Just over a week later and another Greek play, this time “Clytemnestra” (actually “The Libation Bearers”) at the Oxford Playhouse, performed in Greek. I was most impressed by the musicality of the language. The surtitles were of course an essential accompanyment without which we would not have understood what was going on, but they were unobtrusive. There were times when I just wanted to listen to the Greek and not worry about what it meant. It was amazing that most of the chorus, who were on stage throughout and litterally carried the action, had never studied Greek before, yet here they were speaking it as if they had been doing so all their lives. My husband who accompanied me to this play and who knows no Greek, thoroughly enjoyed it. The roots of our own drama and in particular Shakespeare were clear.

In between the two plays I had a weekend reading Plato in Greek at Madingley Hall. This was a leap from the Intermediate class to the Advanced class for me, not because I had in any way deserved to be promoted but because there were not enough people to run the Intermediate class. Having said that, there was no shortage of Greek students overall, which is extremely encouraging. I had had very little time to prepare, which showed. Every time I come back from one of these classes I resolve to go back to Reading Greek. This time I have done just that – well the Reading part of it anyway. It has been very useful because I have been able to actually read the early texts, rather than work them out laboriously. This has meant that I can see the text as a whole. The intention was to build my vocabulary but it has also had the benefit of giving me confidence, before I embark on the text for next year.

On November 1^st I will have been a full-time freelance translator for 8 years, the previous 3 years having been part-time. For me this was a deliberate choice as I had wanted to be self-employed for years. I was never really happy with the constraints of being an employee. Even now, the only benefit I can see is the receipt of a steady wage packet. I had tried a couple of small-scale business ventures: party plan, that sort of thing, without much success. Sales, I have discovered, is not my thing. When I qualified as a translator I never considered working for a translation company or as a translation manager at an agency. At the time I had a well-paid job in which I could use my languages, so there was absolutely nothing to gain  financially or in terms of job satisfaction by swapping one form of employment for another. The only move I would consider was the one into self-employment.

I would say I am a portfolio worker. I have never been able to earn as much money from translation as I earned as an employee, and even working at full capacity, it would take an enormous hike in my fees to get  anywhere near that figure. However the benefits of working for  myself outweigh the reduced earnings, and in addition, my outgoings, particularly on clothes and transport, have decreased significantly. Over the years I have supplemented my income in various ways, mostly teaching. In the early days teaching probably made up at least half of my income. So, in fact, I have never really been full-time at all. In recent years I have tried to cut down on the teaching because I feared it was taking my time away from the core business of translation. All forms of school teaching are no longer part of my portfolio but I still enjoy adult education and private teaching. Enjoyment is a key ingredient.

The core business has been more or less stable for the past 5 years and I am working more or less at capacity. Yes, there are still relatively quiet times, but I need these to do those other business tasks such as accounts, marketing, CPD, etc. Once in a while I might even treat myself to a day or even a weekend off!!

My attitude to my business as a whole is also reflected in my CPD. With translation as the core business it makes sense to include activities related to this aspect of the business: attending translation conferences, reading professional journals, expanding and developing specialist areas and my existing languages. But I have also decided to also undertake CPD to help me diversify my business. As well as possibly adding new specialisms or languages I also plan to add complementary strands such as transcribing old documents (palaeography). With interests in the environment, history, archaeology, historical geography, family history and endangered languages I am considering consolidating my specialist areas under the heading “heritage”.

In my case, there are no regrets about going self-employed and I am looking forward to developing my business over the next 8 yeears in the direction(s) that interest me.

I did not get time to see much of Lisbon but I liked what little I saw. Note to self – next time, add a few extra days just for sightseeing, and preferably before the conference. I say this because I missed most of the first day dealing with a migraine. But it is also a good idea to have a few days to aclimatise and learn how to get around, use the metro etc.

In terms of the sessions I attended the word that stands out is Corpora. I think at least 3 of the sessions I attended on the second day were about collecting corpora and putting them into useful formats. These techniques of course can be applied to other areas of translation – not just legal.

From the round table discussion at the end the thing I will take away is the concern among professionals that no matter how regulated the profession the market still allows unqualified or less-qualified people to undercut us. I know this is a serious concern to people in my local network. Whilst it may be gratifying to know we are not alone it does not solve the problem. My belief for what it is worth is that quality will out in the end, but we may have to wait a long time – perhaps too long for many of us. One thing is certain, we must not drop our prices. Personally speaking when I reach the stage that I have to cut my prices, that will be the day I retire from the profession.

My son wants to learn Russian so I ordered him a Russian Premium Set on Friday afternoon. They arrived the next morning!! Fantastic. He has already worked through 4 units of the first disk. He has spent several months in Russian speaking countries so it is not as if he is a complete beginner. He is no linguist and he finds this resource really good.

They have an excellent range of languages and you can even try some out on line. Here is a link to Korean, but you can change to any language from the list.