting to study in more depth.

For translators wishing to add another

language to their portfolio of skills, learning

Gaelic to a high standard could provide a

fascinating challenge and be a way of

standing out from the pack professionally.

According to MacMillan, the translation work is

very varied and may include websites,

educational resources, codes of conduct,

advertising materials and dictionaries. He

believes that the demand for Gaelic material

will continue to grow as the number of

people able to read and speak it increases.

Evidence of this can already be seen, as

public bodies in Scotland are obliged to make

provision for Gaelic within their organisations

under the terms and conditions of the 2005

Act. This has opened up further opportunities

to use the language in planning and policy, aswell as creating jobs that focus on improving

awareness of Gaelic language and culture.

This has had a profound effect on the

Gaelic-speaking population of Scotland. It

appears that there is a growing linguistic

confidence building among Gaelic-speakers

as a result of the investment and

commitment being demonstrated by the

Scottish Government. Such commitment is

evidence of the value and contribution that

Gaelic language and culture has to make to

the multicultural landscape of Scotland.In the lead up to the vote for Scottish

independence in 2014, this increased focus

on Scottish Gaelic, as part of Scotland’s

unique and individual cultural identity, may

play a strategic role in reinforcing both

historical and contemporary difference and

diversity across the British Isles.

For details of courses and initiatives at

the University of Glasgow, email

[email protected].

Gilbert MacMillan, a Gaelic language

teacher at the University of Glasgow, also

works as a translator and professional Gaelic

singer. There has been a huge demand for his

translation services since the 2005 Act, and he

has carried out translation work for a variety of

organisations, including the Prince’s Trust, the

Highland Council, the Gaelic Books Council

and Stòrlann Nàiseanta na Gàidhlig, which

coordinates the supply of Gaelic educational

resources in Scotland.

MacMillan has also noticed a particular

need for literature translated from English

into Gaelic in order to broaden the Gaelic

literary corpus, and has worked, for example,

on children’s translations of Romeo and Juliet

and Dracula for the online Scottish book

store, Giglets.

Getting an educationThe creation of learning materials for

students of Gaelic is a developing market.

The language is used extensively in Scottish

education, with more than 100 schools now

teaching Gaelic as a second language, often

through the medium of Gaelic. While

general, Gaelic-medium education was

established as far back as the 1980s, more

recently the country has seen the opening of

stand-alone Gaelic-medium schools. There is

now one in Glasgow, one in Inverness, and

further establishments are expected to opensoon in Edinburgh, Fort William and Portree.

Katherine Forsyth, a lecturer at the

University of Glasgow, sent her children to

Glasgow’s Gaelic-medium school, Sgoil

Ghàidhlig Ghlaschu, because she wanted

them to gain an appreciation of the richness of

Gaelic culture. She has been impressed with

the language provision at the school, which

embraces diversity and has strong links with

the city’s Bangladeshi community. Dr Forsyth

FEATURES

• Learngaelic.net Online search engine for

Gaelic courses and information.

• Clì Gàidhlig Runs Gaelic courses at a

variety of levels, including awareness

classes and taster sessions.

• bbc.co.uk/alba/foghlam/learngaelic

Portal for speakers and learners of Gaelic.

• gaelic4parents.com Interactive site for

Gaelic-speaking children and their parents.

• foramnagaidhlig.net Open forum for

discussing Gaelic language issues.

LEARNING RESOURCES

© A N D R E W

C O W A N

/ S C O T T I S H P A R L I A M E N T

ON THE PAGE: Launch of the

Scottish Gaelic Thesaurus in 2011




FEATURES

E

dward Lear has been translated into

most languages, but how does the

translator render nonsense words

such as ‘ombliferous’, ‘scroobious’,‘borascible’ and ‘umbrageous’? Or even, for

that matter, comprehensible but modified

words, such as ‘sarpint’ (which, as Lear’s

original illustration makes clear, means

‘serpent’)? Lear’s use of onomatopoeia, of the

type found in nursery rhymes, sets another

challenge – try rendering ‘dum diddle’,

’spickle-speckled’, ‘Tick-a-Tick, Tick-a-Tick’ or

‘daffy-down-dillies’.

Translators use three main strategies:

ignoring the nonsense words to render a

meaningful text; creating new words; or modifying words, usually to rhyme. In this

Spanish translation, the Moppsikon Floppsikon

bear becomes the invented ‘Timpiri Tampi’:

There was an old person of Ware,

Who rode on the back of a bear:

When they ask’d, –‘Does it trot?’ –

he said ‘Certainly not!

He’s a Moppsikon Floppsikon bear!’

Erase un viejo de Tomelloso

Que galopaba en la grupa de un oso;

Cuando le preguntaron: ‘¿Pero es que

trota?’,Respondió jovial: ‘¡Como una marmota!,

¡Este es un Timpiri Tampi y no un oso!’

In another example, the translator modifies

nonsense words in order to render the rhyme:

There was an Old Man of the Isles,

Whose face was pervaded with smiles:

He sang high dum diddle,

and played on the fiddle,

That amiable Man of the Isles.

Erase un viejo de Medellín

Cuya cara era toda un mohín;Cantaba: “Din din dirín don”

Y tocaba el violón,

Aquel Viejo amable de Medellín.

interpretation of the original text:

Hubo una vez un viejo en Crowle

Que decidió vivir en el nido de un buho;

Cuando chillaban todos en el nido

El lo hacía tan bien como los demás

Aquel viejo deprimente de Crowle.

The second translation, by Cristóbal Serra

and Eduardo Jordá, appeared in the publisher Tusquets’ series ‘Marginales’:

Hubo en Crowle un anciano algo tontuelo

que vivía en el nido de un mochuelo;

cuando los mochuelitos

emitían sus gritos,

igual que ellos gritaba el muy tontuelo.

This edition is monolingual, yet special

attention is paid to metre and rhyme. The last

translation, by Santerbás, changes the location

from Crowle in England to Gante in Belgium:

Había un vejete de Gante

Que convivía con una nidada ululante.

Cuando algareaba el nido vocingleroLanzaba un graznido lastimero,

Aquel deprimente vejete de Gante.

This edition is for children, which is

surprising as the register is quite hard for

them. Nevertheless special effort has been

made to annotate cultural and historical data.

These very different approaches to translating

nonsense all share an interest in creativity and

delight in a master of nonsense literature.

During his life, Edward Lear was better

known for his illustrations than his poetry, and

he made a living out of selling his pictures

and books of landscapes. His drawingscreate a visual counterpoint to the

verse, which he felt accentuated the

meaning. Reproducing these

illustrations with the translated text can pose

interesting challenges. There may be objects,

such as ‘port’, ‘tincture of Senna’ (to rhyme

with Vienna) and ‘gooseberry fool’, that are

impossible to render in Spanish, hence the

translation strategy of omission. Illustrations

also limit the translator’s creative freedom: in

one limerick Leopoldo Panero renders

‘spade’ as espada (‘sword’), which enableshim to maintain the metre and rhyme, but is

problematic when you consider the illustration:

Translation strategies may differ depending

on the intended audience, for example

whether the text is to be read by adults or

children. In three consecutive decades, threetranslations of the following limerick were

published in Spanish, revealing different

approaches to translating Lear:

There was an old person of Crowle,

Who lived in the nest of an owl;

When they screamed in the nest,

he screamed out with the rest,

That depressing old person of Crowle.

