When I started to blog in April I stated that my aim was to
put forward some ideas for maintaining informal CPD at no or low cost. A
secondary aim was to deal with aspects of our profession.
In this post I want to stress the value of belonging
to one of the peer support networks that most professional associations run for
their members these days. If you are not
a member of a professional association, my advice is to join an association in
your country, and consider joining one in another country too. And if you belong to one, but have not signed up to the eGroups, you are missing out on a huge benefit of membership.
About a decade ago I was instrumental in setting up the e-version
of TransNet, the translators’ forum for the Translating division of the Chartered Institute of Linguists. The
words of its publicised aim (to discuss issues affecting professional freelance
translators) do not do justice to what TransNet actually is.
New members of the Institute who join the forum find a
wealth of support and friendly advice from experienced translators. Some issues
discussed recently include CAT tools (what to buy, specific problems with
specific tools), how to approach clients, whether a website is a good idea or not, advice
on matters of style and a host of other queries from translators working all
over the world. And TransNet is not just for new translators. The forum often
hosts discussions about professional issues such as deductible expenses, VAT,
ergonomic laptops.
The CIoL also has sub-groups for various languages so specific
language queries can be addressed to them, and there is a group for
interpreters too.
And I must not forget the aspect of friendship. Translating
is a lonesome business and I, for one, felt very isolated when I started out.
eGroups turn colleagues into friends. The CIoL even has a virtual winebar where
colleagues can hang out at the end of the day and chat about non-translation
issues or even nonsense if they wish.
Membership of these eGroups is free to associate members,
full members and fellows of the CIoL (the exception being, I believe, student
members).
I have been an associate of the ITI for just over a year now
and find that here too, there are many eGroups dealing with specific areas of a
translator’s daily life. There is a group for new members where new translators
(and they are not necessarily youngsters, but are often people changing
careers) ask questions about the practicalities of becoming a freelance
translator.
A recent discussion on the CIoL German group brainstormed
some ideas for a German translation of “sharing platter” – the kind of dish so
popular on restaurant menus these days. The original asker opted in the end for
"Gemeinsame Platte" but contributors put forward plenty of ideas.
More recently, on the ITI new members group some excellent
advice was proffered recently on the subject of websites. One respondent replied
with this comment: “Often a question has been raised without me realizing I was
in need of that information. The discussion on the topic of developing your own
website is very apt for my current situation and I eagerly read every response.”
No matter what the query may be, someone will have advice. Of
course it is up to the asker to evaluate that advice, but in my experience all contributions
are of of very high quality.
Another useful spin-off from joining such groups is that
members often share glossaries and links that they have found useful in their
work.
Here is one recommended by a CIoL member of the German group
recently: It’s a building construction dictionary (Baulexikon) from German to English. It was collated and is maintained by a university in Stuttgart.
Through the eGroups you will usually get to hear about CPD
events, lectures and conferences being held in a city near you, or on-line.
But you could do worse than get yourself onto the eCPDmailing list.
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