Sterling English by Séverine Watson – It's Elementary, my dear Watson!

As a dual French and British national, born and bred in the UK and now living in the Gers in southwest France, I have literally straddled the French/British divide my whole life.

I'm passionate about languages, intercultural communication and bridging the language gap, hence my decision to go into translation.

What is your background in translation?

I've worked as a translator working from French and Spanish into English since 2011, straight after getting my MA in Interpreting and Translation from the University of Bath, UK.

I started out as a technical translator working for a technical publications agency in Toulouse, France, where I spent seven years working for some of the biggest names in the aeronautical industry including Safran and Airbus.

In 2020, I decided it was time to move on. I wanted to liaise with my clients directly and forge strong relations with them as I translated their texts in a variety of fields: architecture and construction, agrifood, biotech, food, travel and tourism, occupational health and safety, humanitarian organisations, IT, jewellery, renewable energies and more.

Since 2020, here at Elementary Translations, I have been working hard to ensure my translations are:

🎯 of a high quality,
🎯 faithful to the original,
🎯 clear and unambiguous,
🎯 a good read in English,
🎯 produced by a human (yours truly).

How do you keep your skills up-to-date in translation?

Continuous professional development is important to me, as is staying abreast of the latest trends in the translation industry.

That's why I regularly attend translator training sessions and conferences to learn from the best so that I can put my new skills to good use for my clients.

I regularly share translation tips and experiences on LinkedIn, am part of a snippet slam group and a revision group, and I have even hosted translation snippet slam workshops at the Mediterranean Editor's and Translator's annual conference in 2022 and 2023, read more here.

I am proud of what I do and am a member of the following translator associations: