Translation intern Julia Deville

Newbie news: Welcoming our translation intern Julia

/in , /by

Settling in very nicely as our latest French-speaking translation intern, is Julia Deville. Hailing from Brussels in Belgium, Julia will be here with us in Newquay all the way through until the Christmas break.

Following on from her first degree in Translation and Interpretation at the Institut Supérieur de Traducteurs et Interprètes in Brussels, Julia is currently studying for an MA in Literary Translation, also at ISTI and, being keen to try her hand at freer, more creative, translation, she arrived at AJT’s door.

Julia’s core languages of French, German, English, together with some Dutch, align perfectly with our own core offering, and with a solid background in translation studies she’s really enjoying her first attempts at marketing translation.

Julia loves travelling, as well as history and the arts – in fact she calls herself a ‘museumworm’, visiting museums wherever she travels, and as far afield as Thailand, Cambodia, Brazil and Colombia. She even pays an annual visit to the Korai of the Acropolis in Athens and is clearly fully deserving of her self-imposed title.

Julia celebrated her birthday the week she arrived in Newquay, so in true AJT fashion we packed her off to the iconic Headland Hotel overlooking the magnificent Fistral Beach where she could celebrate in style with her boyfriend, over a Cornish Cream Tea.

If you would like to join our company as a translation intern in 2019, we do still have a few spaces available. Check our Jobs page for more details.

English to German translator Christine

New English to German in-house translator joins our seaside office

/in , , /by

This week we were delighted to welcome Christine, our new German Junior In-house Translator, to Team AJT. Hailing from the Tyrol in Austria, and armed with BAs and MAs in Translation Studies and Linguistics from the University of Innsbruck – two of each, no less – she’s fast settling in as part of our lovely in-house translator team.

Christine’s love of linguistics has seen her study numerous languages during her time at Innsbruck. In addition to core languages of English, Spanish and of course, her native German, there’s Chinese, Dutch, Norwegian and Turkish, too – wow! There’s no doubt at all that her future lies in languages, and we’re so glad to be able to provide her with her first taste of translation in the real world.

Christine loves baking (we’re happy to be your guinea pigs, Christine – just saying) and the outdoor lifestyle, of course! She’s already been seen walking our beautiful coast path and is keen to get out on the mountain bike trails as soon as possible. There’s yoga and badminton too, and having seen people surfing for the first time ever, she’s keen to try her hand at that.

Languages open doors to different cultures and peoples, something Christine is passionate about. Now the study is over, she’s 100% ready to embrace everything that living in a new country can offer – we’re really glad to hear she’s finding the Cornish people super friendly and absolutely loves British humour!

We are really proud to offer in-house employment opportunities for graduate translators who would like to gain their first commercial translation experiences in a supportive and collaborative team environment. If you would like to join our seaside office as in-house translator, take a look at our jobs page where you will find all of our current open positions.

Intern intro: German translation student Alex joins our team

/in , /by

We’re delighted to introduce our next German intern, Alex Zentgraf. Originally from northern Germany, Alex will be with us until early October before returning home to start the final year of his BA in Translation Studies at Heidelberg University.

Alex is a fantastic communicator and holds a whole raft of languages in his armoury – German, English, French, Spanish, and some Japanese, too – there’s absolutely no doubt that his future lies in languages, and he can quite easily see himself working in the field of translation, or perhaps interpreting.

Alex has been fascinated by languages since primary school, and he’s thrilled to be getting to grips with his first experience of real-life translation here at AJT. He’s naturally creative, loves learning new things, and is particularly enjoying dipping his toe into the field of website and app translation for the first time.

In his spare time, and away from his studies, Alex re-energises and refocuses by working out regularly at the gym and by getting creative in an altogether different way – meeting up with friends to sing around the piano, one of his favourite ways to get to know new people.

Alex landed in Newquay in the middle of the school holidays and just in time for the Boardmasters festival – all a bit crazy, but he’s looking forward to exploring further afield when things quieten down a little around here!

Welcoming a new linguistic talent to our team

/in , /by

We’ve been joined this week by our new intern, Raphael Werner, from Northern Bavaria. In his final year of a Masters in General and Applied Linguistics from the Julius-Maximilians-Universität Würzburg, he’s just completed an Erasmus exchange programme at the University of Exeter, which is where he got (and very much enjoyed) his first taste of translation.

Raphael loved his time in Exeter, even completing a piece of paid translation for the Royal Albert Memorial Museum there, which not only piqued his interest in a potential translation career but also led him to AJT’s door and a summer internship in Cornwall.

Raphael will be with us until August before returning to his final term of studies in Germany. He’s really gearing up to take full advantage of the summer months in Newquay – where better to be! We’ve already got him signed up for a coasteering trip, but he’s also keen to try surfing and kayaking and all that Cornwall can throw at him while he’s here.

So, a few days in, and Raphael’s settling in nicely, although he does say he has to keep pinching himself to shake off the feeling that he’s not on holiday – I think our beautiful corner of the world is really resonating with him!