The first, published in the 1970s by an

independent publishing house specialising in

marginal poets, respects neither the rhyme nor

the rhythm of the original. This fact is moremarked since it is a bilingual edition, making

comparison unavoidable. The overall result

may be considered as Panero’s personal

A Lecturer at the Universitat

Autònoma de Barcelona, Dr PilarOrero is an Editorial Board member of

The Journal of Specialised Translation .

TL

Stuff and nonsensePilar Orero marks the bicentenary of Edward Lear’s birth with a look at the translation of his poems




OPINION & COMMENT

Unlike in the period of my last review,

when A-level results dominated press

coverage of language issues, there have

been no big language stories over the last

couple of months, but rather a range of

topics and titbits that have caught the eye

of journalists.

Perhaps the one that has sparked the

most interest is the ‘Twitter map’ of

London, showing that people in the capital

are tweeting in 66 languages – with

Spanish the most popular language after

English. This sits uneasily besides the news

that the exam board OCR is planning to

withdraw Asset Languages exams in 20 of its 25 languages – leaving only French,

German, Italian, Mandarin and Spanish.

This was covered not only in the TES

(‘Language Woes Deepen’) but also by the

New Statesman, with Rowenna Davis

asking ‘Why is the Government Ripping

into Language Learning?’ (13/9/12).

The NS also published a wry piece about

how Nick Clegg had left his Number 10

‘minder ‘ uncomprehending in a corner,

while he held a meeting with European

Council President Herman van Rompuyentirely in Dutch.

The Financial Times contributed a couple

of solid pieces about the advantages of

languages in business: Tim Smedley’s article

on 25 October included some excellent

quotes from the British Chambers’ Adam

Marshall, while, in September, Michael

Skapinker argued that employers should

pay a premium for foreign language skills in

order to encourage more Brits to learn

them. Meanwhile, we learnt from The

Telegraph that the ‘world’s biggest social

network for language learning’ – busuu.com– will be moving its HQ from Madrid to

London, following investment by Brent

Hoberman, co-founder of Lastminute.com.

And two prominent people have

been reported as going multilingual:

The Washington Post reported that Arabic

is to be added to the languages of the

Pope’s weekly message and, nearer to

home, we learnt from The Sun that Kelly

Brook has been learning French – for her

forthcoming film Leçon d’éroticisme…

Languages are so versatile, aren’t they?Teresa Tinsley is Director of Alcantara

Communications; www.alcantaracoms.com.

TERESA TINSLEY

from balanced, as my economics lecturer

stressed it must be.

Of course, the problem with software is

not just in acquiring it, it is also in learninghow to use it. I was having problems getting

my elderly Macbook to talk to free-trial

Parallels Desktop, Trados and MemoQ

software. And having devoured as many

reviews as I could about Mac compatible

software, I was still somewhat wary of

Wordfast, with many people voicing their

concerns over its reliability. The iPhone 5 has

just been released, our phones can now talk

to us, write our emails and text messages,

and yet there still seems to be a lack of CAT

tools available for Mac users.I decided a different approach was

needed. I like working under pressure and I

am aware that there is not always enough

time to go back over translations ten times in

order to polish them to ‘perfection’, but I

wasn’t prepared to accept some of the

unreasonable deadlines and remuneration on

sites listing translation projects. I agree that I

shouldn’t be paid as much as someone who

has been working in the industry for a

number of years and who is therefore more

able than me, but I do not want to support

anything that diminishes the skill, quality or importance of the industry. I left that naïve

person back in the classroom with her

business card and logo doodles.

So, for now, I am sending off CVs and job

applications for in-house translation positions.

It does take some skill rummaging through

the good and the impossible offers. Not

surprisingly, the vacancy for the person who

can translate German > English, English >

German, French > German and German >

French is still unfilled… Meanwhile, to keep

my mind in translation mode, I am readinganything technical I can lay my hands on,

such as the fire installation guide that our

builder left behind.

Teachers on my Masters in Translation

course at the University of Westminster

warned us that we would need one to

two years to set ourselves up as translators

and be able to make a viable living. Yet I was

eased into a false sense of security by the

number of emails I received through my

university from translation agencies and

companies who had vacancies they were

looking to fill. Moreover, at careers events for

translation and interpreting students, theguest speakers always spoke of the great

demand for German<>English translation, a

set in my combination.

I loved hearing about the day-to-day

running of a translation company and the

aspects of having your own one-man (or one-

woman!) show. I diligently scribbled down

everything I heard in my little notebook and,

in idle moments, would think of how I would

design my own business cards.

Once my MA project (extended translation

plus annotations) was submitted, I began to

look for freelance opportunities. The realitydidn’t meet my romanticised expectations. As

someone newly qualified, my first instinct was

to try the boards on ProZ.com that list

translation projects. I attended one of their

free webinars on making the most of your

profile to attract work and was doing all I

could to be proactive, but there seemed to

be so many stumbling blocks.

First of all, the section on computer

assisted translation (CAT) tools tripped me up.

Having funded myself through my Masters by

working five evenings a week in a call centreand with a hefty overdraft, I was in no financial

state to be spending on software or a new,

compatible laptop. My balance sheet was far

Follow our new columnist on her first year in the translation industry

First steps

JULIA GRAHAM



www.iol.org.uk

OPINION & COMMENT

exercises. When I teach the course, I find the

children’s excitement towards Latin and the

classical world very uplifting. They are

communicative, engrossed and keen for

more, and love discovering the Latin roots of

English words. The fact that the word mater

comes down to us in ‘maternity’ recently

caused an eight-year-old pupil to remark

‘Latin is an amazing language!’.

Pupils not only acquire the languages, but

also develop broader language-learning skills.

According to Iris’s Founding Director, LornaRobinson: ‘As Latin word-roots of English are

discussed and learned, the children grow in

confidence as they understand what they hear

and read, and then are able to express

themselves in speech and writing.’

The teaching of Ancient Greek is a newer

venture; Iris set up its programme in 2010.

Again, it is taught by volunteers and

graduates. Iris introduces Greek into the

curriculum in Year 6, when children are

excited by the challenge of learning a new

alphabet. At this stage, the language‘successfully connects with other aspects of

the school curriculum, ranging from history

and geography, drama, art and sport,

through to the sciences of physics, chemistry

and biology,’ says Dr Robinson.

Although the volunteering aspect is going

well, sustained teaching of the Classics in the

curriculum will need more trained teachers.

