Beyond traditional translation tasks: expanding services in the scientific field

As a medical translator in a world of shrinking opportunities, I was interested in hearing what Mar Fernández would say about how we can draw on our experience and skills to find new areas of work. However, I was not expecting to attend such a lively and entertaining session as this turned out to be.

Mar set the scene by framing the problem through the lens of her background as an environmental scientist and encouraging us to take a leaf out of nature’s book by looking more closely at our changing universe and how we can adapt to it. We studied the concept of an ecosystem as a habitat in which the organisms make up a functional unit interconnected by a network of relationships, which may be mutually beneficial or competitive. The organisms in an ecosystem employ different strategies to adapt to new conditions and it would seem that we, as language professionals, may also have to change our mindset if we are to flourish in a rapidly changing universe.

The question Mar posed was whether we want to simply ignore these changes and hope for the best, or to step outside of our comfort zone and explore new areas of career development.

Our first task in this journey was to identify the tools we already have to deal with new challenges, using the metaphor of the handy Swiss Army Knife. We worked on the task in small groups and reported back in a lively discussion about our skills and personal qualities, which went far beyond the short list of the tools of our trade. It was interesting to see what a broad range of skills and qualities the different groups came up with, including aptitudes such as detail orientation, social skills, organisation and flexibility, as well as the more obvious proficiencies like language, research and writing skills, and cultural knowledge.

Armed with this new vision of ourselves as professionals with multiple skills and qualities, the next step was to look at different strategies and to explore some of the opportunities open to us. Another group session provided a wealth of suggestions, including popular science writing, science literacy, CPD trainer and learning how to tap into the potential of artificial intelligence. Other suggestions included the areas of science outreach, grey literature and blogs, as well as reporting on and coordinating scientific meetings. There is a growing need for people with communication, linguistic and cultural mediation skills to create content for lay audiences and to serve as trainers or cultural mediators for institutions.

At the end of the session, in response to a question from one of the participants, Mar explained a little about her own journey from scientist to editor and translator and, more recently, to designer of science games, creator of scientific content and organiser of tailor-made linguistic and cultural trips.

The session offered the participants a space to reflect on their skills and to consider possible avenues for career development. In her final slides, Mar provided tips on fruitful areas to explore, examples and useful links.

This METM25 presentation was chronicled by Ann King.

Featured photo by METM25 photographer Julian Mayers. Slides reproduced with presenter’s permission.