Conference interpreter, Paris-based member of AIIC, EN<>PL, EN<>FR, PL<>FR, RU>PL, RU>EN, RU>FR. Former semi-professional chess player, author of several original mathematical theorems, globetrotter. Canadian, Polish and British national, a Pole by choice. Monika: Jan, let’s first talk about your working languages and...
An American conference interpreter writes to Count Smorltalk: “As a Brit you are at a major advantage – you have to make a third of the effort that I do as an interpreter into American English.” Dear Count Smorltalk, I have been reading your column with great interest and enjoyment for some months now. Although I have no idea as...
October 21st, 2015. To some people this was the day Marty McFly arrived in the future, but I find myself celebrating an event fifty years in the past, namely one of my dearest friend’s birthday. Instead of opting for a more traditional party, he has gathered a group of friends in the Mosel valley to walk the Moselsteig with him. This party of...
My fascination with English stemmed out of a year in a US high school, made me read the entire fiction section of the US embassy and British Council libraries in Krakow, ranked me high enough at a Polish English-language competition to get exempted from entrance exams which, combined with my laziness and mercantilism, led me to study English at...
I’m a freelance translator with quite a bit of experience under my belt, and I also work as a court interpreter. I’ve always wondered about conference interpreting, but I’m wondering if it’s the right choice for me. I’m also fascinated with law and am actually in the process of getting my law degree, and I’m...
As a child, I remember hearing stories about Poles who had emigrated to the US and within a few years were ”forgetting” the language. ”Nobody could forget their mother tongue” – people in Poland would comment, insisting that it was simply impossible and ascribing the Americanised accents of emigrants (when they spoke...
Do interpreters make the best parents? Michelle Hof, interpreter, mum and blogger, certainly thinks so. And what does she think is the most important reason why we make the best parents ever? “We will not let our children grow up to be interpreters.” Well, that’s what we may think. They will of course make up their own minds...