As is the case with modern languages, this

means a recognition of the value of such

programmes by the Ministry of Education.There seems to be a growing acceptance

of the importance of classical languages, with

frequent conferences and other networking

opportunities, including the annual London

Classics Festival in February. Via Finland’s

national Yleisradio radio station, it is possible

to hear up-to-the-minute international news

in Latin from anywhere in the world. The

Classics might not (yet) be totally mainstream,

but they are well on their way.

Useful resourceswww.irisonline.org.uk

www.minimus-etc.co.uk

http://yle.fi/radio1/tiede/nuntii_latini.

Why kids need ClassicsCIOL member Rosemary Emmett discusses the riseof Latin and Ancient Greek in state primary schools

At a time when cuts are being made to

modern language courses, the news seems

surprising, yet classical languages are

returning to the schools curriculum. Latin,

Greek and Classical Studies have alwaysbeen part of the syllabus in independent

schools, but in recent years the Cambridge

Schools Classics Programme has done a lot

to promote the subjects in state schools.

The Cambridge Latin Series, which is the

most widely-used Latin text in schools, now

has an online version, and other Latin courses

have been written for use at Key Stage 2

(ages 7-11). Their authors are teachers of

Latin and Greek, who strongly feel that a

knowledge of one or both languages can be

of great benefit for modern languagelearning, and for life in general. Written by

Classics teacher Barbara Bell, the Minimus

Primary Latin Course has sold 130,000 copies

since it was published in 1999, and has been

taken up by primary schools in the USA and

Italy.

Some state primary Latin classes were

offered during out-of-school hours, but this is

changing, with Latin being incorporated into

English literacy classes in the curriculum from

Year 4. Most courses are now taught by

volunteers, including former teachers,

university students and new graduates.The Iris Project was set up in 2006 to

promote the Classics in state schools. The

educational charity’s current focus is on

schools in deprived urban areas, and it is

running Boris Johnson’s Love Latin Scheme,

which recruits volunteers to teach Latin and

ancient culture in such schools. The London

Mayor is a passionate advocate for Latin (‘it

delivers lasting value’) and all things classical.

In 2012, students from Swansea University’s

Department of History and Classics began

teaching the Iris course to pupils in Years 5and 6. A mixture of teaching methods is used

to engage children, with games, songs,

crafts, drama and bingo, as well as grammar

WINNING FORMULA

Pupils have a Latin lesson at the Emirates

stadium, home to Arsenal FC

26 The Linguist DECEMBER/JANUARY




OPINION & COMMENT

The day the language died

One of the most significant challenges of

globalisation is finding ways to promote the

diverse languages and cultures of people

from around the world. As the linguist David

Crystal suggests, languages are made

prestigious through culture (cinema, music,

literature), the political and economic power

of the country, and its technological

advances. It is the culture connected to a

language that gives it meaning and value.The possibilities of connecting to a

person’s culture are endless. One can look at

beliefs, inventions, architecture and currency.

Cultures can be shared through literature,

music, celebrations and food from around the

world. It is through this sharing that value is

given to cultures and people develop a sense

of pride in their language.

Furthermore, the educational value of a

person’s mother tongue should not be

overlooked. As Jim Cummins, an expert in

this field, concludes, the development of competence in the native language is

transferable to the second language. He

also emphasises the fragility of children’s

mother tongues, which are ‘easily lost in the

early years of school’. It is important that

parents are encouraged to maintain the

mother tongue at home. By comparing the

syntax of the mother tongue to the new

language a real comprehension of the

grammar is understood.

A person’s identity is conveyed in their

language, which is a manifestation and

product of a culture. Showing respect for aperson’s language and culture is valuing who

they are and where they come from. This, in

turns, increases their confidence and

motivation – the keys to success.

Anita Bamberger MCIL

History is full of languages that slowly

withered and died, but only one has an

official date of death: 31 October 1980. Even

more remarkable, the language only had a

lifespan of some 20 years. That language

was the RLI taal (RLI = Rhodesian Light

Infantry; taal = ‘language, tongue’), and itevolved as a military patois.

Early in 1960, the Federation of Rhodesia

and Nyasaland in Central Africa created a

commando-style regiment, which morphed

into the RLI. Besides locals, recruits came

from South Africa, the UK, the

Commonwealth and beyond. In some ways

it resembled the French Foreign Legion,

where few questions were asked about the

often chequered past of new recruits.

The official language was English but it

rapidly adopted many words and phrases

from Afrikaans, spoken by many South Africanrecruits. It also imported words from Chishona

– the language of the majority African tribe in

the country – plus English Cockney and some

entirely new words. Being a language of

frontline soldiers, it was replete with sexual,

scatological and other derogatory terms for

senior officers and non-members of the unit.

In 1965, Rhodesia’s declaration of

independence from Britain brought about an

influx of new recruits, including Vietnam vets

from the USA, who added new elements to

the language. In the early 1970s, there was awidespread insurgency, led by Robert

Mugabe. The RLI led the counter insurgency

operations and, as other units entered the

fray, the new language spread.

A ceasefire in 1979 led to the

establishment of Zimbabwe. The RLI was

disbanded in October 1980. Its members

moved on to other armies, clandestine units,

mercenary activities or civilian life. The

language was dead, except for occasionalencounters between members scattered

throughout the world.

To the best of my knowledge, no dictionary

or lexicon of RLI taal was ever created.

Instead, for further details consult The Saints:

The story of the RLI (Binda, A and Cocks, C,

30 Degrees South, Johannesburg). Here are

some of the more printable words and their

sources:

Babalas (Afrikaans) - drunk or hung over

China (Cockney) - friend

Chibuli (apocryphally Arabic) - beer

Floppy (RLI) - deceased insurgentGomo (Chishona) - hill, mountain

Lekker glide (Afrikaans) - good trip

Lemon (RLI) - Failed operation

Lighty (Afrikaans) - youngster

Shateen (Chishona) - bush, countryside

Skate (RLI) - rogue, untrustworthy

Tick taxi (RLI) - dog

The standard ending for any sentence was

ek sê (literally ‘I say’) – similar to the

Canadian ‘hey’ suffix. As in: ‘A floppy

grazed by a flat dog, ek sê’ (’An insurgent

eaten by a crocodile’) or ‘Catch me a glideto Burg, ou china, ek sê’ (‘Give me a lift to

town, old friend’).

Wm G Eaton ACIL

Globalisationchallenge

Email [email protected] with your views

© I

S T O C K P H O T O



A day to remember Join James Farmer at Members’ Day 2012

On Saturday 6 October, 117

members, guests and Institute staff

gathered in lovely autumn sunshine

at the impressive Royal Aeronautical Society

at Hyde Park Corner for Members’ Day 2012.

Arriving early allowed me to wander through

the delightful rooms with their chandeliersand portraits. Meanwhile, Soheila Dayani,

Jack Sellen, Paul Whitehouse and Sarah

Heaps were working their magic on all the

necessary on-the-day arrangements.

