41 2016

IN THIS ISSUE

FROM THE EDITOR Freelance booty 3 Bulletin Board 4

COVER STORY Click Here to Volunteer 8 Volunteer Appreciation Day 11

BEST PRACTICE How to quote for jobs – Part 1 12 TOOLS OF THE TRADE Your editorial armoury 15 BOOK REVIEW Dissing the pundits & pedants 17

SPOTTED ON FACEBOOK The copyeditor’s typographic oath 18

SIX QUESTIONS Meet the three new EC members 19 OUT OF OFFICE Writer & volunteer, Bev Jackson 22 GUEST BLOG Rich pickings from The Ex-Pat Files 24 Hi Society 26

Cover: SENSE volunteers — past, present and future — photographed by Michael Hartwigsen at the SENSE AGM, March 2016. 1st row (l-r): Martine Croll, Joy Burrough, Gioia Marini, Curtis Barrett and John Hynd. 2nd row: John Linnegar, Ruth de Wijs, Frans Kooymans, Alison Gibbs and Wil van Maarschalkerweerd. 3rd row: Linda Comyns, Kirsten van Hasselt, Kay Dixon and Anne Hodgkinson. 4th row: Sally Hill, Diane Schaap, Raymond Gijsen, Paul Baker and Hans van Bemmelen. 5th row: Iris Maher, Susan Hunt, Jenny Zonneveld, Erin Goedhart-Stallings and Enid Tomkinson FROM THE EDITOR

Freelance booty

Back in the day when dinosaurs walked and I was a lowly assistant stage manager at Sydney Opera House, one of my backstage cobbers dubbed me Main Chance Werner. Ye gads, I’d been sussed! I’d believed no one could see my burning drive to become an Oscar-winning director and all the while it’d been blazing in flagrante. The nick caught on like wildfire. Soon everyone was calling me MC Werner, and in my callow yoof, I did all I could to live down the mortification of being thought an opportunist. Today, looking back from the lofty heights of experience, I’d be more blasé. What’s so fearsome about that? I’d say, referencing a famous Fraulein about to jump off a bus and burst into song to boost her confidence. Isn’t the ability to spot an opportunity an ideal entrepreneurial trait in someone running a serious business?

Which of course I am and presumably everyone else in SENSE is too (see Sally Hill’s new how-to for tips on pricing) (and you can quote me on that). We all appreciate how essential live schmoozing networking is for business, and that it is one of the excellent reasons for going to SENSE events. Not that I need forcing (much). At the AGM (check out our new Bulletin Board for all the hot news), someone said she’d found this year’s event the most amicable in a long while. Judging by the buzz at the borrel and the din (!) at the dinner, everyone agreed. Looking down the huge restaurant table that evening, I thought to myself, I’m glad I volunteered, otherwise I’d have missed out on all this fun (not to mention a Thai rice pudding to die for). Which brings me to my serious bit: Maartje Gorte’s cover story explains Why We Need You (pointy finger icon). Up and at ’em! Volunteering for SENSE is fun and, not least important, a great way of building up your freelance booty aka professional standing. Oh. That reminds me: what’s the link between freelance and booty? You don’t know? Well let me tell you. The origin of freelance is ‘free + lance’ (oh do keep up). ‘Lance’ comes from, um, that weapon wielded by knights on horseback, like Sir Lancelot (no relation). ‘Free’ is not what our services should be but comes from ‘freebooter’, which in turn comes from the Dutch vrijbuit, that is, ‘booty’, meaning someone who pillages – like a pirate. So there you have it. Once we were pirates, living by the might of our lances. Today we’re freelancers, living by the wit of our pens. Or keyboards. All together now: Ahhh … Happy reading!

– Ragini Werner, eSense Editor◄

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BULLETIN BOARD

From the Chair contact the 23 people who said they would like to help. I was delighted to see so many of you at the Annual So if you remember entering ‘Please contact me’ in the General Meeting last month. I think we can look back comments, then please get in touch. on a very successful meeting: all the motions Which brings me nicely round to the theme of proposed, including the changes to the constitution this eSense, Volunteering for SENSE. As you all and rules, were passed with a minimum of discussion. know, an association like ours can only do as much as We now have a full complement of EC members to our volunteers are willing to do. The survey results fulfil our ambitions for our volunteers and for the implied that many of you would like to volunteer, but website in the coming year. are not sure what there is to do. We want to make it One point raised during the meeting was the easier for you to get involved, help out and feel part of results of the post-Jubilee Conference questionnaire. the Society. You don’t necessarily have to come to I’m pleased to say that 60% of attendees completed meetings to make a contribution because we’ve the survey we distributed a few days after the event. opened a Volunteer Job Board on the forum to match Of those who responded, an overwhelming 70% rated jobs, large and small, to volunteers. the conference as ‘Excellent’. Some thought the We really appreciate what SENSE volunteers do character of the venue suited the character of our — whether it’s something big like organizing the organization. The keynote speakers received many Jubilee Conference, or convening a SIG, or helping out compliments. But when it came to rating the food and with the Handbook — and we want you to know we drinks, responses were mixed: some missed a biscuit truly value your contribution. One EC initiative to show with their tea and others lamented the fact that the this was the first Volunteer Appreciation Day in April. liquid refreshments tended to run dry at lunchtime and At the close of this special event, the workshop in the breaks. The final questions were about a future presenter Christy de Back handed out smiley buttons conference, which most people considered should take to everyone to use as we wished. I felt these buttons place, only your thoughts about the time interval were a nice ‘pat on the back’, because SENSE differed. When we asked if you would like to be on the volunteers make me smile. organizing committee, nearly 75% of you said no. As – Jenny Zonneveld◄ the survey was anonymous, it’s not possible for us to

At the inaugural Volunteer Appreciation Day in April 2016 (l-r), Serena Lyon, Anne Paris and Sally Hill enjoy a chat while Christy de Back offers smiley buttons to Sylvia van Rosmalen and Jenny Zonneveld. Jenny came along on behalf of the entire EC to pass on thanks to volunteers for helping to keep SENSE active and engaging

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Spot the difference Attendees at this year’s AGM made history by voting to amend the SENSE Constitution and eliminate the difference between full and associate members. In hindsight, it was a mistake to draw a distinction between native speakers of English, who could be full members, and non-native speakers, who had to be associate members and unlike full members couldn’t vote on matters to do with the future of the Society. Now the difference is gone and all members can have a full say in SENSE. However, we’ve kept the distinction between native and non-native English speaker in our member profiles as this vital statistic could be of interest to potential clients searching the SENSE Freelance Register. If you want to know what else happened at the meeting and don’t want to wait till next year’s AGM Bulletin to find out, we have posted the DRAFT minutes on the website, especially for members. – Wil van Maarschalkerweerd◄

Pilot website — SENSE 2.0 — demonstrated at AGM

The pilot of SENSE’s new website was on show at the AGM. This sneak peek, projected behind the EC, shows one of the huge banners that will greet and inform visitors to sense- online. The new site will have many dynamic features, including a section that will make it a lot easier to sign up for upcoming events. It will also be easier to find files and download resources, as we are re-arranging items in the online library in a far more logical order. When will the new website be ready? Although development is forging ahead, it’s still too early to make any definite announcements ... But watch this space! – Linda Comyns◄

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Borreling over the budget

At the AGM borrel, Frans Kooymans (SENSE Treasurer, left) and John Hynd (whose volunteer positions include programme secretary 2010-2013) might look as if they’re planning to cross swords at dawn (cue: Dueling Banjos) but actually they’re just having a friendly chat about an idea John had at the AGM — to set up a new SIG for interpreters. ‘We have about 17 interpreters amongst the membership so it could be a viable proposition,’ said John, who also wondered if Frans needs to know when a SIG wants to organize an event. Evidently the Southern SIG is thinking of organizing something in Eindhoven. Frans pointed out that all SIGs have an annual budget and he generally leaves it up to the SIG to decide how they want to spend it. ‘Some don’t use their entire amount, others do. If you want to be sure about something to do with your budget, just ask. Otherwise, go ahead.’ Whereupon the eSense editor cheekily threatened to spend double the budget allocated to eSense. If she does, Frans promised, ‘You’ll find me a lenient treasurer.’ (We think he was joking, too.) But seriously, folks, this is the bottom line: SENSE has more than sufficient reserves to invest in volunteer-driven activities that will benefit the Society as a whole. As Frans says, ‘We’re doing our best to reduce our very healthy bank balance, but dipping into the reserves depends on volunteer activities.’ So, if you have a good idea, don’t be backward in coming forward. Contact Frans at [email protected] and please put ‘volunteer budget proposal’ in the subject line.◄

Tagline contest for SENSE creatives

The current tagline is past its sell-by date, especially given that the motion to change the name of the Society to simply SENSE was approved at this year’s AGM. And so, in time-honoured SENSE tradition* we are holding a contest for members to create a catchy new description of the Society. The EC will compile a shortlist of the five best entries and then you will be able to vote for your favourite. The winning entry will grace the pages of the new website.

