Patrick Brogan, translator
My first experience of translation as a profession was a week's work placement while in the lower sixth form at grammar school. I was studying languages for A-level, and for me a logical option for my work experience was to see what it was like working for a translation company. After leaving school at 18 I went to the University of Manchester to study German and French, graduating in 1999. After graduation I tried teaching and then worked for a telecommunications company before applying to go back to university in 2002 to study for a Masters in Translation Studies in Manchester. For the summer before the course started, I worked for a translation company in Bourges, France, as a sort of preparation for the course.
I enjoyed the two-pronged approach of the course, i.e. theoretical and practical. I hadn't realised just how much discussion and background theory relating to translation had gone on! Essay-writing was something I got a lot out of, in that it helped me hone my arguing skills, and required me to do all the preparatory reading in order to get a good grounding in the main theories and debate and deepen my own particular interests in the field (e.g. translation of religious texts) in preparation for writing the all-important dissertation!
The opportunity to learn from and receive support from the big names in the field - at the CTIS itself, and visiting speakers from other institutions and bodies involved in translation or translation studies - was a real privilege. Some of the modules were really quite fun to take part in, e.g. audio-visual translation, in which we had hands-on experience of subtitling and dubbing films.
On a personal and social level, we were a truly cosmopolitan bunch! I got to know and make friends with Greeks, Spaniards, French, Taiwanese, Chinese, and people of many other nationalities besides. Manchester is one of the most popular cities in the UK (if not Europe) in which to study, and deservedly so. I stuck around in Manchester after my first degree and applied to do my Masters at the CTIS as I had enjoyed studying and living in Manchester so much, and met some of my best (hopefully lifelong) friends there.
After graduating with my Masters in December 2003, I immediately started applying for jobs in the translation industry, and after much ringing round of companies, was offered a couple of interviews. In the end I was offered two jobs, and decided on a post with a company in Congleton, about 40 minutes away from Manchester. The next three and a half years were spent translating there! In September of 2007 I started working for a different translation company in Surrey, and it's been great so far. For Christmas 2007, the company treated all us employees to a weekend in Switzerland!
Translation can be quite a demanding job at times, especially in terms of meeting deadlines, and when a translation is very technical (involving quite a bit of research), but I've enjoyed the team-work, and support from senior colleagues that helps me send translations to our clients that I can be proud of. At some point in the not too distant future, I hope to become involved more in the project management side of things.