As in previous years, delegates had the

opportunity to attend two out of four

seminars. I attended ‘For Your Ears Only:

Language at GCHQ’. ‘Lindsay’ gave us a

fascinating insight into the current work of the

government intelligence centre. In a

forthcoming recruitment exercise they will be

seeking skills in Korean, Mandarin and various

lesser-known tongues. It was encouraging tohear that there is no age barrier – Lindsay

herself joined at the age of 54.

Translator Marta Stelmaszak delivered an

instructive session, ‘Using Social Media in the

Languages Industry’. She dealt with LinkedIn,

Facebook and Twitter, all of which she uses

regularly. It was clear from the audience

reaction that many were unaware how useful

these social media are; doubtless, several will

now dip their toes in the water. There were

also seminars on ‘Ethical Dilemmas for

Interpreters’ and ‘Drawing Up a Plan for Continuing Professional Development’.

A tempting hot buffet lunch was served in a

stylish room with a gold-embellished ceiling,

but many of us couldn’t resist sitting on the

outside terrace, which overlooks Park Lane.

The afternoon session opened with Keith

Moffitt, Chair of Council, providing a review of

the previous year and the Institute’s future

plans. Alexandra Jones had left the post of

Chief Executive in December 2011, and HilaryMaxwell-Hyslop (Director of Examinations)

and Alan Peacock (Director of Membership)

had been appointed Joint Acting Chief

Executive Officers. Keith had taken over from

Tony Bell as Chair of Council. He thanked

Tony for all he had done and welcomed his

remaining on Council as Treasurer. Tessa

Brewer had stood down as President and had

been replaced by Nick Bowen.

Membership numbers had been

maintained, despite economic uncertainty.

The new database, introduced in 2011,

enables communication by bulk email,including details of events, renewals and news

items, saving postage costs. There had been

a successful first joint event with the Institute

of Translation and Interpreting (ITI) and the

European Union, a seminar on Clear Writing.

Keith also mentioned the Institute’s enhanced

commitment to CPD, with the number and

scope of workshops being increased.

The decision had been taken to leave

Saxon House, which is no longer fit for

purpose. Keith talked about the Ministry of

Justice Framework Agreement and took onboard comments from the floor. He added

that The Linguist is now available online, and

there was some discussion as to whether it

should continue to be available as hard copy.

Tony Bell conducted a straw poll, which

concluded, overwhelmingly, that it should.

Keith introduced the 2012 ThrelfordMemorial Lecturer, Baroness Garden of

Frognal, a Liberal Democrat peer who is

Government spokesperson in the House of

Lords for DCMS (Media, Olympics, Sport), BIS

(Higher Education) and DfE (Education). Her

subject was ‘Of Hard Times, Soft Power – And

the Role of Languages’.

An accomplished and entertaining speaker,

she spoke encouragingly about the issue of

language learning in schools. She told us of

her three years attending school in Paris when

her parents moved there. Shaking hands with

the teachers each morning went down lesswell when she returned to school in the UK!

She touched on her experience in the

Worshipful Company of World Traders, of

which she was Master from 2008 to 2009.

Finally, she briefed us on the MoJ issue and

sympathetically fielded audience questions.

(For an edited version, see pages 14-17.)

The day concluded with a drinks reception.

As ever, Members’ Day was instructive,

entertaining and enjoyable. It provided an

excellent networking opportunity and the

chance to catch up with old friends and makenew ones. My gratitude and praise go to all

those at Saxon House who worked so hard to

make the event possible.


INSTITUTE MATTERS

NETWORKING

Delegates talk over lunch




INSTITUTE MATTERS

Open house

THE LONDON SOCIETY EXPLORES THEWONDERS OF THE SOANE’S MUSEUM

January

‘WHAT IS SPECIFICTO TRANSLATIONOF CRIME’Saturday 19 January

Manchester YHA,

11.30am-1.15pm

Talk by Dr Karen Seago

(12-1.15pm), followed by

lunch in the YHA canteen.

Manchester YHA, Potato

Wharf, Manchester, M3

4NB. Suggested donation:£15; £10 NW Society

members. To attend or for

details, email katrin.hiietam

@ee-translations.com.

February

ARABIC LITERARY TRANSLATIONEVENING

Friday 1 FebruaryOver-Seas House, London

Readings in Arabic and

English, and discussion

with the authors of recent

Arabic literary works, with

translator Peter Clark.

Over-Seas House,

St James’s Street, London

SW1A 1LR. For details,

see www.iol.org.uk.

NW

TD

DIVISIONS & SOCIETIES

Members of the London Society met for a guided tour

of the Sir John Soane’s Museum in August. John Soane

was an English architect, born in 1753, who designed

this house to live in, but also as a setting for his

collection of antiquities and works of art. He was

constantly adding to and rearranging his collections,

and eventually he established the house as a museum

to which ‘amateurs and students’ should have access.

The spectacular restoration of Soane’s first house, at

12 Lincoln’s Inn Fields, reveals an elegant, neoclassical

townhouse, built in 1792 as a family home. At the time,

this was not a nice part of London, but the location

was very convenient for him.The museum’s collections contain many important

works, including Hogarth’s A Rake’s Progress and An

Election, Canaletto’s Riva degli Schiavoni, Looking

West , the alabaster sarcophagus of Seti I, 30,000

architectural drawings, 6,857 historical volumes, 252

historical architectural models, and valuable examples

of furniture and decorative arts.

After the tour, the group went to the Ship Tavern for

lunch. The pub is hidden away and has a fascinating

history, which dates back to 1549. During the reign of

Henry VIII, outlawed Catholic priests would conduct

mass from behind the bar. Some were discoveredhiding in the cellar and executed on the spot. Many

people claim the place is haunted.

Rannheid Sharma MCIL

KEY DIVISIONS

Business, Professions

& Government:

Education:

Interpreting:

Translating:

SOCIETIES

Cambridge:

German:

Hong Kong:

Lincolnshire:

London:

North West:Scottish:

Spanish:

BPG

EDU

TD

CAM

GER

LINC

NWSCOT

LON

SP

HK

ID

COUNCILNEWS In our regular update ondevelopments at Saxon House, Chair of CouncilKeith Moffitt reportson the September meeting

Much of the meeting of Council on 22 September

2012 was devoted to the decision to move out of

Saxon House, which is the main subject in my

Chair’s notes on page 4. The proposal to sell

Saxon House and move into modern, servicedaccommodation for the immediate future was the

subject of long and detailed discussions. Council

was particularly concerned that the move should

not adversely affect the service we provide to our

members or the morale of our staff, and was

clear that we must protect the proceeds from the

sale of our premises, a topic which Council will

return to at future meetings.

Another subject to which we once again

devoted a considerable amount of time was the

Ministry of Justice contract, also referred to in

my notes. Under our regular finance item,Council was pleased, given the challenges of the

previous 12 months, to learn that the CIOL

group was on track to make a small surplus for

the year. The meeting also approved the CIOL

budget for 2012/13.

Council discussed our relationship with the

Speak to the future campaign, and agreed we

would continue to support it.