Willkommen Raphael, and thanks for the delicious Ritter minis – they didn’t last long, but chocolate never does when Team AJT is around!

Welcoming our new German translation intern

/in , /by

We’re super happy to welcome Leonie Mühlbauer to the team. Leonie joins as our new German intern and will be with us for the next three months. Originally from Heidelberg, Leonie is studying at Leipzig University for a joint BA in Translation Studies and Arabic and Islamic Studies – what a fantastic combination!

Growing up Leonie always knew she wanted to do something with languages and to help people connect with each other. She’d originally planned to study French, but a change of heart saw her choose Arabic instead, and so a door was opened to a vast new beautiful world of language and culture. She’s not yet sure where her path will lead, but perhaps an MA in conference interpreting is on the cards – she’s certainly a natural communicator.

Leonie isn’t shy of travelling, having recently returned from five months studying at the German Jordanian University in Amman. She’s also spent time in Cairo, which gave her language a boost in the early days, and lived in the UK for a year, working in London as an au pair, when she first got the opportunity to visit Cornwall.

Leonie’s really chuffed to be back in the South West, she’s a big fan of the outdoors and loves walking the coast path. She’s also quickly getting to know the fun places to hang out with friends in Newquay – we’re sure she’s going to have a whale of a time while she’s with us.

New translation graduate joins our team

/in , , /by

We’re thrilled to welcome Lucie Gravier to AJT, boosting the ranks of the ever-growing in-house French team to a ‘fantastique’ four!

Lucie joins us armed with a Master’s degree in Technical Translation from the Institute of Translators, Interpreters and International Relations in Strasbourg, her home town, and she’s settling nicely into her new role as junior in-house translator.

A head-over-heels Anglophile, Lucie loves to immerse herself in all things English. In fact, before settling on a translation career, a life as an English teacher was seriously on the cards. Well, we can safely say that we’re glad you chose translation Lucie – education’s loss is AJT’s gain!

Lucie has inherited a passion for travel from her parents, and has already visited many far-flung corners of the world – Newquay and Cornwall included, naturellement! A lover of the outdoors, she can’t wait to thoroughly explore our beautiful Cornwall, and is planning to join the National Trust – she’s a massive fan.

To relax, Lucie loves nothing better than to settle down to a good movie. She’s an avid film buff and is particularly taken with British period dramas. She also enjoys drawing, with portraiture being her thing – who knows, perhaps we’ll commission her for a Team AJT portrait!

 

French translation intern Matthieu

Welcoming our new translation intern

/in , /by

Last week saw our in-house French team extend a warm ‘bienvenue’ to Matthieu François, our first translation intern of 2018. Originally from Reims in the Champagne region of France, we might have been somewhat disappointed had Matthieu not arrived bearing a bottle of the fizzy stuff. But we’re glad to report that he did…so we’re not! Merci bien, Matthieu!

In the third year of an Applied Modern Languages degree in English, Spanish and Russian at the University of Reims Champagne-Ardenne, Matthieu will be with us until early March, and he seems to be thoroughly enjoying his first taste of ‘real-life’ translation.

Matthieu is fully focused on his final-year studies right now, but when he can find the time he loves to hike, spend time at the gym and to swim. We’re trying to persuade him to try his hand at surfing while he’s here, but for some reason he’s not finding our January seas very appealing!

A highlight of Matthieu’s time in Cornwall so far? Well, apart from the Cornish pasties (naturally), the seals basking on rocks near St Ives seem to have really hit the mark.

Here at AJT, we are big believers in helping the next generation of translators find their feet in the translation industry and gain their first experiences working on real-life projects. Working closely alongside our in-house translators and our French project manager Sarah, Matthieu will be translating  a variety of texts over the next few months and will receive continuous feedback along to way. If you would be interested in a translation internship here at AJT, we are now accepting applications for internships starting in October 2018.

Translation internship: An intern’s peek into the world of professional translation

/in , /by

On the first day of my translation internship, I was welcomed by Anja, three other smiling team members, and a nice cup of coffee. To begin with, Anja gave me some general information about the agency itself, the company’s ethos, the internal workflow and my future tasks as a translation intern. Subsequently, I was introduced to the two CAT tools, Smartling and Memsource, and even translated a few strings in Smartling right away. After my first workday, I went home bursting with eagerness for the coming eight weeks.

During the second week of my internship, when everyone had returned from their holidays, the team organised a welcome lunch for me and we all shared a huge portion of sushi in the upstairs meeting room, while chatting over various translation projects and plans for the weekend.

During the course of this internship, I got the chance to work on a diverse number of translated texts ranging from home security, software products, password management and e-commerce to holiday planning, adverts, and even fashion blogs!

Trelissick Garden

AJT has its own style guide, which serves as a guideline for translators and editors. In Smartling there is also a style guide and a glossary for each client and it is also expected that translators have a look at clients’ websites before translating, in order to understand their needs and goals and to capture the right tone of voice. My translations were usually edited by one of the German in-house translators or by Anja herself. This meant that I often got immediate feedback on my translations and knew what to improve on next time.