Contest: Write a tagline to replace ‘Society of English-Native-Speaking Editors’ Entries: Send to [email protected] with ‘tagline contest’ in the subject line Closing date: 23 May 2016

*In January 1991 SENSE held a contest among members to create a logo. It was won by Anne Hawkins, later to become programme secretary, and her winning entry, modified by an artist, was launched as our familiar, distinctive logo. – Curtis Barrett◄

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LITTLE announcement

As the membership secretary, one of my projects is helping to develop the new, fully searchable membership database. While I’ve been working on this, I couldn’t help noticing how many profiles are incomplete on the website. I think this is such a pity because it makes it very hard for your friends and colleagues in SENSE to find you. Full telephone and address details are often missing, and even worse, quite a few people are blanks on the forum, literally, because they haven’t uploaded a picture of themselves. We know that some people are concerned about their online footprint and would rather not be identifiable online. But you should know that the SENSE forum is private and not indexed by Google, so outsiders can’t see your picture there; only us. And who would you rather talk to in SENSE: an anonymous avatar or someone you can recognize? Please help me fill in the blanks and update your profile. – Kirsten van Hasselt◄

large PORTFOLIO

John Linnegar’s portfolio as member-at-large is starting to take shape. Primarily he is looking after liaison, both inside and outside SENSE. Within the Society he will be the facilitator of the newly established Volunteer Job Board (see cover story) and on the international stage, he will act as SENSE liaison for sister organizations such as Editors Canada, SfEP (UK), MET (Spanish- based but pan-European in orientation), PEG (Professional Editors’ Guild, South Africa) and IPEd (Institute of Professional Editors Ltd in Australia, now in the throes of centralizing all the previously independent societies under one administrative body). John is exploring partnership opportunities with fellow societies. ‘I’ve been checking out their websites,’ he says, ‘and one of my first impressions is that in some of the large societies, member retention seems to be a common problem that is worth sharing ideas and possible solutions about.’◄

Repeating popular Jubilee presentions What does our new workshop coordinator have in store for us? Robert Coupe (left) seems to be finding his feet quickly. ‘Maartje Gorte and I have had a handover meeting, and now I’m delving through the Jubilee Conference programme to see which of the presentations we could put on again. Many people who filled in the post-conference survey have asked us to do this because it wasn’t possible to be at every single presentation and they feel they’ve missed out. I know how that feels because I was involved in a session myself (The Sense of Singing with Barbara Borden and David Barick) which meant I couldn’t go to other sessions. Repeating the most popular ones strikes me as an excellent plan (not that I’m suggesting we’d put our own one on again) (but I’m not ruling it out). More importantly, I’ve already received workshop ideas from other sources, so I’m spoiled for choice. Spoiled or not, I now do have to choose, so watch this space!’◄ 7 | eSense 41 | 2016

COVER STORY Click Here to Volunteer by Maartje Gorte

Investigating how people see volunteering for SENSE was an important goal of the most recent survey of members. Maartje Gorte reports on the pertinent results

On the volunteer front, some heartening findings have emerged from the most recent SENSE survey: volunteers are willing either to continue or to return to serving SENSE. The data also show that although a sizeable group of people have not volunteered yet, they may perhaps be approached to do so. A little under half of respondents (44%) have volunteered before. Of those 44%, 17% have volunteered only once, 19% have been repeat volunteers, and 8% consider themselves regular volunteers. Respondents shared many pros and cons of volunteering. The pros include appreciating the social aspects (working with and learning from others), the technical aspects (the work itself), the professional aspects (building reputations and reaping the rewards) and giving back to a society that’s given much to them. The cons include lack of recognition, critical comments, lack of support and lack of rewards. It’s inevitable that some of these pros and cons pop up in a volunteering environment, but some are things that SENSE can monitor and control. The EC will use the pros to highlight why people might enjoy volunteering, and work hard to minimize the cons.

Who are our volunteers?

Maartje Gorte, editor and copywriter at Play Your Words Right, SENSE’s former Workshop Coordinator (2013–2016), and live bass guitarist of the melodic, symphonic and intense rock and metal band, Alarion

Maartje’s cover story concludes the series on the SENSE survey prepared especially for eSense. Her full report on the survey analysis is published as an EC Report on the SENSE website for members only

To try to find out more about what characterizes our volunteers, we cross- tabulated the results from a few questions. We looked at people who: volunteered on one occasion (33 respondents), on several occasions (37), and regularly (16), and those who had never volunteered (110). We also looked at one subgroup: people who had never volunteered for SENSE but indicated that they might like to (13). Volunteers are more likely to consider themselves sufficiently informed about all SENSE has to offer: 97% of one-time volunteers and 94% of regular volunteers do. People who have never volunteered but would like to are very optimistic about their level of knowledge: 100% consider themselves sufficiently informed.

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The group that had never volunteered has a lower average membership duration (8 years) compared to the volunteers. The non-volunteers who would like to volunteer have an even shorter duration: 5 years. The main take-home message from this is that it’s wise to start mentioning volunteering opportunities to new members from the start. Not to have them all sign up for a volunteer job in their first year, but just to be clear from the very start that SENSE runs on volunteers. That way, when the time is right for them to take on a volunteering position, they will know the proper channels. Volunteers are more engaged with the Society. This can be seen in a variety of ways. As expected, the regular volunteers know the most people: 25% of them have talked to 21–50 SENSE members in person, 44% to 50–100, and a whopping 31% say they have talked to more than 100 SENSE members face to face. The difference from the non- volunteering groups is stark. A large percentage of people who have never volunteered (64%) have only talked to 1–20 SENSE members in person. This also holds for the people who have never volunteered but would like to: 62%.

How many SENSE-rs have you spoken to in person? A whopping 31% of regular volunteers have talked to more than 100 members face to face.

Of course, this is a chicken-and-egg situation. People who know more people are more likely to be approached for volunteer jobs. And, in the course of their volunteering tasks, volunteers meet and talk to more people. But even though this is probably one big feedback loop, there’s still plenty of reason to invest, and keep investing, in formal and informal opportunities for SENSE members to meet one another in person: SIGs, professional events, social events, impromptu meetups, etc. Not just to make sure that SENSE has enough volunteers, but because it’s the raison d’être of the Society. Another measure of engagement is the percentage of people who never go to events. A sizeable group of respondents (24 in total) never go to any events: courses, workshops, talks, lectures, SIG meetings, social events or the AGM. Still, most of them are satisfied or very satisfied with their membership. Of one-time volunteers, a surprising 33% never go to SIG meetings. Returning volunteers are more engaged and regular volunteers are the most engaged: 13% never show up to social events, but they all go to all the other types of event. Compare this to the non-volunteers: 37% never go to workshops, 35% never go to talks, 45% never go to social events, 61% never go to the AGM, and a full half never go to SIG meetings. The non-volunteers who would like to volunteer are slightly more engaged, but their figures still don’t approach even those of the one-time volunteers (who have been SENSE members for about twice as long on average). One thing that is remarkable, though, is that there are no differences in the demographics between the people who volunteer and those who don’t. There’s no obvious way to identify potential new volunteers by age group, membership duration, employment status, busyness or interest in a certain type of event. As the health of our Society depends on a healthy inflow of volunteers, we need to find out how we can make volunteering more attractive across the board.