The meeting received the usual comprehensive

reports from our Joint Acting Chief Executives,

Alan Peacock and Hilary Maxwell-Hyslop,

including encouraging news about membership

renewals, despite the harsh economic climate.

Alan reported that our Professional Development

Officer, Jack Sellen, had drawn up a very

successful series of CPD workshops, and income

from this activity was growing. Hilary briefed

Council on arrangements for the Institute’s

participation at the Language Show that would

be taking place at Olympia in late October, a

regular date in our calendar of events.

Our final item was the reports we receive from

Council’s various sub-committees. Because of the

need to devote so much of the meeting to the

accommodation project, items on proposed rulechanges and proposed amendments to our

disciplinary procedures were deferred.

B Y C O U R T E S Y O F T H E

T R U S T E

E S O F S I R

J O H N

S O A N E ’ S M U S E U M



he has been Chair of the

National Register of Public

Service Interpreters and a

CIOL Vice-Chair of Council.

Paul Hughes

Trained at the

Defence School

of Languages,

Paul Hughes

worked as a Military

Linguist/Interpreter (Arabic,

Russian, Pashto) in the Royal

Air Force. He has spoken tomore than 20,000

secondary pupils about his

linguistic experiences, and

now works for the leading

independent forensic

collision research company

in the UK, GBB (UK) Ltd.


INSTITUTE MATTERS

Students:

Sally Cowan

Anna Romeo

Martine YeoAssociates:

Ciaran Acford

Gillian Bowen

Marina Collini-Clark

Joanna Dornbierer-Stuart

Marketa Green

Waseem Javed

Athanasia Manitara

Maria Marcinkova

Mark Mason

Mohamed Shalluf

Galina Sparks

Ann ThomsonCarmen Twerdy

Members:

Lotte May Beedell

Jennifer Billinge

Juraj Bobula

Delphine Bonnet

Hsin-Jung Chung

Clare Cole

Sara Maria Silva Cruz

Frank Dalton

Michael Davies

Domitilo de Pablo YagüeBarbara Dresner

Brian Gaffney

Anastasios Ghikas

Leonore Haaijman

Piotr Jankiewicz

Anna Lucca

Helen Massy-BeresfordJacqueline Mathewes

Arthur Miller

Maria Jose Molinari

Althea Muirhead

Rebekah Rhodes

Franca Simpson

David Swain

Philippa Ungar

Juan Uslar Gathmann

Luciana Vilela Rodrigues

Rachael Walker

Helene Walters

Phillip WiganWeilin Xu

John Yates

Sandra Young

Anna Zatorska-Batt

Ruo Yu Zhao

Upgrades:

Christopher Collister

Grace Qiuming Liao

Alessandra Mendes

Readmissions:

Ziya Michael Dikbas

Ting Ting Maggie HuiGeorge Mansi

Cristina Marinetti

CONTRIBUTORS

Ian AndersenIan Andersen is External

Communications Adviser at the

European Commission’s

Directorate General for

Interpretation, where he has

worked in various roles since 1986. Seep.12

Georgina CollinsDr Georgina Collins is a Lecturer

in Translation Studies at theUniversity of Glasgow and a

freelance translator. The Other

Half of History is her anthology of

Francophone African women’s poetry. Seep.22

Baroness (Sue) GardenBaroness Garden of Frognal is

the Liberal Democrat

spokesperson in the House of

Lords, for Culture, Media and

Sport; Business, Innovation andSkills; and Education. See p.14

Bernardette HolmesBernardette Holmes, from the

University of Cambridge

Language Centre, leads Speak to

the future Working Group 3, and

is past President of ALL. See p.6

Marta StelmaszakMarta Stelmaszak ACIL is afreelance interpreter and

translator, specialising in law, IT,

marketing and business. She is

a member of the Interpreting

Division’s Management Committee. See p.20

Jonathan StockwellA translator for many years,

Jonathan Stockwell is now a

web-editor at the European

Commission’s Directorate-General for Translation, where he

is part of a team working to make EU websites

concise, clear, useable and relevant. See p.8

Meet the FellowsMichael Harrington

Michael

Harrington has

been working

as a translator

for SMS Siemag AG since

1992, and was previously a

freelance interpreter and

translator. He joined the

Institute in 1979, and was

Chairman of the German

Society from 2003 to 2012.

Brooke TownsleyBrooke Townsley is a Senior

Lecturer in Public Service

Interpreting and Translating

at Middlesex University, and

has taught at other London

universities. A partner in the

EU-funded Qualitas project,

March 2013

GERMAN SOCIETY AGMSaturday 2 March

Braunschweig/Brunswick

For details, email

[email protected].

‘MARKETING FORTRANSLATORS’ &NETWORKING LUNCHSaturday 2 March

Wig & Mitre, midday-4pmTalk by Karen Stokes FCIL

CL (Translator), followed

by lunch.

Steep Hill Room, Wig &

Mitre, 30 Steep Hill, Lincoln

LN2 1TL. For details or to

attend, call Candia Hillier

on +44 (0)1522 526 695 by

23 February.

To receive news about the

society, email candia@

chezhillier.freeserve.co.uk.

CONTACT DETAILS

Judith Ridgway,

[email protected]

IoL.Interpreting.

[email protected]

Karen Stokes,

translatingdivision@

gmail.com

Leslie Ray,

[email protected]

Gabriele Matthey,

[email protected]

Francis Lee,

[email protected]

Candia Hillier,

candia@chezhillier.

freeserve.co.uk

Rannheid Sharma,

[email protected]

Katrin Hiietam,

[email protected]

Anne Withers,

[email protected] Caine,

martincaine2008@

gmail.com

TD

CAM

GER

HK

LINC

LON

NW

SCOT

SP

BPG

ID

GER

LINC

ADMISSIONS



Vol/51 No/6 2012 DECEMBER/JANUARY TheLinguist 31

ANNUAL REVIEW

Annual review 2011-2012

Membership

During the year under review wewelcomed 433 new members

and re-instated 42 former

members. The MCIL category is

the most popular grade, and the

trend of Associates upgrading to

full Membership has continued.

The membership team

continued to invite new holders

of the DipTrans and the DPSI to

apply for membership, with a

gratifyingly positive response.

As usual, the Institute had a

stand at the Language Show,which was held at the Olympia

Exhibition Centre in London, in

October. The event was very

busy and more than 300 people

visited the Institute’s stand,

where members of staff,

members of Council and other

volunteers were on hand to give

information and advice.

In July, the Chartered Institute

(CIOL) and the IoL Educational

Trust (IoLET) exhibited jointly atthe LLAS Language Futures:

Languages in Higher Education

conference at the University of

Edinburgh. Around 100

delegates – lecturers in Higher Education – attended this event.

In addition, both Membership

and IoLET staff have visited a

number of UK universities and

colleges throughout the year,

promoting the benefits of

membership and examinations

to language students.

