'Social Media for Linguists' and ‘Translation in occupied Germany, 1945–1949’

Event report

Our morning session was hosted by professional marketeer and linguist Alba Sort who discussed the topic ‘Social Media for Linguists’. While most of the forty-two delegates in the audience were familiar with a variety of social media platforms, the presentation guided us through a series of exercises to help us identify which social media channels best suit our needs; analyse why we are using these platforms; define objectives and systematically plan the type of content we want to share on social media. Alba’s enthusiasm for the topic is contagious and the clear message was that social media is a linguist’s tool and like any other tool it takes some time to learn how to use it in the most effective way possible. Taking part in such a practical session really helped build confidence around creating an effective plan for using social media.

At lunch-time we wandered up to the Stirling Court Hotel, a lovely venue which forms part of the university campus, where over forty of us met for a networking lunch. The dining room was nice and noisy as people made new friends and chatted with old acquaintances over lunch. It was very satisfying to see lots of new faces, many of whom were students from Stirling, Edinburgh and Heriot Watt University as they mixed with long-established members of the Scottish Society.

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Workshop: Social Media for Linguists
Alba Sort MCIL will be delivering a workshop about social media and how linguists can best utilise it.

Your social media presence is a powerful ally to establish and grow your language business, but managing it can quickly become overwhelming and time-consuming. This session will help you focus your social media goals, identify the networks that best fit your purposes and provide tools to increase the effectiveness of your social media activity.

Presentation: ‘Translation in occupied Germany, 1945–1949’
Dr Anne Stokes MCIL will give a presentation on translation in occupied Germany, 1945–1949. When embarking on the occupation of Germany in 1945, all four occupying powers viewed books, and in particular translations of works of fiction and non-fiction into German, as vital for turning Germans away from the values of National Socialism and towards those of democracy, as variously understood by the occupiers. This introductory talk will address the occupiers' translation policies and the selection of key texts and translators. It will also consider how selected texts and their translations fit with the re-education agenda.

Programme

11:00 – 12:30     ‘Social Media for Linguists’ workshop
12:45 – 13:45      Lunch (at own expense)
14:00 – 16:00     ‘Translation in occupied Germany, 1945–1949’ presentation followed by Q&A

Lunch venue
Stirling Court Hotel
FK9 5PH

Once the event has concluded, Scottish Society committee members usually go for a drink at a nearby café or pub. Please feel free to join us if you have some time available as this is a great opportunity for networking with students and fellow linguists.

CPD: 3.5 hours

The CIOL Scottish Society is able to provide a proof of attendance note for CPD purposes. Anyone wishing this should make contact with a member of the Committee at the meeting; requests made after the event cannot be fulfilled.

Speaker bios

Alba Sort MCIL
Alba Sort has over 15 years’ experience in global marketing. In her career she has covered marketing strategy, branding, digital marketing, marketing performance management and internal and external communications. She currently runs her own marketing consultancy, delivers marketing workshops and is a marketing lecturer and CIM (Chartered Institute of Marketing) tutor. Alba also offers boutique Spanish translation services to clients requiring marketing, technology and online business expertise. Alba has a masters in Marketing Management by the Universidad Politécnica de Madrid, is IoLET Diploma in Translation (DipTrans) qualified and is a member of the Chartered Institute of Marketing and the Chartered Institute of Linguists. You can find her on Twitter @albasort.

Dr Anne Stokes MCIL
Anne Stokes, who lectures in Translation Studies and German at the University of Stirling, is a translator of poetry, fiction, and non-fiction, and she writes about German literature and translation.  

Selected translations include:
Sarah Kirsch,Ice Roses: Selected Poems, selected, translated and introduced by Anne Stokes (Carcanet: Manchester, 2014). Shortlisted for the Oxford-Weidenfeld Translation Prize and for the Popescu European Poetry Translation Prize in 2015.

Dörte Hansen, This House is Mine (St. Martin's Press, NY, 2016).  Translation of Altes Land (Knaus, 2015). Nominated for the ATA's Ungar German Translation Prize 2017 and long-listed for the 2018 International DUBLIN Literary Award.