The Minack Theatre

 

My favourite project was the translation of the website Cornish Cycle Tours into German. This company is a local provider of organised self-guided cycle tours throughout Cornwall. The website had originally been translated by AJT, however, the content had changed over the years and new tours had since been added to their offering. I had to translate the content for several new tours from scratch and update the translations of the older webpages, so the new content would be available in German as well. After my translations had been edited by one of the in-house translators and I had received feedback on my work, I uploaded the translations with the aid of the content management system WordPress to the new website. This project was not only a great opportunity to learn more about Cornwall, but it also gave me an insight into how a project is processed at AJT, as I was involved in nearly every work step. I learned more about the complexity of bigger projects and the problems that come along with them, as well as the importance of client contact.

Lanhydrock Gatehouse

Furthermore, I also got an idea of the occupational profile of a project manager. Every now and then, I would assist Anja with some basic tasks such as generating pending lists, preparing a website for translation, uploading texts to Memsource and assigning them to translators and editors, keeping track of translation jobs on a spreadsheet, and adjusting the design of translated texts.

AJT attaches great importance to creating a good working environment for their employees. The atmosphere in the office is informal, but at the same time professional. I felt welcomed and encouraged by the entire team and was always supported by the other translators when in doubt or unsure about what was expected. They also integrated me well on a more social level and we would often go out for lunch together or for a pint on a Friday evening.

Fistral beach in Newquay

Newquay is Cornwall’s so-called surfing capital and there are plenty of famous and scenic beaches only a stone’s throw from the office. Cornwall itself has a lot to offer, especially during the summer months. Most weekends, I was usually out and about exploring the coast path, surrounding towns and picturesque fishing villages, time-honoured manors (thanks to the National Trust) and some of Cornwall’s absolute highlights like St Michael’s Mount, the Minack Theatre, and Land’s End.

Looking back over the past few weeks, this internship has given me so much more than I initially could have hoped for. It afforded me a first peek into the world of professional translation in a very friendly and supportive environment, helped me to improve my translation and foreign language skills, and now I can honestly say that I feel well prepared for the final year of my Bachelor’s studies. I would like to highly recommend any young translation student out there to apply for an internship at AJT and share in this wonderful experience.

German translation intern Felice

Fresh talent in the house: welcoming our latest translation intern Felice

/in , /by

Last week we were joined by Felice Peters, our new German intern, who will be with us until October.

Originally from Berlin in Germany, Felice is in the third year of a Bachelor Plus degree in Translation Studies at Heidelberg University.

Before embarking on her chosen route of study, and during her final years at senior school, Felice took part in a cross-border youth exchange program in Northern Ireland/Eire and worked as an au pair in Cork and London, all the while studying and improving her English.

While at Heidelberg, Felice’s course has enabled her to not only study in Spain for 18 months, gaining Spanish as a third language, but also for a short time in Belgium, which has given her a smattering of Dutch, too. She is currently considering getting a fourth language under her belt, French, during her final year at university.

In addition to her love of languages, Felice enjoys watercolour painting, is a pretty good pianist and is even currently learning to play the drums.

Next step for Felice: a Masters in Conference Interpreting, perhaps…although she does appear to be rather enjoying her experience of ‘real life’ translation here at AJT.

Are you interested in a translation internship at our company? We offer internship placements for German and French translation students who are required to carry out an internship at a translation agency as part oft their degree program. We typically offer placements to students with the language combination English to German and English to French. Placements usually last two to three months, depending on the requirements of the university. If you would like to find out more about our internship program, please email jobs@anjajonestranslation.co.uk.

 

 

 

Our translation intern Pauline

Say hi to our new translation intern Pauline

/in , , /by

Our new German intern Pauline has arrived, and brought with her bags of enthusiasm!

Pauline’s interest in languages started early: first came German, then French, and a stint in Boston on a musical theatre scholarship piqued her interest in English. But her ‘lightbulb moment’ came as she started work on a volunteer project in Colombia after high school. Unable to communicate at all in Spanish, the importance of language learning hit home and now (having mastered Spanish too, by the way) Pauline is midway through a Bachelor’s degree in Multilingual Communication at the Cologne University of Applied Sciences.

Aside from her love of languages, new cultures and new people, Pauline loves the outdoor lifestyle. She has already started learning to surf and is often out walking the coast path. She tells us she was competing in triathlons (albeit of the local village variety!) aged five, but tends to leave the bicycle at home these days, sticking mainly to running and swimming.

Pauline is not yet sure where her future lies, but she knows it lies in languages, and with her passion for singing and acting, well who knows where we might see her name in lights in the years to come!

We offer internship placements for German and French translation students who are required to carry out an internship at a translation agency as part oft their degree program. We typically offer placements to students with the language combination English to German and English to French. Placements usually last two to three months, depending on the requirements of the university. If you would like to find out more about our internship program, please email jobs@anjajonestranslation.co.uk.