Membership figures

(as at end of August 2012;

August 2011 in brackets)

Honorary Fellows 49 (48)Honorary Members 3 (3)

Fellows 328 (339)

Members 4,185 (4,282)

Associates 1,367 (1,497)

Affiliates 23 (32)

Registered Students 104 (80)

TOTAL 6,059 (6,281)

Members’ Day

The Institute’s Members’ Day was

held on 17 September at the

University of Durham. The eventwas very well received, and

attendees appreciated that the

Institute had held the event

outside London again. Members

had the opportunity to attendtwo seminars during the morning

session. In the afternoon, the

Threlford Memorial Lecture was

delivered by Richard Hardie, Vice

Chair of UBS Ltd, on the subject

of ‘Businesses, Languages and

the State’. The day ended with a

reception, at which members

could enjoy spectacular views of

Durham’s cathedral and castle

from the balcony of the Calman

Learning Centre.

Rates & Salaries SurveyIn 2010, a Working Group was

set up by the CIOL and the ITI

to carry out a joint Rates and

Salaries Survey for translators

and interpreters. After a great

deal of preparatory work, the

online survey went live in August

2011; by the closing date in

October 2011, more than 1,750

submissions had been received.

Following close analysis andconsolidation of the data, the

Master Report was published in

March by both institutes. A

summary was published on the

websites of the CIOL and ITI, aswell as in The Linguist and the

ITI Bulletin. Thanks are due to

the members of the Working

Group, who gave many hours of

their time in the production of

the survey.

Divisions and societiesIn September 2011, the Business

Professions and Government

(BPG) Division organised a tour

of the Houses of Parliament,

followed, in November 2011, bya visit to Rolls-Royce in Derby. In

April 2012 the division

sponsored a training course in

Cross-Cultural Competence,

and, in May, its members visited

the Charterhouse for a musical

tour, with entertainment from

the Thomas Sutton Singers.

The Interpreting Division

hosted an event entitled

‘Interpreting in the Media’ in

November 2011. Guestspeakers covered issues such as

the demands of short-notice live

media work, pre-assignment

This review covers the period 1 September 2011 to 31 August 2012.

Following the organisational restructure of the companies during the

previous year, we have taken the opportunity this year to evaluate

and rationalise our internal operational structure; we have appointed

a dedicated Office Manager and a Professional Development and

Membership Services Officer, and we have carried out an audit of our

IT systems. We are also undertaking a major review of the location

and accommodation of the Institute (CIOL and the IoL Educational

Trust – IoLET), giving consideration to future accommodationrequirements and protection of the Institute’s assets.

The Institute’s two operating entities – the CIOL and IoLET – both

returned a modest surplus for the financial year and we continue to

focus attention on replenishing our reserves. Continuing global

economic uncertainty has led to a slight dip in membership numbers

and has also impacted on the number of candidates taking the

Diploma in Translation (DipTrans) and the Diploma in Public Service

Interpreting (DPSI), the two major examinations offered by IoLET.

We continue to forge links with other language organisations and

groups, and held a joint event with the Institute of Translation and

Interpreting (ITI) and the European Commission in July. The Institute

has also been closely involved in discussions arising from the

framework agreement for the provision of interpreters in the

criminal justice system, which came into force early in 2012.

Regular readers of The Linguist will be aware that our journal

celebrated its 50th anniversary in 2012 with a series of five articles,

one for each decade, and the launch of the publication online.Alexandra Jones left the post of Chief Executive at the end of

December 2011 and, in January 2012, Hilary Maxwell-Hyslop (Director

of Examinations) and Alan Peacock (Director of Membership) were

appointed as Joint Acting Chief Executive Officers.

Tony Bell resigned as Chair of Council in February 2012, and

Keith Moffitt was elected as his successor. At the AGM in March,

Dr Nicholas Bowen was elected President, succeeding Lady (Tessa)

Brewer, who had served as our President since 2008.

OVERVIEW



32 TheLinguist DECEMBER/JANUARY www.iol.org.uk

ANNUAL REVIEW

briefing and research. In March

2012, the division provided a

two-session workshop on

marketing strategy: the use of

social media in the languages

industry, and how to improve

marketing skills.

The Translating Division’s

‘Translator’s Pack – Live!’

professional development event

was held in November, aimed at

new translators starting up in

business. Topics included

continuing professional

development (CPD), web

resources, the translator’s office,and working with agencies and

direct clients. In July 2012, the

division joined forces with the ITI

and the European Commission

in London to host an event at

Europe House on Clear Writing.

It included presentations on the

EU Clear Writing Campaign,

plain English and writing for

web users.

In May, the Spanish Society

celebrated its 25th anniversarywith a meeting and lunch in

Madrid, attended by 27

members and the Institute’s

Membership Services Officer.

Also in May, the Joint Acting

Chief Executive Officer, Alan

Peacock, and the Chair of the

Editorial Board, Karen Stokes,

visited the Lincolnshire Society for

its AGM, and Mr Peacock

attended the Spring Conference

of the Hong Kong Society.

Stuart Poole stood down asChair of the Scottish Society and

Ann Withers was elected as the

new Chair. The Institute’s other

societies – German, Scottish,

North West, London and

Cambridge – continued to host

professional events throughout

the year.

Chartered LinguistScheme

At its meeting on 31 March2012, Council decided to

undertake a review of the rules

and admissions criteria of the

Chartered Linguist scheme. This

is being carried out by a small

working group, chaired by Keith

Moffitt, which includes

representatives from the ITI and

the International Association of

Conference Interpreters (AIIC).

The working group aims to

make recommendations to

Council in 2013.

Ministry of Justice (MoJ)interpreting contractThe MoJ framework agreement

for the provision of interpreters

in the criminal justice system,which came into force in January

2012, was the focus of

considerable controversy and

media attention during the year.

Tony Bell and Keith Moffitt both

wrote to MoJ ministers and

senior officials on several

occasions, raising concerns

about the new arrangements.

Mr Moffitt sat as an observer on

the steering committee of the

Professional Interpreters for Justice Campaign, alongside

representatives from six other

organisations representing

public service interpreters, and

the profession’s regulatory body,

the National Register of Public

Service Interpreters Ltd (NRPSI).

This situation has led to an

investigation by the National

Audit Office (NAO), and

inquiries by the Public Accounts

Committee and the Justice

Select Committee, to which theInstitute submitted evidence.

Professionaldevelopmentand trainingThe range of continuing

professional development

workshops offered by the

Institute has continued to

expand over the year. The

majority of workshops are

non-language specific and donot carry any pre-requisite

other than a fluent level of

English and the other

language(s), both spoken and

written. Courses range from

those aimed at people new to

the profession, through to

practical workshops on business

practice and technology.

We are also aiming to branch

into new areas, such as

audiovisual translation, literary

translation, games localisation

and voiceover; and to offer

structured workshop series on

specific topics, such as ‘Working

Successfully as a Freelance

Translator’. Future plans include

partnerships with universitylanguage departments to

facilitate student engagement.

