The diverse skills and roles for language professionals in academia and science, Jackie Senior & Kate McIntyre

Academic researchers need to publish at the highest level of impact, which puts non-native speakers of English at a major disadvantage. They can employ language professionals (LP, editors/translators) to help level the playing field. We will discuss the skills and attitudes needed for working on specialized tasks for different stakeholders, and present concrete and anecdotal evidence of LPs’ added value.

LPs working for researchers and academic departments may perform editing, translation, copywriting, teaching and website maintenance. Being available to comment at each step of the research process – from idea to proposal, from presentation to publication – enables the LPs to help train PhD students and post-doctoral researchers.

For specific editorial services, LPs will need to keep up with the formatting, style guidelines, and content required by leading academic journals and funding bodies. They must ensure that the English in a text is correct and comprehensible to a global audience, but also that the content is fit for purpose and of sufficiently high standard to give it the best chance of being published or funded.

LPs should be interested in academic work and scientifically literate. And they need to be calm, friendly and service-minded, flexible in their working hours, and able to cope with the stress of impossible demands and tight deadlines.

About the presenters

Jackie Senior worked as editor/webmaster for the Dept. of Genetics, University of Groningen/University Medical Centre Groningen, the Netherlands, from 2007–2018. Kate McIntyre has taken over this position. Jackie Senior works primarily on biomedical and earth science texts. She started as a geologist working for Shell but joined the UMC Utrecht’s genetics group in 1995. She has been editing/translating for more than 40 years. She was a founder member of SENSE in 1990, served twice on its Executive Committee and is an honorary member.

Kate McIntyre did post-doctoral research in geochemistry at U.C. Santa Barbara and at CALTECH. After moving to the Netherlands, she started freelance editing in 2010 and has led workshops on academic writing for graduate students. She has also published one children’s book in Dutch, De knikkelares.

Translating for fun and profit, Peter Smethurst

This session will concentrate on working smarter rather than harder and on ideas and methods to ensure a good night’s sleep. It will use an imaginary job to look at the entire process from beginning to end, including all the boring but essential stuff that helps things go as smoothly as possible. Many translators waste a lot of time and lose a lot of sleep because they have not planned their work properly, spend time firefighting and clearing up, are not sure where they are with billing, who has paid them, or what to do when the BTW or income tax bills arrive. I will draw on my experience of running my own business and previously in finance to offer tips and ideas that have served me well.

About the presenter

After qualifying as a chartered accountant, Peter moved to the Netherlands in 1981. Following jobs in finance and the computer industry, he began as a professional translator 25 years ago, first as an employee and after 18 months as a zzp’er. He specialises in financial and other commercial work.

Introduction to Search Engine Optimisation, Francis Cox

How do you write online content that’s optimised for search engines so that it drives traffic to your client’s website or your own? Search Engine Optimisation is one of the most misunderstood (and fear-inducing) subjects when it comes to online communication. This presentation aims to demystify SEO by explaining the following: 

• What is SEO?
• What is SEO copywriting? 
• Researching keywords 
• Using keywords in copy 
• How to use links 
• Other tips

By the end of this presentation, attendees will have a basic understanding of SEO so that they can put it into practice for themselves.

About the presenter

After over 20 years as a freelance English copywriter, Francis Cox has done it all. OEM, automotive, medical technology, pharmaceuticals, logistics, marine engineering, financial services, food, animal nutrition, recruitment, chemicals, non-profit and more. As a result, he has extensive experience writing a wide range of marketing materials: blogs, social media, webpages, interactive online presentations, ads, press releases, customer case studies, videos, direct marketing materials, brochures, product presentations, articles, plus internal and external newsletters.

SENSE Conferences and PDDs

SENSE used to organize conferences every two years and professional development days in alternate years. Since the pandemic, we have not organized a full in-person conference but expect to do so again in our jubilee year, 2025.

• The 2015 conference was held in Utrecht on 14 November 2015. It consisted of two plenary sessions, two elective sessions (with ten topics to choose from), a panel discussion, and lots of networking opportunities.
• The 2018 conference was held in ’s Hertogenbosch on 9-10 June 2018. It featured two plenary sessions and five elective sessions (with 25 topics to choose from).
• The 2020 conference was originally planned for Maastricht, but due to lockdown and the coronavirus it was moved online and took place on 3-5 June 2020. Attendees were treated to 15 separate workshops, as well as ample networking opportunities. An additional 7 workshops were offered as an autumn jubilee during the same year.

The professional development days (PDDs) are mini-conferences aimed primarily at SENSE members themselves.

• The 2019 PDD was a one-day event in Amersfoort on 21 September 2019. It consisted of two plenary sessions and four elective sessions (with eight topics to choose from).
• The 2021 PDD was a two-day event online, on 18 and 25 September 2021. It featured two plenary sessions, three panel discussions, six elective sessions available on both days and 9 additional sessions to choose from, not to mention networking opportunities during specific times on Zoom and all day long on Wonder.
• The 2023 PDD will be held in Utrecht on 30 September 2023.

SENSE 2020 Conference
(3-5 June)

SENSE Jubilee Conference goes online; conference workshops now in series

Click here to register for the online conference

Many of you will be pleased to learn that the Jubilee Conference team – with the sterling support of a group of die-hard and innovative presenters and workshop facilitators – have converted the in-person conference into a meeting of true minds. The opportunity to learn, to network and to share online couldn’t be better timed during these times of general gloom and social distancing. And the good news is that the SENSE Online Jubilee Conference continues to feature something for everyone – and at seriously keen prices too!

The online conference will be presented on the afternoons of 3, 4 and 5 June 2020; the workshops are no longer parallel but in series so you can attend as many as you like. The series kicks off on 16 May and will run through to 26 June – with one workshop to attend nearly each week during this period: there’s no doubt that you’ll be spoilt for choice, given the wide range of topics on offer. Head over to the programme page for all the details. 

We are pleased to announce that Paul Beverley’s Macros workshop on 16 May has been added to the conference workshop line-up. Consequently, its price has been reduced in line with the others in the series – check it out on the conference workshops page!

Registering, refunds and cancellations policy

If you have previously registered and paid for the conference and/or a workshop, and wish to attend one or more of the online events, when you register, select ‘Bank transfer’ as the payment method. We will then deduct your online workshops and conference from what you previously and refund you as appropriate. 

If you do not wish to attend any of the re-programmed online workshops and conference sessions and would like a full refund, less the € 50 non-refundable deposit, please contact Theresa Truax-Gischler at media@sense-online.nl.

Fees for online conference and workshops

In line with the reduced scale of the conference programme and because both the conference and the workshops are being presented online (thanks to Zoom), the pricing for both has been simplified and considerably reduced: to attend all three half-days of the conference will now cost only € 60 for members of SENSE and € 75 for non-members. The fee for attending an online workshop is now € 30 for members and € 60 for non-members. Unfortunately, it will not be possible to book separate tickets for just one or two conference days.

What's in store for you?

This being an online event, you will be able to register for either the whole conference (not the individual afternoons) and the workshops up to 16:00 on the day before the event.   

In these virus-disrupted days, practitioners are more keenly aware than ever of the risks and opportunities inherent in freelancing, and some innovative solutions, so topics related to this theme will feature strongly in the online programme. For instance:

• the panel discussion, featuring a group of emerging freelance translators, on how to acquire and retain clients, which will be of particular relevance to the would-be’s and newbies out there;
• the EC’s Emma Hartkamp sharing the EU’s take on ‘Future competence profiles of EU translators’;
• from Finland, Tiina Kinunnen will be broaching a touchy side of freelancing familiar to us all in her presentation titled ‘From whining to shining: time to change the freelancer’s image’;
• SENSE members Wendy Baldwin (‘Honing skills through near-peer exchange’) and Marieke Krijnen (‘Editing in the era of digital nomadism’) will share their solutions to the loneliness of the long-distance editor;
• as will Sally Hill and Daphne Visser-Lees, who are out to share with us the positive outcomes ‘When editors share notes’;
• and when time is money for most of us, Brian Mossop’s answers to the question ‘How much time does quality require?’ should have us all sitting on the edge of our seats in expectation!

So, what’s standing in your way of attending SENSE Online Jubilee Conference 2020 from the comfort of your own home?

See you there, on 3, 4 and 5 June – or in the front row at a workshop!

The SENSE Online Jubilee Conference planning team 
Ashley, Jenny, John, Ken, Liz, Lloyd, Marieke, Matthew and Theresa

2018 Conference

Englishes now!

trends affecting language professionals

SENSE is grateful to our 2018 Conference sponsors

Sunday, 10 June

15:45–17:00, Boat trip on the Binnendieze: leave Hotel Centraal together

On this fifty-minute boat trip through the underground waterways of ‘s-Hertogenbosch, you will see all aspects of the Binnendieze river (the river that flows through and underneath the city). Travelling along the small waterways you can admire the finest spots of the historical city centre. The skipper-guide will tell you about the history and restoration of the walls, underpasses and arches. After passing through the Kruisbroedershekel you will leave the fortified city and arrive at the Singelgracht. The boat will then take you through the Grote Hekel and you will continue the tour within the city walls. We have reserved three boats for our group and have requested English speaking guides, though this cannot be guaranteed.

Departure point: Voldersgat: on the corner of Zuidwal – Oude Dieze (within walking distance of Hotel Central)

Price: €12.50 per person (non-refundable, including bottle of water).