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Our survey shows that freelancers are probably more likely to end up as regular volunteers, but we’re not just looking for regular volunteers: one-time and recurring volunteers are just as welcome. Regular volunteers are most likely to volunteer again in the future, but they will either continue to offer their time or be approached anyway — the best we can do for them is to keep making volunteering for SENSE interesting, fun and rewarding.

Don’t make it sound like the army! When we asked people if they would be available to volunteer, several indicated that they would be if they were 1) asked specifically, 2) had a better idea of what was needed, 3) could volunteer for tasks that do not take up a lot of time and 4) could volunteer for tasks that can be done without meeting up in person. Adding these suggestions to the 4% of respondents who chose to answer ‘I don’t know what I could help with’ brings us to the crux of the issue. SENSE hasn’t been telling people what the Society needs. It is obvious that people don’t realize that many volunteering jobs in SENSE do not require a lot of time and can be done remotely. The EC is developing a database of volunteers and what they’ve done to share with all active committees, for instance, to make it easier to approach specific people in a way that respects their previous contributions or the fact that they’re new at volunteering for SENSE. We asked for suggestions for attracting volunteers and the two most important answers were: 1. advertise the tasks/positions often, with specific, appealing descriptions (23 votes and the notable comment ‘don’t make it sound like the army!’) and testimonials (4 more); 2. approach people directly for the thing you want them to do (20).

Go on, click the button It will take you to the Volunteer Job Board on the SENSE forum (members only).* If you would like to suggest a volunteer job, or if you have any questions about any of the available positions – or about volunteering for SENSE in general – contact the facilitator of our new resource, John Linnegar.

*Don’t forget to come back to read the rest of this eSense!◄

These two suggestions probably work best together. The EC, for instance, recruits successors by approaching people directly. As an EC membership is a large commitment, it makes sense that this does not have a great response rate. If, however, we could activate a large base of volunteers by lowering the barrier to that first volunteer task, we would have a bigger pool of people with known strengths and preferences, and it would become easier to approach them for bigger tasks. People worry about being swamped with work. When people think of ‘volunteering’, they think ‘EC position for 3 years and with lots of responsibility’. But many smaller tasks are available, and people suggest we emphasize that. We should: make positions manageable, either by making them small enough or by job-sharing (8 votes); do away with long-term commitments altogether and just offer projects (7 votes); or simply be more flexible in how positions are filled in (2 votes). A few people suggested simply being open about the fact that SENSE cannot survive without volunteers, and announcing when a lack of volunteers means that certain services or events will need to be cancelled. In conclusion, the survey provided input for streamlining the process of finding volunteers and making sure they enjoy themselves. The EC has acted on this input by creating the new Volunteer Job Board on the member’s forum, where everyone in SENSE, including SIG conveners and others, can post descriptions of projects and the kind of skills they are looking for. The EC is also committed to showing more appreciation to our valuable volunteers. One good way of doing this is the Volunteer Appreciation Day, which was held in April for the first time (see next page).◄

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Volunteer Appreciation Day by Curtis Barrett

Volunteers are the backbone of SENSE. The EC has introduced the Volunteer Appreciation Day as a way of showing our collective thanks for their efforts

From Handbook committee member to SIG convener to Audit committee member, volunteers are the backbone of our Society. To show our appreciation for everything these unsung heroes do throughout the year, the EC has introduced an annual Volunteer Appreciation Day. The inaugural VA Day was held on Saturday 16 April at the Park Plaza Hotel. Our own Christy de Back gave our hard-working volunteers in the period March 2015 to March 2016 a stimulating 2.5-hour workshop on time management. During the workshop, Christy drew from Stephen Covey’s book First Things First, discussing ideas such as our four kinds of need (physical, social, mental and spiritual needs) and words of wisdom such as ‘It’s easy to say no if there’s a deeper yes burning inside of you.’ For me, the most helpful aspect of the afternoon was learning that effective time management is not about doing more things faster, but rather about assigning priorities (for example, using the Eisenhower matrix – Google it and you’ll know what I mean). The workshop was also a great opportunity for volunteers to share their own tips and tricks for effective time management. It was followed by drinks and snacks in the hotel lobby.

On behalf of the EC, thanks again to every single volunteer for your contributions and dedication, which will help ensure our Society’s success through the next 25 years.◄

Attendees of the inaugural Volunteer Appreciation Day. Front row: Christy de Back, Anne Hodgkinson; Middle: Sally Hill, Serena Lyon, Curtis Barrett, Mariska Bosman, Jenny Zonneveld, and Maura Lobatto; Back row: Anne Paris, Jackie Senior, Peter Smethurst, Lee Ann Weeks, Sylvia van Roosmalen, Erin Goedhart-Stallings, and Alison Gibbs Photo by Michael Hartwigsen

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BEST PRACTICE How to quote for jobs — Part 1 by Sally Hill

In part one of her new series of business how-to’s, Sally Hill tackles the question of pricing strategies for translation, websites and otherwise

A request comes in by email asking if you can do a job marketing texts, I knew the and you reply with a price and a deadline. If you’re a terminology from translating the freelancer then this is something you probably do client’s website and wanted to weekly. If the request is from an agency, there may be have a crack at it myself. But little room for negotiation in terms of pricing and because I knew this could easily deadline. But whoever you are dealing with, you still take me the best part of a need to check the details of a job carefully to make morning, depending on how sure the terms do not deviate from what you normally much of a perfectionist I wanted do or from what you have previously agreed with that to be, I wondered how many hours I could reasonably particular client. Here I talk about some of my own quote for it – especially since the client was assuming experiences when quoting for jobs as well as offering it was no more than about half an hour’s work. tips to other freelancers and links to further reading, I received some very useful advice from both online and in print. colleagues, both on the forum and by phone, which

Examples from SENSE members basically came down to ‘charge by the hour and quote a range’. In the end, I quoted for 2–4 hours and The difficulties that can arise when putting together a charged the client for 2. Of course this did not include quote for a client are apparent from several questions the time spent deciding on how much to quote – I put posed on the SENSE forum (members only). So let’s this down to a learning experience/continuing consider a couple of examples from recent threads, professional development useful for future jobs. starting with a question I myself asked about quoting What did I learn from this? That it’s essential to for a transcreation job. A regular client had sent me find out what the client will use the transcreated texts 11 slogans to translate from Dutch to English, some for (internal memos only or global billboards?) as well with plays on words, assuming I would charge my as whether all the text will be used (my client selected regular per-word rate. Although I could have passed only the five they liked most to print onto magnets for on this juicy job (creative juices juicy, not loadsamoney internal use). But also that you can sometimes juicy) to someone more familiar with translating

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overthink things and easily end up spending far more PDF or copy-pasting from a website), the client may time quoting for a project than just getting on with it. miraculously find that they can do it themselves or find For a client who offers me interesting well-paid the relevant Word file. projects, whom I want to keep happy and impress with good service, I would now even consider doing such a Pricing problems job for free, or perhaps add on a little extra to my next Apart from deciding how long something is likely to invoice. So what you quote may also depend on your take you (either text length or number of hours), you relationship with the client. need to know how much to charge: per word, per hour Quoting for a website translation, or per project. Much has been written on deciding on a Andrew Howitt recently ran into the pricing strategy to match your target income. For problem of doing an accurate word count. translators I highly recommend from my own bookshelf The client had suggested they give him both Chris Durban’sThe Prosperous Translator access to the site via their portal in order which has a chapter on pricing and value (Chris also to directly enter the translation online. But of course to spoke to SENSE in 2012, reviewed here), and Corinne come up with a quote he needed an idea of how long Mckay’s How to Succeed as a Freelance Translator, the project was going to take him, so a rough word which has some great tips about setting your rates and count was needed. Entering the translation directly payment terms. would also mean having none of the benefits of a How do we get around the issue of a complicated translation tool or word processor – perhaps not even or poorly written source text taking you longer to a spell checker! translate or edit than a straightforward or well-written Some colleagues suggested that an export into text? No problem if you charge by the hour of course, Word was the only way – to be done either by the but since most translators charge per word you need client or by Andrew (and charged for accordingly of price zones – different rates for different texts. course). But it seems there are tools out there to help with the word count side of things. TransAbacus was mentioned as a possible website word counter. According to the TransAbacus website, this software ‘gets a website address or URL and returns the list of pages on the site, with the number of words for each one’. Sounds ideal, and at USD 34.95 for the full version not too pricy. A trial version is free and has On her blog Corinne Mckay suggests a green zone the same functionality as the full version, but displays rate at which you would almost never turn down work, only the first five pages/files for the website being as long as the project is within your capabilities. The counted. If you have purchased and tested out yellow zone is a rate that’s not ideal, but worth taking a TransAbacus, I’m sure other members would love to look at – one you consider when work has been a little hear about your experiences with it on the forum under slow or if a project is particularly interesting, or when the computer-related category. (Update: Andrew there’s some non-financial reason to consider it. would have been willing to make the investment, but Finally, the red zone is work that you turn down unfortunately the client didn’t get back to him.) because it’s just too low-paying. To have a viable This thread also side-tracked into counting words business, she says, you have to have a red zone. in PowerPoint files: apparently CAT tools can but other This also ties in with what English-Swedish counting tools cannot. Note that if you include in your freelance translator Tess Whitty says in a podcast on quote a hefty fee for converting files to Word (from her website Marketing Tips for Translators. In her

