On Thursday 11 April, the Evry University Modern Languages Department held a roundtable discussion so its translation master’s students and teaching staff could meet practicing translation professionals. The guest list included freelance translators, localisers and translation companies, in the form of CG Traduction & Interprétation and Fair Translation.
Final-year language students anxious about the future
With just a few months of their two-year master’s degree to go before they enter the world of work, the students were a little anxious about the future.
The guest translation professionals quickly put the soon-to-be translation graduates’ mind at ease, however, with concrete answers to their queries, feedback and advice.
Two topics particularly on the minds of the young students were career prospects and graduate job opportunities at the end of their degrees. They wanted to know how they stacked up against graduates from more specialised translation schools, what their different options were, whether it was a better idea to start their own translation company, go freelance, branch out into several complementary activities, etc.
Machine translation was also a subject of great interest for the highly trained translators in the making, who were concerned about the impact this technology would have on their future in the industry, and on human translation as a whole.
Sylvain Lepagnot, the student behind the round table, tell us more: “Everyone attending the event at Evry University on 11 April was captivated by Catherine Granell’s talk, and her personal account of her remarkable career as teacher, translator, interpreter and “translation company” director. She gave us so many pointers on how she got CG Traduction & Interprétation to the top of the extremely competitive languages industry. Things like choosing your niche then striving for perfection (“CG sticks to what it knows”), keeping up to date with new technology and cultural and technical developments, the importance of give and take in building and keeping client trust and, most importantly, enjoying what you do. She shared her experience, her verve and her routine with us, and for that we are truly grateful.”
Catherine Granell, a source of inspiration for applied languages students
With the students eager to hear more, Catherine Granell spoke beyond her experience in the translation industry. She treated the budding translation professionals to a first-hand account of her whole career as one of European translation’s biggest names, founding President of CG Traduction & Interprétation and Vice President of the EUATC.
“Catherine is a welcome source of inspiration in an industry where like-minded people are hard to find”
Vincent Vigouroux, Sales Director, Fair Translation
Catherine Granell showed the students, through her experience and her company’ success, what the interpreting and translation industry was really like, and what qualities – and determination – were needed to make their way in the translation industry. She talked about her work, her company, and what services her team offered. As can be expected, her words were illustrated by developments in her own company, CG Traduction & Interprétation, which is highly esteemed for its high quality professional translation services and its client-focused support.
If you are looking for the expertise of an industry-recognised professional translation company, contact CG Traduction & Interprétation.