Maximum 16 people per boat, if we fill up one boat, we will open registration for a second boat.

Saturday, 9 June

10:00–12:00, Guided tour of ’s-Hertogenbosch : starts from Hotel Centraal

The tour will take you to the city highlights and is timed to arrive back at Hotel Central by 12:00, when registration opens for the conference. You can leave your luggage at the hotel before the walking tour starts.

Price:

Price: €7.50 per person, (non-refundable, including bottle of water) 

Friday, 8 June

10:00–12:30, Visit to Van Gogh Village, Nuenen

You will experience Brabant hospitality at the SENSE 2018 conference. The sightseeing tour on the Friday will also give you the opportunity to tread in the footsteps of a native of Brabant, and one of the most famous painters of all time: Vincent van Gogh.

To see genuine Van Gogh paintings you’ll have to stay in ‘s-Hertogenbosch, because you won’t see any on this trip to the village of Nuenen. What you will see is where Van Gogh’s career as a painter began: where he produced his first masterpiece and a quarter of his work, all in the space of two years.

PROGRAMME FOR FRIDAY 8 JUNE

Travel to Nuenen, by car or public transport. It’s about a half-hour drive from ’s-Hertogenbosch. Parking is free in the village centre. Arrive at Café Restaurant Comigo between 09:00 and 10.00. Four activities are planned:

Vincentre museum: this exhibition opened eight years ago and is about Vincent van Gogh’s life from birth until the day he left Nuenen for Antwerp in 1885. It details how he painted his first masterpiece The Potato Eaters in the village. The museum provides an audio guide in English (or seven other languages) and has a shop and small café. The visit will take about one hour.

A walking tour of the open-air museum with an English-speaking guide. Nowhere in the world has more locations with a connection to Van Gogh than Nuenen: 22 buildings or sites that he painted or lived or worked in. These include his parents’ house and the church which was the subject of the painting that was stolen in 2002 and recovered last year. The walking tour will take about one hour.

Nune Ville, the home of Vincent’s lover Margot Begemann, was renovated last year. It usually only opens on Saturdays, but the owner has agreed to let us visit on the Friday. It is still a private home, but one room has been restored in authentic style and there is an interesting attic. The tour, which the owner will give, will take about 30 minutes.

Lunch
If you don’t have to travel back to ’s-Hertogenbosch for workshops in the afternoon you can enjoy a typical Brabant lunch at Opwetten Watermill. Van Gogh painted this working watermill, because he often passed it on his way to buy paint in Eindhoven. Lunch will include soup, sourdough bread with various fillings, meat or vegetarian croquette and one drink (beer, wine or soft drink). Special dietary requirements can be catered for if you let us know in advance. Lunch will finish at about 14:30. You are then free to explore the village or make your way back home – or to your hotel.

VAN GOGH VILLAGE NUENEN is offering SENSE members and conference delegates a 50% discount, the price for our tour is:
Full tour including lunch: €30.00 per person
Full tour without lunch: €15.00 per person
(Travel to and from Nuenen, coffee on arrival and extra drinks at lunch are not included in the price.)

You will receive details of public transport to Nuenen and where to park in the village at a later date.

In association with:

Sunday, 10 June

12:15–13:15, PLENARY TALK

Sarah Griffin-Mason, Trends in translating and interpreting to 2050

Translation/General

Editing, translating and interpreting are professions on the move as the dual challenges of globalization and mechanization extend ever deeper into the language service sector.

I will present messages on key issues likely to affect practitioners in their professional lives in the coming generation on the basis of information gleaned from the International Federation of Translation* (FIT-IFT) conference held in Brisbane, Australia in early August 2017.

The aim is to encourage debate on key current issues such as artificial intelligence, the visibility and value of language service providers, the shortcomings of the gig economy, and the absence of right to title. An understanding of these issues and how they might develop over the coming years will empower practitioners to prepare for the forthcoming disruption, to adapt appropriately to the challenges, and to resist the more pernicious potential impacts of changing professional practices.

* FIT is an international grouping of associations of translators, interpreters and terminologists with more than 100 affiliated professional associations and training institutes, representing more than 80,000 translators in 55 countries. The international triennial conference therefore provides a broad and in-depth overview of the language service sector worldwide.

About the presenter

Sarah Griffin-Mason is the current chair of the Institute of Translation and Interpreting and senior lecturer in Translation Studies at the University of Portsmouth, where she mostly teaches Spanish-to-English specialised translation and professional aspects of translation. She trained as a translator and editor in the InterPress Service in Montevideo, Uruguay in the 1990s and also runs a business as a freelance translator and editor for clients. These include NGOs and international entities such as UNICEF-TACRO, Plan International and the European Training Foundation.