IoL Educational TrustThe IoLET has had a challenging

year with a fall in enrolments in

its two main qualifications: the

Diploma in Public Service

Interpreting (DPSI) and the

Diploma in Translation

(DipTrans). However, new

centres are still coming forwardfor both examinations, and the

challenge is to ensure that we

identify all potential candidates

and continue to offer the

qualifications to the highest

possible standards.

In the spring, we had to

prepare for our submission to

our external Regulator, Ofqual

(Office of Qualifications and

Examinations Regulation). This

involved the IoLET Board

confirming that we met all thecriteria necessary for continued

recognition as an Awarding

Organisation. It was a lengthy

but worthwhile exercise that

provides reassurance for all

stakeholders that our

qualifications are independently

monitored and are of the

standard and level they claim to

be. However, self-assessment is

a key part of ensuring that we

maintain our standards, and sowe continue to review our own

documentation, procedures and

processes on an on-going basis.

Special Projects

IoLET continued its collaboration

with external organisations and

universities, offering exemptions

and joint certifications of

language-based assessments. It

is currently working on ways to

make its qualifications more

accessible to individuals already

studying interpreting or

translation in universities, in

order to facilitate the process

leading to exemptions.

Certificate in Bilingual Skills

(CBS)All three pathways were offered

in a combined total of 25

languages this year. Italian,

Polish and Spanish, closely

followed by French, were the

most popular languages. For the

first time, we also offered a CBS

in Swahili.

Both our CBS variants, the

‘Public Services’ and the

‘Sports & Leisure’ pathways,

are enjoying continued interest,and the Metropolitan Police

commissioned a second

tailor-made ‘CBS Police’ for

their officers, entering 113

candidates for 18 languages, a

20 percent increase.

Discussions are in progress

with both the education and the

health sectors to see how a

school-specific or NHS-related

CBS could be best employed.

The CBS Handbook for Tutors,

providing guidance on runningCBS courses, is now available on

the CIOL website. Successful

holders of the qualification can

apply for Student Membership

of the CIOL.

Diploma in Public Service

Interpreting (DPSI)

A total of 886 candidates

registered for the June session

of the DPSI this year. The

take-up of languages in 2012was similar to 2011, with 42

languages. The most recent

language to be introduced to



Vol/51 No/6 2012 DECEMBER/JANUARY TheLinguist 33

ANNUAL REVIEW

the DPSI is Korean, in 2011. The

largest candidate group for the

June session was once again

Polish, followed this time by

Russian, then Urdu, Spanish

and Arabic. From the three

pathways of Law, Health and

Local Government, the Legal

pathway (both English and

Scottish) still attracts the largest

number of entries.

Public Service Translation

Unit pilot

As a result of emerging interest

in a higher level public servicetranslation module, IoLET has

decided to run a pilot to

introduce a potential Public

Service Translation Unit. The

format and level will be the

same as for DipTrans units (level

7) and the topics will be

available for the following

options: Law (English/Scottish),

Health and Local Government.

The unit may be of particular

interest to holders of the DPSIwho want to gain a unit credit for

a higher level translation

qualification, to DipTrans holders

themselves, as well as to new

candidates who are interested in

adding one of the public service

specialisms to their qualifications.

Initially, the pilot will be

offered for the out-of-English

paper only. We are currently in

the process of identifying

examination centres familiar with

the DipTrans and/or DPSI willingto run a pilot.

Diploma in Translation

(DipTrans)

1,047 candidates sat the 2012

DipTrans examination (1,157 in

2011) in 38 countries (47 in

2011). 617 candidates sat the

examination for language

combinations from English (722

in 2011). Other languages into

English combinations had 430candidates (435 in 2011). There

was a total of 44 language

combinations, which is a

decrease from the 50 language

combinations offered in 2011.

61 percent of candidates sat in

the UK, 39 percent overseas (in

38 countries).

New language combinations

for 2012 included English into

and out of Hebrew, Czech into

English, and English into Tamil.

Small Entry languages out of

English included Bulgarian, Dari,

Farsi, Japanese, Kurdish-Sorani,

Latvian, Lithuanian, Nepalese,

Panjabi, Romanian, Serbian,

Slovak, Tamil, Turkish and Urdu.

Small Entry languages intoEnglish included Dutch,

Japanese, Norwegian,

Portuguese, Russian, Swedish

and Turkish.

We also had a small

candidature for language

combinations other than English,

namely French into German,

French into Spanish, German into

French and Spanish into German.

The top five language

combinations in 2012 wereFrench into English, Spanish into

English, English into Greek,

English into Spanish, and English

into German.

International Diploma in

Bilingual Communication (IDBC)

The IoL Educational Trust will run

the International Diploma in

Bilingual Communication in

Hong Kong until 2014.

Metropolitan Police Test

(Met Test)

In 2011-12, the Met Test

changed from being run three

times a year to twice a year.

There is now a Summer

(May/June) and a Winter

(November) session. We have

begun work to make the Met

Test into an Ofqual accredited

qualification, which we hope will

add value and secure its future.

We assessed in 30 languagesduring November 2011 and 26

in May 2012. Polish continues to

be the most popular language,

with Romanian close behind.

Lithuanian is growing as a

language; fewer candidates are

applying for Kurdish (Sorani)

than in previous sessions. Small

Entry languages in the last year

included Dutch, Nepalese,

Serbian, Tamil, Thai and Ukrainian.

Continuation Courses

We moderated and certificated

Continuation Courses in three

languages – French, German

and Spanish – in five schools.

The courses are for pupils in

Year 11 (ages 15-16), most of whom have sat a language

GCSE a year early. The courses

are designed to bridge the gap

between GCSE and A-level/

International Baccalaureate;

widen the pupils’ knowledge of

the language they are studying;

increase their awareness of the

culture of the countries it is

spoken in; and encourage able

linguists to continue further

study in that language.

Customised Assessments for

Business/Education (CASB/E)

We continue to offer in-business

language assessments at levels 1,

2 and 3. The most popular

language is French, followed by

Spanish. Clients include L’Oréal,

QBE Insurance and Amlin plc.

External representation

We continue to attend many

events in connection withlanguage teaching, translation

and interpreting. We are

involved with Speak to the future

– the campaign for languages,

which highlights the importance

of languages, language learning

and professional language

activities for the UK; and with

Language Rich Europe, a

networking project that brings

together 1,200 policy makers

and practitioners from acrossEurope, to discuss and develop

better policies and practices for

multilingualism.

The IoLET has contributed a

chapter to the EU Framework

Project for Implementing EU

Common Standards in Legal

Interpreting and Translation,

Building Mutual Trust 1, and is a

partner in the follow-up project,

Building Mutual Trust 2. It is also

a member of the Advisory Board

of the TransCert project

consortium, an EU project

looking at voluntary certification

for translators in the EU.

IoLET prizes

The annual prize-givingceremony was held in London,

in November 2011. Prizes

were given for excellent

performance, by candidates

and centres, in IoLET

examinations. The Threlford

Memorial Cup was awarded

to Italian in Italy, for fostering

the study of languages and

working to emphasise the

importance of cultural

knowledge. The David CrystalAward was won by Professor

Erik Hertog for his work across

Europe in developing the

provision of professional

language training.

The Institute paid tribute to

the work of its divisions –

Translating, Interpreting, and

Business, Professions and

Government – which are crucial

to the delivery of professional

services to our members. Their

success depends on the energyand commitment of enthusiastic

and dedicated volunteers.

Future plans

As well as plans outlined above,

IoLET will be introducing online

enrolment and payment for our

examinations. We are in

discussion with various

organisations about the

production of new Units for the

Qualifications Credit Framework(QCF), some of which lend

themselves to electronic

assessment delivery.



34 TheLinguist DECEMBER/JANUARY www.iol.org.uk

ANNUAL REVIEW

The Linguist 2012 was an important year for

The Linguist as it celebrated its

50th anniversary. Starting in

issue TL 51,2, a regular feature,

‘50 Years in Print’, marked the

occasion with a decade-by-

decade overview of the journal.

Fittingly, the online edition

was also launched in 2012.

From issue TL 51,1, each

issue has been available at

www.iol.org.uk/TheLinguist.html

two weeks after publication. This

delay is to ensure that CIOL

members and TL subscribers arealways first to read the magazine.

After much consultation and

research, the Board agreed that

free access, on a trial basis, would

be the most effective and cost-

efficient way of publicising the

new online edition, and would be

a valuable tool for promoting the

CIOL and its membership.

There were several changes to

the Editorial Board, with Alan

Peacock replacing AlexandraJones when he took over as

Joint Acting Chief Executive

Officer in January 2012. Keith

Moffitt, a former chair of the

Board, re-joined after taking

over from Tony Bell as Chair of

Council in February. Christine

Pocock also left the Board, after

serving on it for more than 10

years. Theo Merz returned

following a year abroad as part

of his degree, and Marketing,

Communications and PRManager, Sarah Heaps, joined as

an ex-officio member in March.

The decision to revive the

representation of the CIOL

Communications Department on

the Editorial Board expresses the

Board’s concern that The Linguist

should reflect the needs and aims

of the CIOL, and fulfil its function

both as a promotional tool and

as a means of communication

between the Institute andmembers, while continuing to

deliver useful, insightful and

inspiring articles for its readers.

The three-article special

focuses continued, with a Tribute

to Professor Peter Newmark in

TL 50,5; and a look at Creative

Translation in TL 51,4, including

articles on transcreation, games

localisation and subtitling.

Many regular items continued,

including ‘Global Insights: PSI’,

looking at public service

interpreting around the world;

‘Trade Secrets’, a Q&A with

businesses about their

languages needs; the ‘Council

News’ reports; and ‘Inside

Parliament’, looking at the workof the All-Party Parliamentary

Group on Modern Languages.

The Linguist kept readers

informed of developments

affecting linguists, with a new

section providing updates on

the Speak to the future

campaign; an update from Tony

Bell on the MoJ’s interpreting

arrangements (TL 50,6); and

articles about changes to

education policy, including ‘ADegree Dearer’ by UCML Chair

Jim Coleman, on the impact of

the fees increases on university

languages departments. A

summary of the joint CIOL/ITI

2011 Rates and Salaries Survey

appeared in TL 51,2 under the

header ‘Your Rates Revealed’.

An edited version of the

Threlford Memorial Lecture,

delivered in 2011 by Richard

Hardie, ran, as usual, in the last

issue of the calendar year. Other notable articles included ‘Let the

Games Begin’ (TL 51,2), looking

at the languages provision at the

Olympics; ‘“Out!” in any

Language’ (TL 51,3), revealing

the use of language in Tahrir

Square; and ‘Ticket to Europe’

(TL 51,4), with information from

the DG Interpretation on how to

pass the EU accreditation test.

Annual General MeetingThe AGM of the CIOL was

held on Saturday 10 March 2012

at the Novotel City South,

53-61 Southwark Bridge Road,

London SE1.

Lady (Tessa) Brewer had

decided to step down after

serving as President for five years.

A brief statement by Lady Brewer

was read out and the Chair of the

meeting, Keith Moffitt, recorded

the Institute’s gratitude to Lady

Brewer for her dedicated

support and advice. Dr Nicholas

Bowen was elected as President

for the forthcoming year.

Professor Tim Connell,

Ann Corsellis, Baroness Jean

Coussins, Professor DavidCrystal, Richard Hardie and

Dr John Mitchell were elected

Vice-Presidents.

The number of candidates

for election to Council did

not exceed the number of

vacancies. Tony Bell, Professor

Heather Fulford and Christine

Pocock were declared to be re-

elected. Brooke Townsley and

Ana Iaria had resigned from

Council in the course of the year.Karen Stokes had been

appointed as a member of

Council in February 2012, as

permitted under the By-Laws.

The AGM approved new

membership subscriptions, with

effect from September 2012.

The meeting also re-appointed

Haines Watts as auditors.

CouncilTony Bell resigned as Chair of

Council in February, and KeithMoffitt was elected as his

successor. Mr Moffitt was

confirmed in the post of Chair of

Council at its April 2012

meeting, at which Christine

Pocock was elected Vice-Chair,

and Mr Bell was elected

Honorary Treasurer. Karen Stokes

was appointed as a member by

decision of Council in February,

and was re-appointed in April.

The Chairs and members of committees were appointed or

re-appointed for the ensuing

year: the Applications

Committee, Chartered Linguist

Admissions Committee and

Appeals Committee, Equality

and Diversity Committee, the

Disciplinary Committees and the

Editorial Board of The Linguist .

The following served as

members of Council in the

period of this report:

Lady (Tessa) Brewer (President,

ex-officio, retired March 2012)

Dr Nicholas Bowen (President,

ex-officio, from March 2012)

Mr Tony Bell (Chair until February

2012; Honorary Treasurer from

April 2012)Mr Keith Moffitt (Vice-Chair until

February 2012; Chair thereafter)

Mrs Christine Pocock (Vice-Chair

from April 2012)

Mr W Brooke Townsley (Vice-

Chair, resigned November 2011)

Mrs Jan Cambridge

Mr Michael Cunningham

Professor Heather Fulford

Dr Marie-Marthe Gervais-le Garff

Mrs Ana Luiza Iaria (resigned

March 2012)Ms Madeleine Lee

Dr Guillermo Makin

Mrs Judith Ridgway

Mr Paul Shipman (Honorary

Treasurer until April 2012)

Ms Karen Stokes (appointed

February 2012)

The Institute was once again

very well served both by many

members and Fellows, and by

persons from outside the

Institute, who generously gave

of their time in serving on thevarious committees and boards.

Council very much appreciates

the time and effort those in

voluntary roles devote to the

Institute and its affairs, and

equally wishes to thank staff

members for their dedication to

the Institute and hard work on

its behalf.

Keith Moffitt (Chair of Council)

Alan Peacock (Joint ActingChief Executive Officer)

Hilary Maxwell-Hyslop (Joint

Acting Chief Executive Officer)



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