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podcast Tips on pricing strategies, negotiation and spreadsheet here and get in touch with Jenny if you’d raising prices for Translators, Tess tells us that the like the Excel version or to hear more about it. better you are at negotiating your price, the better your A final note relating to the volunteering theme of this rates will be. I agree – and I speak from experience – issue of eSense: if you like the sound of any of the that giving your rates serious thought and making them books mentioned above, I highly recommend part of how you market yourself as a business will put volunteering for our Society – those thankyou book you in the right mindset for getting paid what you are tokens can come in handy!◄ worth. Such a mindset will give you confidence in negotiations with clients and hopefully help you to Cartoons reproduced with permission from Alejandro Moreno- raise your rates as you gain more experience and Ramos, a freelance English & French to Spanish translator. ‘Mox is a young but well-educated translator. Two PhDs, six become more specialized as a translator. languages … and he hardly earns the minimum wage.’ The cartoons also feature his sidekick Mina (a turtle), Pam the evil A pricing strategy for translation work also project manager and various other characters. Please see Mox’s mentioned by Tess Whitty is quoting on a per-project blog for more cartoons and to order his books, Mox – Illustrated Guide to Freelance Tanslation and MOX II — What they don't tell basis. This is ideal for direct clients who don’t need – you about translation.

and are not interested in – a detailed breakdown but just want to know how much, Further reading period. Our very own EC Excellent chapters in the Chair Jenny Zonneveld SENSE Handbook that touch recently told me about an Excel on this topic (available to spreadsheet that she uses to members only): calculate a total price for a new job. She first copies the word counts from Practicount  Setting Rates for and from her CAT tool into the spreadsheet. Then she Yourself by Tony Parr adds her per-word price and applies any discounts she  Managing Clients by Francis Cox thinks this client deserves (eg for similar files or for  Basic Business Skills: Some Tips for Success matches with previous translations) and the as an Independent Language Professional by spreadsheet calculates the total price to the nearest 10 Geoff Davies euros. You can take a look at a PDF version of her  Selling Language Skills in An Increasingly

Competitive Market by Susan Hunt◄

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TOOLS OF THE TRADE Your editorial armoury by John Linnegar

Starting off as our columnist on matters (mostly) grammatical, John Linnegar answers a question that often arises in the mind of the new entrant to the world of editing: Which reference works should I have at my disposal if I’m to edit professionally?

To be truly professional – and  Bryson’s Dictionary of Troublesome Words: A Writer’s Guide well organized and consistent – to Getting it Right (Broadway Books 2004) you should first consult the  Martin H Manser Collins Dictionary for Writers and Editors (Collins 2006) client’s house style for their  New Oxford Dictionary for Writers and Editors (2014 or preferences; then ascertain earlier) which dictionary (and which English, UK or US) they are wedded to. Then develop Subject-specific references a sensitivity to particular disciplines’ preferences for For the internationally recognized conventions that spellings, capitalization/lowercase, hyphenation or not, apply in a variety of disciplines, you’ll be well advised use of italics, and so on. Once you’ve taken to consult references such as: cognizance of these non-negotiables, it’s up to you to  New Hart’s Rules: The Handbook of Style for Writers impose correctness and consistency on the documents and Editors (2014 or earlier) your intervention will improve.  The New Oxford Dictionary for Science Writers and Any edition of the publications listed below will be Editors is but one of a range of many mini-dictionaries invaluable aids, but if you can obtain – and afford – the dedicated to specific subject areas latest, they tend to reflect current trends and wisdom,  Penguin has also published a range of specialist and now also the most up-to-date technologies. The dictionaries (eg Electronics, Geography, History, ‘starter kit’ is a fairly basic, but nevertheless an Physics, Psychology) that are really worth investing in essential one. Begin with a mid-range dictionary for the  The latest edition of Oxford’s Concise Colour Medical language in which you typically edit. In English, you Dictionary (5 ed 2010, with links) is a gem of a could choose between: reference for wordsmiths working in this field

 Collins English Dictionary Style guides  Concise Oxford Dictionary To ensure consistency of spelling, punctuation,  Cambridge English Dictionary  Any of the Advanced Learner’s or Cobuild dictionaries hyphenation, the use of numbers, and so on, there are a number of style guides to consider:

Word lists  Australian Style Manual for Authors, Editors and Printers (6 Some word lists are available online, some free of revised ed, Wiley, 2011) charge (eg oxforddictionaries.com); others are  The Chicago Manual of Style available on CD for easy electronic access (eg Concise  Joseph Gibaldi MLA Handbook for Writers of Research Papers (Modern Language Association 2003) (US) Oxford English Dictionary on CD-ROM; Collins English  Cheryl Iverson AMA Manual of Style: A Guide for Authors Dictionary on CD-ROM). Then, in addition, you’ll want to and Editors (OUP 2007) (US) have access to word lists that help writers and editors  The Oxford Manual of Style specifically (they’re filled with the kind of quirky words  William Strunk and EB White The Elements of Style that only we wordsmiths fuss over):

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Words, words, words Citations Sometimes, a thesaurus comes to the rescue when For help with styling citations and reference lists or we’re at a loss for words. The classic is Roget’s bibliographies, the following titles are useful guides:

Thesaurus (published under various imprints), but  Marlene Burger Bibliographical Style and Reference there are also reverse dictionaries (Reader’s Digest, Techniques (Unisa Press 2010) Oxford, for example) that are enormously helpful.  Joseph Gibaldi MLA Handbook for Writers of Research Papers (Modern Language Association 6 ed, 2003) A dictionary of quotations can often also be helpful,  Charles Lipson Cite Right (University of Chicago Press specifically to check that quotations the authors 2009) include in their manuscripts are in fact accurately reproduced and correctly attributed: Penguin and Sage guidance on editing Oxford have both published Finally, for sage guidance on all general and modern matters editorial in general:

