A Geordie In Girona

Author: A Geordie In Girona

  • A balancing act – walking the tightrope of a translator’s early career

    During a circus performance the other week, I sat open-mouthed as I witnessed jugglers, trapeze artists, acrobatic teams, sword swallowers, contortionists and various other acts doing the kind of amazing things that Harry Houdini would be proud of. The clown, waddling around with his big floppy shoes and daft red nose, wasn’t quite so impressive…

  • Viva 2023 – here’s to a busy year!

    I have been working on some really interesting projects so far this year. Probably my favourite has been a sequence of marketing texts for a theme park where it was essential to retain the magic of this special place in my translations but also to re-adjust some of the words and expressions so they were…

  • Heartbreak and triumph – applying for Spanish residency post-Brexit

    I first attempted to move to Girona in Spain last August. The move had been in the pipeline since I first started going out with my girlfriend, Vanesa, a Spanish national originally from Argentina, back in 2015. We met on a site that helps people practice speaking foreign languages with natives through online conversation. After…

  • Running – a force for good in life

    Ever since I was at school I had always shown a keen interest in running. My long strong legs and a decent set of lungs meant that I could have been quite a good runner if I had actually applied myself. Unfortunately the temptations that came with being a teenager were too great to resist…

  • What do I offer as a translator?

    Contrary to popular belief…. …..translation is not just a case of transferring words systematically from one language to another. If it were, Google Translate would be ideal for carrying out translations. Other aspects, however, need to be taken into account at all times during the translation process. These include context, purpose, new audience, culture and…

  • To blog or not to blog and what to blog about?

    When I was studying for my Master’s in Translation one of the things suggested to us that would be beneficial to our future career prospects as freelance translators was to start writing a blog. It was pointed out that sharing educational material might add value to the translation community and help other translators. Furthermore, creating…

  • A Spanish labour of love – the joy of language learning

    I’ve been speaking Spanish for 17 years now. Admittedly, in the earlier years I sounded more like Julio Geordio than Julio Iglesias, but as time progressed so did my level of Spanish. For me, it is the most beautiful language in the world. I first became captivated by it in 2005 during a year away…

  • Teaching – an additional string to a fledging freelance translator’s bow

    Trying to establish the nascent career of a freelance translator can be a bit of a slow burner. There are so many aspects of the business that need to be considered. You may wish to construct a website to help promote your business. It is a bit like having a digital CV and it tells…

  • Me, myself and I – a personal profile

    For those that don’t know me very well, I thought it was about time I introduced myself. You can think of this post as a kind of CV in story form as it has partly been written to enhance my job prospects and grow my freelance business. However, as it has also been written for…

  • 25 cultural differences between Spain and the UK

    I had been visiting Girona in Spain several times a year since I started going out with my Argentine girlfriend back in 2015. However, it wasn’t until August last year that I eventually took the plunge and moved into the apartment she shares with Catalina, her daft yet adorable Yorkshire Terrier. With the beauty of…

  • A photo is worth a thousand words… but should I put one on my CV?

    While the phrase ‘a picture is worth a thousand words’ has been labelled as a Chinese proverb and attributed to the philosopher, Confucius, it was actually popularised in the 1920s by Fred R. Barnard in the United States. He used the phrase to discuss the use of drawn and photographic images to illustrate advertising. A picture may convey an…

  • New Beginnings in Catalonia

    It’s been just over a month since I moved to the Catalan city of Girona in Spain to begin a new life with my girlfriend. We first started going out in 2015 after meeting on Conversation Exchange, an online site where you practice speaking other languages. After a couple of months she came over to…