Last weekend, I had the opportunity to visit the CAI Campus at Institute of Translation and Multilingual Communication (ITMK) at the TH Köln - University of Applied Sciences together with almost 40 fellow conference interpreters participating in the VKD Mentoring Programme. CAI stands for Computer-Assisted Interpreting, and we had the chance to put a range of CAI tools to the test in a realistic simultaneous interpreting environment inside the booth. The tools included: Cymo

There are encounters that drain your energy, and then there are encounters that leave you feeling energised. For me, the latter definitely includes last week‘s barcamp at die wohngemeinschaft organised as part of the mentoring programme of Germany’s professional association for conference interpreters VKD. One of my personal indicators that an event will boost my energy is when I find myself surrounded by truly like-minded peers and an inspiring atmosphere that gets my creati

This year, I joined the German Speakers Association (GSA), Europe’s leading professional association for speakers and moderators. And this month, the 8th GSA Moderators’ Day took place in Berlin, an event I had been looking forward to for quite some time, as it gave me the opportunity to finally meet people whose work I had previously only come across on LinkedIn, in books or through podcasts. The event was organised as a barcamp, which immediately created a very special dyna

Last month, I had the opportunity to dive deep into the art of process facilitation during an intensive in-person workshop. The experience was both insightful and practical, focusing on hands-on methods and the invaluable exchange of ideas with fellow participants. One integral part of the workshop was a series of role-playing exercises. These weren’t just theoretical discussions, but real-world simulations where I could experiment with techniques for tactfully guiding domina

When you are at an event and the entire room is singing and dancing along to ATP, you just know you‘ve come to the right place! Last weekend, I attended the 1st Moderators‘ Day in Cologne, and I was completely blown away by the high quality of skill, professionalism, creativity, and performance shown by the organisers and attendees alike. The event, initiated by Kerstin Stromberg, Head of Deutsche Moderatorenakademie , had so many fun and eye-opening experiences and activitie

If you’re working in the language industry you will probably know that our tools are changing faster than you can say Terminology Extraction. And ever since genAI has burst into our everyday lives like a conference speaker with something to say, one thing has become clear: without training, you won’t survive as a freelancer! Generative AI is not competition for language professionals. Much rather, it’s a superpower booster! It will help you structure background information i

Last week, I attended the AI in Translation Summit to explore Artifical Intelligence from a professional, ethical and business standpoint, along with 2,500+ language professionals from all over the globe. For 3 days, we learnend and discussed about tools and techniques, mindset and growth, as well as ethics and confidentiality when working with AI. All this input has left me highly inspired and motivated to navigate the exciting developments in Large Language Models and chatb

If you thought we would go back to living in a pre-COVID-like world, you were wrong. A few things have changed permanently, and people...

I had another assignment this week and worked from an interpreting hub via the Cisco WebEx video conferencing platform. Despite a complex...

I have often been asked how many languages I speak, being a professional conference interpreter and all. Before I answer that question,...

During coronavirus lockdown most people‘s work was on hold for a while (or still is). If you‘re still stuck at home, now might be the...

If you want to stay fit for demanding assignments you need to train your concentration and response in the booth. With simultaneous...