collections of quotations.  Judith Butcher, Caroline Blake & Maureen Leach Butcher’s Copy Editing Grammar gurus (Cambridge University Press 2007 – or any earlier edition of this classic) If your grammar’s rusty or  WAM Carstens & Kris Van de the 'rules' are simply a Poel Teksredaksie (SunMedia 2010) bugbear to you, then find  •Gill Davies & Richard Balkwill The yourself a useful book on grammar/punctuation that Professionals’ Guide to Publishing: A Practical Introduction to covers the basics, possibly more. Some examples: Working in the Publishing Industry (Kogan Page 2011)  Amy Einsohn The Copy-editor’s Handbook (University of  Joy Burrough-Boenisch Righting English That’s Gone Dutch California Press 2000, 2005) (Kemper Conseil 2013)  Elizabeth Flann, Beryl Hill & Lan Wang The Australian Editing  James Cochrane Between You and I: A Little Book of Bad Handbook (John Wiley 3 ed, 2014 — or any earlier edition) English (Icon 2005)  Janet Mackenzie The Editor’s Companion (Cambridge  GV Carey Mind the Stop (Penguin 1980)Marion Field Improve University Press 2004) your Punctuation and Grammar (howtobooks 2003)  Janet Mackenzie (ed) At the Typeface: Selections from the  Fowler’s Modern English Usage (OUP, various editions) Newsletter of the Victorian Society of Editors (Victorian  Garner's Modern English Usage (OUP 2016) Society of Editors 2005)  Good Punctuation: The One-stop Punctuation Problem  Elizabeth Manning Murphy Working Words (Canberra Society Solver (Collins 2004) of Editors 2011)  Sir Ernest Gowers The Complete Plain Words (various  Scott Norton Developmental Editing: A Handbook for editions) Freelancers, Authors and Publishers (University of Chicago  John Kahn (ed) The Right Word at the Right Time (Reader’s Press 2011) Digest 1985)  Carol Fisher Saller The Subversive Copy Editor: Advice from  Noah Lukeman The Art of Punctuation (OUP 2007) Chicago  Elizabeth Manning Murphy Effective Writing: Plain English at  Kris Van de Poel, WAM Carstens & John Linnegar Text Work (Lacuna 2014) Editing: A Handbook for Students and Practitioners (UPA,  Eric Partridge You Have a Point There: A Guide to 2012) Punctuation and its Allies (Hamish Hamilton)  Eric Partridge Usage and Abusage (Hamish Hamilton) Of course, you do not have to stock your personal  John Seely Oxford A to Z of Grammar and library with all of the tools of the trade included here – Punctuation (OUP 2013) publishers’ and public libraries will usually have them  RL Trask Penguin Guide to Punctuation (Penguin Reference available to consult as and when the need arises. 1997)  HA Treble & GH Vallins An ABC of English You’ll be the best judge of those genres and titles you Usage (Oxford/Clarendon Press 1936) will most need to have as stalwart, regular aids – as  Ben Yagoda When You Catch an Adjective, Kill It: The Parts investments in your professionalism those will be worth of Speech, for Better and/or Worse (Broadway Books 2007) their weight in gold.◄ 16 | eSense 41 | 2016

BOOK REVIEW Dissing the pundits & pedants by Helene Reid

If you were to come across Accidence Will Happen, The Non-pedantic Guide to English (Weidenfeld & Nicolson 2015), you might think that it was going to be witty, jokey and full of verbal puns. But no, the only joke is the one on the front cover. In fact, if you were wondering whether it is possible to be pedantic about not being pedantic, this book would supply you with evidence that it is. Oliver Kamm is a leader writer and language columnist with The Times, and it seems that being a journalist gives him the right to relentlessly diss (Kamm is fortunately in favour of split infinitives) most of his colleague linguists. They difference in spoken language. Neither does he seem are usually wrong, Kamm is right. Fowler’s Modern English particularly impressed by the difference between American Usage is on the whole not good news (‘Fowler is an urbane and English orthography. His advice nearly always boils and thoughtful stickler but a stickler nonetheless’), so is down to this: do as you think fit. The word ‘consistency’ does Kingsley Amis in The King’s English: A Guide to Modern not get a mention in the book. Usage, while The Economist Style Guide: The Bestselling The work is strictly divided into two halves. The chapters Guide to English Usage goes straight to the waste-paper bin. in the first half are: 1. The State of the Language; 2. The Bill Bryson’s Bryson’s Dictionary for Writers and Editors is Errors of Pedantry; and 3. The Usage Debate. However, I ‘an opinionated survey of usage by the popular writer and was looking forward to Part Two, called Usage Conundrums former Times sub-editor’. And right at the bottom of Kamm’s from A to Z. And he does go right through the alphabet: list of baddies is N.M. Gwynne’s Gwynne’s Grammar: The apostrophes, bunkum, circumstances (in or under), decline Ultimate Introduction to Grammar and the Writing of Good (‘language doesn’t decline, it changes’), enormity, factoid, English, which Kamm calls ‘a work of titanic silliness’. While gerunds, historic present (my own dilemma always), ise/ize, this may well be true, a man who writes so disparagingly of jargon, Kafkaesque (‘an overworked eponym’), literally (no his colleagues is in danger of losing the reader’s sympathy. I reason to object to the non-literal literally), myself, none (‘can at least found it a struggle to read the first half of the book, be singular or plural’), only (the placement of), pluperfect, and that was largely due to the tone of the writing. question, reason (why or because), style, shall/will (‘use as you wish’), till/until, unique plus intensifier (‘fine and Extended diatribe idiomatic’), very, and inevitably the grammatically right way Accidence Will Happen is not, properly speaking, a guide to to use who or whom. I list all of these to show that Kamm usage. Rather, it is an extended diatribe against the people does not restrict himself to grammar or lexicography but Kamm calls pundits, sticklers and pedants. He goes on a covers the whole field of language. quixotic journey against people who think there should be Uptalk from Down Under rules in language, and stresses that there is no right and Was there nothing noteworthy in it, no revelations at all? wrong in language: whatever is in current use is (al)right. He Yes, I liked the little chapter on uptalk, and I quote: is, for example, not particularly worried about the difference ‘This useful word describes the practice of ending a clause with the between it’s and its and claims that the context will explain rising intonation, as if it were a question. Linguists refer to it as a which one is meant anyway. And why worry: it makes no high-rising terminal and have traced it back to New Zealand in the

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1970s. It has spread rapidly since then in English-speaking of examples in the great writers. That makes it doubly countries, especially among the young. Some pundits interpret it as strange that his first example of a split infinitive is to boldly defensive, even apologetic, in tone, with the speaker implicitly go – talk about overworked! And in the shall/will discussion seeking reassurance from the listener. One survey of senior he comes up with the jocular ‘I shall drown and no one will managers in commerce has indicated that uptalk save me’, which takes me right back to my would affect an employee’s prospects for promotion, on the grounds that it was an indicator English teacher at secondary school. The of underlying insecurity and diffidence. ... Uptalk author makes one particularly baffling point, is of modern mannerism that is quite a polite way though: he often quotes Shakespeare on of drawing people into the conversation. And as it the principle that if Shakespeare writes is a practice strictly of spoken English, it has no something, it must be right. But if I go by the bearing at all on standards of literacy.’ spellings that Shakespeare used of his own

name, should it bother me to see my name But praise where praise is due: The breadth of Kamm’s written as Reed, Read, Reade or Rede? A case of non- examples from English literature is truly amazing. For every pedantry taken to the extreme ... Or, as Kamm might put it, single usage considered wrong by the pundits he finds plenty ‘accidence happen’.◄

SPOTTED ON FACEBOOK The copyeditor’s typographic oath POSTED BY ERIN BRENNER

There might not be a governing body for copyeditors, but there are some practices that are universally agreed upon. Copyediting’s typographic oath captures the top 10. Would you take this oath? Read more here: The copyeditor's typographic oath.◄

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SIX QUESTIONS Meet the three new EC members by Cecilia M. Willems

Now that the dust of the AGM has settled, it’s time to get to know our new EC members. Cecilia M. Willems asked them to step up and answer the following probing queries

1. Where did you grow up? Linda Comyns (Web Manager): I was born and raised in Surrey. Funnily enough a Dutch girl joined our school for a year when I was about 10 or 11 and I remember hearing about Sinterklaas then. She told us about leaving out her shoe at night and she was allowed the day off school on 5 December as it was her ‘Christmas’.

Robert Coupe (Workshop Coordinator): I was fortunate to be born and brought up in (yes, the natives prefer this to ‘on’) the delightful if somewhat Linda: ‘This is me on my horse, Folly, back in the 1990s. Now overcrowded island of Guernsey. Let me answer two she’s 24 and I can no longer ride her, although I do take her for walks. Folly is enjoying her retirement together with her friend, FAQs straightaway: 1. My name (Coupe) almost a mare who is 25; the two are affectionately referred to as de certainly doesn’t denote any French ancestry; 2. oma’s at the stables.’

Guernsey is very English and has retained little of its

Norman origins apart from a local patois, spoken by 1993 to 1994 I spent 18 months travelling around the ever fewer people, and a ‘Guernsey accent’, uncannily world. While in Australia I met my husband, who is similar to a South African one! But I digress ... actually Irish. We lived in Ireland for seven years and I

switched career to become a computer trainer. I later John Linnegar (Member-at-Large): Born to Anglo- joined Dell Computers working as a trainer, database Irish parents and raised in Cape Town, 300 years after developer and business analyst. When our children the Dutch set up a refreshment station at the were small we moved to the Netherlands, initially both southernmost tip of Africa in 1652. I attended the working for Dell Computers. oldest school in South Africa with a long tradition going back to 1829 (for South Africa that’s old!). Robert: I studied Modern languages (French and

German) at Cambridge, which quite logically (?) led to 2. What international experience do you have? my first job – in marketing with Shell in London! Linda: I studied Zoology at Nottingham University, Equally logical was when, after five years with Shell, I which I really enjoyed, but as jobs in that sector were turned my hobby into my profession and moved to in short supply at the time I began my working life in Holland to sing professionally in the Nederlands the world of magazine publishing, in a marketing role. I Kamerkoor. This, plus quite a bit of solo singing, decided I needed a more relevant qualification and did occupied me for well over 30 years. The choir is where the Chartered Institute of Marketing Diploma. From

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I met my second wife, Barbara (also a SENSE member), and we had some wonderful times together there. We went on tours all over the world, and worked with some of the finest conductors.

John: I attended the University of Cape Town, where I studied to become the English and History teacher I had always wanted to be. I graduated with a BA (Honours) degree in history and a teacher’s diploma, but I got my first John: ‘Back in Cape Town, my favourite leisure pursuit was teaching post as a maths teacher! Doing a year’s hiking through the rugged mountains of the Western Cape province. A group of us used to do an annual hike combined military service in the SA Navy brought me to Europe with a tasting at one of the local wine estates. Here we are for the first time in 1971, and that’s when my love affair celebrating – I'm positioned top left, supporting a vat!’ with the Continent began. I have travelled widely in

Europe as well as to the US and Australia, drawn there freelance, and have enjoyed that happy status more or by conferences related to editing and to the Art Deco less ever since. I also spent a long stint consulting to movement, in which I take a great interest. an IT company in Cape Town as a technical writer and

editor. I joined the Professional Editors’ Guild (PEG), 3. How did you make the career transition to co-authored three guides for PEG members, and freelance language professional? published the much-needed Engleish, our Engleish: Linda: I took a break from work for a couple of years Common errors in South African English and how to when my son started school here, and when it was resolve them (Pharos 2009). That book led to my time to return to work I decided try freelancing as I being earmarked as a possible co-author of Text thought it would be easier to combine with family life. Editing, my first major translation project, which With my background in training and marketing, editing morphed partly into adaptation. It also brought me to was a logical starting point. I later went on to take a Antwerp to collaborate with my Belgian co-author, Kris TEFL course and added teaching to my portfolio. I also Van de Poel, and it was she who suggested I should worked on improving my Dutch and added Dutch to do postgraduate research in an aspect of text editing English translation to my range of services a couple of at her university. So now I have a new ‘career’ as a years ago. postgrad student and a teaching assistant, though I

continue to service my current international client base Robert: At some point the Nederlands Kamerkoor as an editor. asked me to translate their website and publicity materials, which I did for many years, and still do 4. What made you want to volunteer for SENSE? occasionally. Now that the call for my vocal talent has Linda: I joined SENSE in 2010, just after starting out diminuendoed to a feeble whisper, I’ve shifted my as a freelance editor. I have enjoyed the many benefits focus more towards translation, hence SENSE! of SENSE membership – workshops, meetings and

the Southern SIG – ever since and I would now like to John: My alma mater approached me to write the give something back. history of the school. That book got me my first job in publishing in 1979, as a trainee editor at a printing Robert: At the risk of plagiarism (sorry, Jenny) it’s not press. Formalizing the publisher’s house style was one so much what as who. Jenny and Maartje’s CCC of my first major briefs. After five years I went 20 | eSense 41 | 2016

(Collective Cajoling Capability) proved irresistible. I 6. What do you hope to get out of it personally? could claim that I ‘want to give something back to Linda: Get away from my desk, make new friends and SENSE’, and there’s some truth in that, but I also work as part of a team – freelancing can be quite relish the challenge of continuing my most able solitary. predecessor’s good work, and possibly ‘to boldly go where no man has gone before.’ Robert: Obviously the networking aspect is attractive, especially in the EC context, but what has impressed, even humbled me at recent SENSE events I’ve attended is the intelligent, articulate and creative contributions of my peers. I think I use my language fairly well, but I can clearly still learn a lot from others. Old dog, but new tricks still a possibility.

And Robert with baby Sarah: ‘Ah the 70s!’

Robert (with champagne): ‘The proof – why I wasn't at the SENSE AGM! With my wife (SENSE member) Barbara Borden, daughter Sarah and new son-in-law, Nicolai.’

John: In all the voluntary associations of editors I have joined, I have preferred to play an active role in the hope of making some kind of difference. After 35+ years in the industry, I believe it important to put my experience as a wordsmith to good use and pass on John: New friendships and networks. A sense of the benefits to others, especially the newbies. I belonging and contributing (I feel a bit out on a limb in continue to mentor editors in South Africa and Belgium). Wonderful opportunities to learn and grow Australia, run workshops and write a regular column through the camaraderie of kindred spirits (the UniSIG on matters editorial for a quarterly newsletter. Putting has already paved the way for me). And oodles of fun back into the profession what I’ve got out of it sounds along the way.◄ like a cliché, I know, but that’s my motivation.

5. What do you hope to accomplish on the EC? Linda: As Web Manager, I hope to help SENSE further develop its online presence.

Robert: To continue and build on Maartje Gorte’s sterling work, and to generate even more interest in the workshops.

John: Initially, of course, I will have to observe and learn as much as I can about SENSE, its members and the context in which it functions. That’s important. Then to take on EC projects that are prioritized and assigned to me, and in that way serve our members as best I can.

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OUT OF OFFICE Writer & volunteer, Bev Jackson by Anne Hodgkinson

In September 2015, Bev Jackson’s trip to India and Nepal was cancelled, and she and her wife decided on a different use of their time off work. At the end of October they joined the hundreds of volunteers who had flocked to the island of Lesvos in Greece to help the local population respond to the large influx of refugees. Bev wrote about her experiences in her book, A Month with Starfish. You may have caught her talk about it at the American Book Center in Amsterdam last March, but in case you didn't (or even if you did), here she is talking to eSense

First of all: where are you from, what brought you to the Netherlands and what made you decide to stay? I grew up in the UK, but never felt at home there. I dropped out of LSE (London School of Economics), moved to Amsterdam at the age of 19 and have lived here ever since. I’m a political animal. What I love about ministers blamed Greece for allowing people in, even the Netherlands, especially Amsterdam, is the value though 90% are refugees from war zones. I was placed on speaking your mind, the relatively classless dismayed by the callous attitudes to refugees around society, and as far as Amsterdam is concerned, its Europe. I wanted to help and also to bear witness. generally left-wing and multi-cultural ambience and rebellious spirit. Did you need any training to do your work there? I mainly worked at the food tent, handing out sandwiches, What made you decide so I didn’t need any. on Greece after your holiday was cancelled? How did you communicate with the refugees? Greece is my ‘third Most refugees come from Syria, Iraq or Afghanistan. country’ in a way. I speak Many Syrians speak good English. With the people from Greek and love the Afghanistan I often had to use a kind of sign language, country. I am appalled by but it was not a problem. the EU’s treatment of Greece. Greece was Obviously this is an interesting subject for a book. encouraged to join the EU Did you go already thinking you might write about it, for geopolitical reasons, or did your experiences there inspire you to spread to serve as a buffer zone. the word? Its messed-up finances were well known but studiously It was clear in advance that this was a unique moment in ignored. After the financial crisis, the EU finance ministers time. So I kept a blog from the outset. I spent half the day suddenly ‘discovered’ that Greece’s finances urgently handing out sandwiches and most of the rest writing needed reform. This was hypocritical. And then, when about my experiences. Then I used the blog as the refugees started arriving on the Greek islands, European framework.

