Chartered Institute
of Linguists
NEWS & VOICES
By Gabriela Bocanete
The current situation with Coronavirus is causing heightened stress for many people. We already live in a world of stress and anxiety caused by the news, social media, constantly being online and expected to react/respond within seconds for work, 24/7. Add to that the panic-driven news and the tone with which the politicians have been discussing the contingency...
By Ian Fraser, Head of Procurement & Support Services at Leicestershire Police
Leicestershire Police Force is leading on a National Police Framework for language services. Under the Police and Criminal Evidence Act 1984 detainees have a legal right to be represented by an interpreter during the evidential process. The new specification developed by the UK Police Service requires...
In the under-representative world of publishing, can a mentorship for a minority ethnic translator make a difference, asks Miranda Moore
It has been five years since journalist Danuta Kean published a report on the severe underrepresentation of black, Asian and minority ethnic (BAME) people in the British literary industry. In addition to a legacy of “white male elitism” that...
By Erwin La Cruz
Do measures that pit machine translation against human interpreters give an accurate picture, asks Erwin La Cruz
The fight for translation supremacy between machines and humans rages on. The reports from the front line are delivered in code: LEPOR 0.68, NIST 0.56, BLEU 0.46, METEOR 0.56, WER 0.39. These acronyms are translation quality evaluation metrics. These...
Fuschia Hutton and mentor Oliver Lawrence outline the benefits of CIOL’s mentoring scheme from both sides
CIOL launched its mentoring programme, through which seasoned translators and interpreters share their knowledge to help less experienced linguists reach their full potential, at Members’ Day 2018. Mentees can choose mentors according to the skills and expertise they most...
The Queen’s speech today outlined Boris Johnson’s agenda for the new session of parliament.
In a key element of the speech, the Queen says her government will “work to promote and expand the United Kingdom’s influence in the world”, starting with a review into security, defence and foreign policy “covering all aspects of international policy from defence to diplomacy and development”....
By Ignaty Dyakov MCIL, CL, MSoA
Prologue
Can I say that I have always loved languages? Not sure, but if one believes in the law of attraction, then - I suppose - I have always been attracted to languages, as I have studied quite a few. When somebody asks me how many languages I know, I usually respond, ‘None, however I have studied a variety of them throughout the years’. Having...
By Anita van Adelsbergen
Anita van Adelsbergen considers the many challenges of specialising in canine and equine translation
When you are working on a translation and can’t find a certain word, Google will usually find your answer. But as an interpreter in the middle of a field, arena or paddock, that is a bit more difficult. And when it comes to equine interpreting, just...
By Gordon Southwood
Gordon Southwood ACIL German to English
This story explains my motivation to learn French and German, subjects in which I have never taken any exams, but have made my way up to conducting business at boardroom level, in both languages, in the world of manufacturing. It was on this basis that CIOL awarded me membership at Associate level...