Star Translator Award – Congratulations to Josie Worrall!
So many of our freelancers deserve recognition for the excellent work they do, and this award is our way of doing just that!
We are very excited to announce our new Star Translator, Josie Worrall!
Josie is a FR>EN and RU>EN translator and has been freelancing with STB for over five years. She works with marketing texts, specifically in the tourism sector, where she combines a love of creative writing and of different places and cultures. In addition to this, she’s expanded her specialisms by focussing on technical, medical and monolingual editing jobs for STB.
Our project managers were unanimous in singing her praises this quarter, and all agreed that Josie is an invaluable freelance translator who continually impresses with her top-quality translation work and flexible approach. Whether she’s taking on particularly tricky jobs or navigating new and unchartered translation software, Josie always goes above and beyond in the work she does with us. Read on for a short interview with this quarter’s winner.
Hi Josie, congratulations on becoming STB’s latest Star Translator! It’s very well deserved. We’d love to learn a bit more about you, so can you first tell me what motivated you to become a translator?
I studied French and Russian at university, and knew I wanted to use them both on a daily basis. I am a real bookworm, and I also love a good puzzle, so it seemed to me that translation would be the perfect fit. I studied for a Master’s in Translation and Interpreting at the University of Bath and here I am!
What do you like most about being a freelance translator?
Without a doubt the flexibility it brings. I enjoy setting my own schedule, and being able to decide what work I take on.
Flexibility is definitely the most popular answer to that question! So, what does an average working day look like for you?
I generally start the day with an early morning gym session or yoga class to wake me up, followed by a big breakfast and copious mugs of coffee. My office hours are normally 8.30-5, but the advantage of remote working means you will sometimes find me and my laptop in my local coffee shop, which sells the best vegan donuts!
Yum, coffee and vegan donuts! Sounds like a match made in heaven! What about training? Do you find time to fit any ECPD into your working day?
I think it’s really important to keep learning new things throughout your career, so I make a point of attending training courses as often as I can. A couple of weekends ago I spent a day learning about subtitling with Yorkshire Translators and Interpreters, and I have attended some interesting webinars on the energy sector recently.
What is your favourite book in your source/target languages?
Tolstoy’s War and Peace. I have a really beautiful old edition that I found in a charity shop with a handy bookmark that lists all the characters and their relationship to each other, which is essential to avoid confusion!
Wow, I’m sure reading that keeps you busy! When you’re not reading, what do you do in your spare time?
In my opinion, there’s no better way to spend a Sunday than a good country walk in the Yorkshire Dales, followed by a hearty pub lunch and a well-earned tipple.
Couldn’t agree more! Cheers, Josie!