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You self-published the book. Did you try to find a publisher or did you just decide straight away to self-publish? I self-published because the issue was so urgent; it’s much quicker. Also, I wanted to learn how to do it. You need a completely different set of skills for the paperback edition, the e-book, and the audiobook, and I was very fortunate in having a wonderful team helping me. Plus I would never have dared to self-publish if I had not read David Gaughran’s book Let's Get Digital!

Amazon Look inside - detail

The paperback edition of A Month with Starfish is available through several Amsterdam bookstores and on Amazon. For Kindle users an e-book version is available through Amazon. An audiobook and a Dutch edition are forthcoming.

BevJackson is donating the net proceeds from her book to volunteer organizations helping refugees on Lesvos, to which she will be returning this spring.

How have you promoted the book? I post regular reminders on Facebook and Twitter, plus I I don’t have ‘after hours’! I often work until midnight. obtained some reviews by posting a request on a writers’ Preferably I write in the morning. Then I take the dogs out website. Then there was the talk I gave, and I’m planning for their long walk, and after that I do my translation work. another talk in London in June. I am working on a Dutch edition of the book (Een Maand bij Starfish), for which I How is the book doing? will set up a tour around the Netherlands. The audiobook Compared to the average self-published book, not so is also in the pipeline. bad. But it is a lot of work keeping up with the marketing side of things. Have you ever done anything like this before? This was my first time working as a volunteer. As for Any more books up your sleeve? writing, I’ve been training as a writer since 2008. Many! First I will probably return to the memoir I haven’t Translation will remain my ‘day job’ for the foreseeable published yet (one publisher told me I had to get more future, but I would like to spend more time writing. narrative drive into it) and try to ... get more narrative drive into it! Then there are several novels I want to get Did you do it in your after hours or just devote a down to, plus a book of short stories: it’s going to be certain portion of your time to writing? Are you difficult choosing how to focus my energy.◄ disciplined, or do you do it in fits and starts?

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GUEST BLOG Rich pickings from The Ex-Pat Files by Nicholas Parrott

Fertile posts by SENSE member Nick Parrott, harvested from the rich pickings of his entertaining travel-blog

Nicholas Parrott, editor and copywriter at Textual Healing, specializes in international and sustainable development, organic farming and supply chains. He is writing a book, En passant, ‘the story of one man’s journey across the Pyrenees’ and keeps a blog, The Ex-Pat Files

Counting my blessings Un trilangeur? Pas completement! Sometimes, of course, the glass seems half empty — but A French friend of mine (F) came back to Wageningen to I do sometimes (though maybe not often enough) defend his PhD thesis. I had done some editing on his remember to be grateful for the incredible good fortune thesis, so there was both a personal and professional that has enabled me to support myself as a self-employed interest in attending his defence. (Two of the opponents ex-pat for the past nine years. said how well written the thesis was so I took more than a I think that there will always be work enough for little professional pride in that.) It was a good opportunity people like me while people continue to write sentences to (try to) exercise my (meagre) French again. I found that like this: ‘Sensibilized through recently published reports I was suffering from linguistic short circuits. Words that I of all leading business consultancy firms such as used to know in French became transmuted into Dutch. McKinsey, Boston Consulting Group, Ernst & Young etc. For example ‘almost’, presque in French, became many large scale global players such as Walmart, Nestlé, transmuted into the Dutch bijna. For F this was OK Unilever, Starbucks, Tesco, Carrefour, [the writer] not because he had done some Dutch language courses and only discovered that more and more consumers start to was able to pick up the mistakes without flinching. care about the environmental and social footprint of a Come the day of the defence his father was there and product but realized that business as usual, conventional picked up on the fact that I was the only person there who agricultural practices already on short-term lead to a spoke reasonably fluent French (the subtext there is severe soil and water scarcity and with it present a risk to always ‘for an Englishman’). However, my interjections of resource and commodity security.’ Dutch words into (hopefully passable) French sentences It’s easy to pick out the general picture but there are did keep him guessing about what I was trying to say. so many ideas in this one sentence that it’s like looking at a Picasso painting while under the influence of Unfathomable French hallucinogens. (I’m employing a theoretical metaphor French is an altogether difficult and different language to here, of course.) master. I have never fathomed the use of some subtleties about the use of French. For example the use of:

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A) Baise and baiser (which mean a kiss or to fuck) who do manage to conquer — or at least bridge — the has escaped me (the recent movie Un baiser s’il vous language divide. Often this surprises others. I have plaît should have taught me this), but I still have not sometimes been told that I speak good French, short grasped the subtlety of whether I am asking a woman for pause, ‘for an Englishman’. It’s a strange back-handed a kiss or a fuck on a first date, which is a kind of critical compliment. nuance that can well influence whether or not it has a happy ending or results in having a glass of pastis splashed into your face. B) Copin/copine and whether they refer to your good With friends in a ciderière across the border in Spain. friends or to your lovers. Once at a market stall near €30 for all you can eat and drink. Those barrels hold Toulouse I clearly got the intonation wrong when looking 8000 litres of cider. Says Nick, ‘My friends in to buy some chickens for the house of mes copines. The Cornwall who make cider in 100 litre batches will eat poultry salesman looked at me with a mixture of jealousy their hearts out’ and awe, and wondered whether to ask me if I really wanted another cock in the yard or what their address was. Serious faux pas. C) Using aimer (je t’aime, elle m’aime etc.) in terms of I like/love you or she likes/loves me. This is a very hard The best way to learn Dutch is to be around kids or older gradation for an anglophone to understand, maybe not so people. I once had a DIY man do some work for me who for the French. didn’t speak any English at all – so I learnt the basic D) I have never learned to distinguish between the vocabulary for tools, the things they do and degrees of spoken versions of la mort (death) and l'amour (love). straightness. (But don’t test me on these as I might have When written the difference is clear, but when spoken forgotten.) That’s the thing with languages. You have to there is less clarity. Perhaps such ambiguity is not use them every day and with my work it is sometimes unwarranted: love = death? Do the French understand possible to not use Dutch for days at a time. Most English the ambiguities of life better than most other cultures? speakers I know said that they started picking up the language after five years — so there’s hope for me yet. Nick joined SENSE in 2005 when he was based in Wageningen. He moved to Textual healing Brussels in 2011 and is A colleague on the SENSE forum was translating a piece currently in the process of relocating to Hendaye. on reducing cocaine consumption. He requested advice From le Pays-bas to le Pays Basque in five years on translating a couple of user’s phrases. One wit wrote back asking if this commission was being paid by the line.◄

______Learning Dutch There are two possible reasons why native English speakers (and I use that term loosely to include American and ‘Strine’ colleagues) struggle so much with learning Dutch. Firstly there is the English speaker’s famed incapacity to perform in other languages. This may stem from educational systems that make little effort to inculcate other languages, a lack of interest in other cultures or geographic remoteness (few English-speaking countries have direct land borders with countries with another language). That’s an argument for another day.

Despite these factors, there are some English speakers

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HI SOCIETY

A real(ly) entertaining talk A recent Teamwork talk entitled ‘I say tomarto, you say tomayto’ attracted a strong contingent of SENSE members, including Alison Gibbs, Paulien Copper, Eileen Stevens, Joy Maul-Phillips and Kay Dixon. Fellow SENSE-ers/Teamwork partners, Tony Parr (1) and Marcel Lemmens (2) put on the event, with Marcel chairing the session with his usual aplomb. Tony reveals, ‘One subject that frequently comes up when we ask participants to suggest topics for future workshops is the difference between US and UK English. So we were delighted to have Harry Ritchie cross the channel to give a talk on this very topic.’ Harry Ritchie (3) is a writer, journalist and former literary editor of The Sunday Times — and author of six books, including the highly topical English for the Natives. According to Harry’s pre-talk blurb, ‘There is little linguistic awareness on both sides of the Atlantic, so the main problem is in dealing with native speakers' comprehensive ignorance of their own language.’ Kay Dixon (4) thinks he tackled the issue well. ‘Harry dispelled some of the myths about the language differences between the US and UK, while at the same time revealing grammatical differences that many of us may not have been aware of.’ Alison Gibbs (5) found Harry’s delivery informal and informed. ‘He certainly knows what he’s talking about. What struck me most was the difference between perception and reality, and that much of this has only become evident because corpora are now so easily available. There is a tendency to think that UK English says X and US English Y, but, as the corpora show, that’s not always the case. The trick, of course, is discovering what does and doesn’t matter, with Harry giving some good examples of different usages.’ ‘For example,’ Kay offers, ‘the present perfect is used much more in the UK than in the US: “have you done it?” (UK) vs. “did you do it?” (US) while progressive forms tend to be used more in the US than in the UK, viz. “I’m loving it!”.’ ‘Interestingly,’ adds Alison, ‘the basic linguistic division in the US is apparently racial, whereas region and class are still the main dividers in the UK, or at least England (so no surprises there!). Another interesting thing Harry said was that, to Americans, all British accents sound posh. He specifically mentioned that even the Birmingham (West Midlands not Alabama) accent, which apparently scores worse than silence to British ears, sounds posh to Americans. He mentioned adverts in the Tube in London saying “Go to Vegas where your accent is an aphrodisiac”. And apparently Brits excel in swearing and laughing at references to bodily parts that have a perfectly innocent meaning in US English (fanny pack, the film Free Willy).’ As it was an afternoon session, there was just time for a 30-minute plenary discussion at the end but, as Alison concludes, ‘I imagine this is a subject that SENSE members can talk about among(st) themselves for hours.’◄

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Clients: care and feeding of Interacting with UniSIG The second meeting of the twice-reincarnated Zuid-Holland UniSIG’s first meeting this year was significant in that several SIG was held at the convener’s humble abode. Six new members attended, and for the first time there were members, from around the corner and much further afield, equal numbers of men and women present — a record in the mostly familiar faces (Susan Hunt, Peter Smethurst, Jenny annals of SENSE? The discussion focused on the editor’s Zonneveld, Curtis Barrett and myself) and one new one role when editing theses. (Jane Pocock), were attracted by the prospect of discussing While academia uses theses as a way for students to ‘Clients: care and feeding of’. express their ideas in written English, the editing component We exchanged experiences of dealing with those who can create some grey areas. We were unanimous in that are the raison d'être for our businesses, and how to benefit editors do provide a valuable service to students, as long as from the lessons learned. One member recounted how they they edit papers ethically. The work that the student submits had done a translation of a book which their client (a must be their own, only more polished. It was also clear that publisher) was happy with, but which the company that had both thesis supervisor and student do not always understand commissioned the book wanted to change into Dunglish. the limits of the work permitted by the editor. Another colleague raised some interesting points in relation How can the editor avoid a contest between style and to the boundaries to be observed when editing academic content? Keeping in mind that the end result must be the documents. This developed into a discussion of working student’s own work, the primary focus should be on style practices. One interesting approach was to go to a different with content left untouched as much as possible. Yet what if room when revising work. We concluded with a comparison the editor spots a major discrepancy in the thesis? The of cooking appliances and practices in the UK and the US attendees shared experiences where the thesis topic did not and related terminology — similar to the recent cooker/ match the English, the results made no sense, or certain hob/range discussion on the SENSE forum. sections were just completely wrong. Some editors saw Our next meeting will be on Thursday 19 May, again at giving advice in the discipline as added value for their my house in The Hague. The proposed theme is ‘Improving services. While this advice may be valuable for the student, productivity for fun and profit’. Most of those who attended some supervisors see this as an infringement on their role. this meeting are planning to come to the next one and some By pointing the student to a new source, the editor can avoid others also expressed an interest. So the Zuid-Holland SIG a crossover into the supervisory role and bypass the road to seems to have picked up momentum. creative writing. — Hans van Bemmelen, convener◄ The triangle between student, supervisor and editor can be avoided by keeping the end in On sex, drugs and, well ... a few more drugs ... mind, staying honest with what The small but select crowd at the Utrecht translation group’s the student has written and most recent meeting had a fun if challenging task. We had alleviating any false expectations some excerpts from a on behalf of the student or the memoir of the 1970s, supervisor. starting with drugs and — Kate Williamson◄ free love in swinging Amsterdam, which led to a quest for spiritual My problem and how I enlightenment in Nepal solved it (which sometimes meant UniSIG’s next meeting will be more drugs). Technical on 3 June 2016 at Park Plaza challenges included endless subparagraphing and dodgy (18:00). David Barick came up dialogues already written in English by the author. The with the theme and he will be content had both drug-scene jargon and some hard-core preparing the interactive Buddhist terminology. Few of us have a working knowledge session. Attendees, please submit texts that posed particular of either one of these worlds, let alone both, but with ‘a little problems for editing to David. Problems could be, eg, writing help from my friends’ we found solutions that worked. of such low quality that the editor/teacher had to intervene — Anne Hodgkinson, convener◄ more than they would like to obtain a satisfactory result. Or

27 | eSense 41 | 2016 finding it hard to get through to the author because of ►Peter Smethurst marks 20 years as a financial translator. preconceived notions carried over from their native See this Tales of the Trenches for more on Peter. language. Of course, there are many other angles for ►Daphne Visser-Lees marks 20 years at Meditrans discussion as well. We may begin by having people guess Medical Editing and Translating. Watch out for Daphne’s what the native language of the author was. This can often story on SENSE Med in a forthcoming issue of eSense. be revealing. We can then exchange ideas concerning the ►Curtis Barrett marks five years at English Editing problems posed by the texts and offer possible solutions. Solutions.◄ After this, the person who submitted the text will explain how they approached the job and what the result was. In order for A warm WELCOME to these new members this to work properly, texts will have to be anonymized and Mark Trewren, Riyadh, Hara Iliopoulou, Wassenaar, reproduced in a form that Melissa McGee, Veldhoven, Barry Freeman, Haarlem, allows everyone to follow Jessie Cat Kelley, Helsinki, Simon Howard, Espoo, along. This will take a bit of Woutera Willemsen, Nijmegen and Angela Sullivan, work, so please submit your Sierra Hatcher, Susan Pond, Dominique Broady and excerpt as far in advance as Kate Murphy, all five from Amsterdam◄ possible and please keep

the excerpt to a reasonable length. eSense 41, April–June 2016 — Camilla Brokking-Maltas, co-convener◄ Our grateful thanks go to all the volunteers who helped make this issue a success. ►Contributors: Camilla Brokking-Maltas, Kate Williamson, Susan Hunt, Wil van Maarschalkerweerd, Jenny Zonneveld, Business MILESTONES Robert Coupe, John Hynd, Frans Kooymans, Curtis Barrett,

Kirsten van Hasselt, Linda Comyns, Maartje Gorte, In this first quarter of Helene Reid, Alison Gibbs, Kay Dixon and Tony Parr 2016 Susan Hunt

celebrated 29 years as a ►Photographs: Michael Hartwigsen (SENSE events) self-employed English- ►eSense team: Sally Hill, Cecilia M. Willems, Hans van language professional by Bemmelen, Anne Hodgkinson and John Linnegar rebranding her website. ‘For ►Editor: Ragini Werner at [email protected]◄ about two years now I have © SENSE April 2016. Unless otherwise credited, all photos appearing been wondering what to do about my website, which was in eSense are public domain images or have been used with the consent of desperately out of date, and what I want to focus on in my the relevant photographer or author. The author of any work appearing in eSense retains the copyright in that work. business. SENSE member Stephen Johnson's Career ______Hero workshop last January provided the catalyst for a long drawn-out process of mulling things over, while the offer of a website makeover earlier this year was the impetus to get the ball rolling. And indeed, everything fell into place in April.’ So, on her 29th anniversary, Susan relaunched her business as Natural English – Language that Connects. ‘Whether it will continue for another 29 years, I don't know (perhaps if my daughter eventually wants to take it over), but for now I am really happy to be starting a new chapter in my professional career.’ Check out Susan’s new website.

►Beverley Jackson marks 27 years at Jackson Academic. See A Month with Starfish in this issue. ►Wil van Maarschalkerweerd marks 20 years in business as Van Maarschalkerweerd Translations.

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