Hoje, conversámos com Jenny Zonneveld, sobre alguns aspetos da sua profissão, sobre a importância do associativismo e ainda sobre alguns conselhos para a nova geração de profissionais.

APTRAD: Tell us a little bit about yourself, how you started out in this career, and what made you choose it.

Before I started translating, I worked for a firm of management consultants, specialising in IT and logistics. I started in London as a computer programmer, after graduating from York University with a BA in Maths. I much preferred solving programming problems to maths equations, and this discipline has continued to serve me well. The project-based work at the consultancy suited me too. I was assigned to a lengthy project in the Netherlands. While I was there, I met a nice young Dutchman when I was skiing in Italy. Ultimately, he was the reason I moved to the Netherlands, after projects in the US and Belgium.

Because life as a consultant was no longer rewarding with three kids under five, I made a career switch. I simply stepped into the language profession – back in 1997 you could do that in the Netherlands – without any formal training. Why did I think I could just do it? Because six months before making this decision, a consulting colleague needed his PhD translated into English: “Jenny, can you translate this for me?” he asked. “Well…” I replied, “I’ve never done something like that before, and besides I’m busy with…” He wouldn’t take no for an answer. “If I get it translated at the university, will you check it then?” I agreed. I spent the first few weeks of my maternity leave straightening out awkward sentences and correcting terminology. The student translator wasn’t a native speaker, and neither did they understand the topic. But I did, so that’s how I became a language professional.

APTRAD: How would you describe a ‘normal’ day in your working life?

Since the kids left home, I no longer set an alarm. I ease myself into my day with a cup or two of English breakfast tea and turn on the computer. At the end of the previous day, I will have made a short list of (client) tasks for the day, copied from my Excel planning, and some notes about what else needs to be done. These days, I’m careful not to be too ambitious, I can’t hurry my work but a healthy deadline helps keep me focussed.

No two days are the same! Most of my translation and editing work comes from direct clients or referrals. For my ‘premium’ client, I mainly write blogs and articles and there’s one large annually recurring project: the sustainability report. Here I’m responsible for the texts in the back end of the website, and the Excel workbook where all the numbers and charts come from.

I use a pomodoro timer to help me focus – it’s set to 45 minutes and sometimes, if I’m in the flow, I’ll ignore the buzzer when it goes. I do take regular breaks and I walk everyday too. I plan to spend about six hours a day on actual client work. I find it fairly easy to plan translation and editing based on the number of words or pages, but the metrics for copywriting and the report work I mentioned are quite different. However, with a good brief, I know from experience I can write a blog or article in four to six hours, but usually spread over two or more days.

My frequent short breaks are often eureka moments – when I suddenly get inspiration or realise I should add or check something. I use tools to help me revise my work – PerfectIt and TextAloud are my saviours.

APTRAD: Are you a member of any professional association/organisation? If you are, what made you join it? If not, why haven’t you joined yet?

Yes, I belong to a few. I joined SENSE in the Netherlands shortly after I started translating. SENSE is for editors, translators, copywriters and other language professionals. Here is where I find like-minded colleagues who I can learn from. SENSE also organises workshops – I have attended many – through which I developed my skills. Volunteering for SENSE gave me a huge network, and via my network, colleagues and friends too.

When I was helping organise SENSE’s first conference in 2015, a colleague suggested joining MET and experiencing their annual conference too. During the pandemic, MET launched regular online sessions which help me keep in contact with people I otherwise only see once a year at the conferences. I also read along with the MET book club, I enjoy the discussions about books I would otherwise not select for myself.

Because I don’t have a formal training in languages, a motive for joining ITI was to get qualified member status. I’m particularly proud of this recognition which I attained in 2019 and wish I had done this sooner.

After completing a copywriting course, I joined ProCopywriters too. Besides an annual conference – which usually coincides with MET – they organise regular lunchtime learning webinars. If you can’t attend live, you can catch up later.

APTRAD: From your experience, what makes a “good” professional in this area?

In my view, ‘good’ professionals:

• never stop learning
• have a varied network
• are never afraid to ask
• value feedback because they love to learn from it
• contribute to their professional societies

APTRAD: What do you like the most and what do you like the least about your work?

The variety, every text is different so there’s always something new to learn. My least favourite tasks… you guessed it – the admin. I look for different ways of motivating myself. Obviously, writing invoices isn’t the most demanding, but doing the admin so I can file my quarterly VAT return is.

APTRAD: What advice would you give someone who wants to become a translator and/or interpreter?

Go for it – it won’t be a bed of roses all the time. There will be ups and downs and you will need to be resilient, particularly now that many users of our language services are turning to AI and machine translation. Develop a niche for yourself, but make sure you have multiple strings to your bow.

APTRAD: Is there anything else you’d like to share with our readers?

Don’t neglect yourself. When I started as a freelance language professional, I was busy with the family and working hard to earn a living. I didn’t make much time for doing things just for me. I’ve made up for that in the past few years. I now make time for being creative away from the computer.

Thank you, Jenny, for answering our questions!

To find out more about Jenny Zonneveld, take a look at her website http://translatext.nl/ and follow her on Facebook https://www.facebook.com/jenny.zonneveld/, Linkedin https://www.linkedin.com/in/jennyzonneveld/ or Instagram https://www.instagram.com/jennyzonneveld.

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Biografia:

Jenny Zonneveld is a dual nationality (Dutch and British) translator, editor and copywriter, she also offers additional services to selected clients. She has a business background and started translating from Dutch and Flemish into English in 1997.