Emily Plank
Translator or interpreter (or both): translator
Language(s) and direction(s): German, French & Spanish>English
Location: Perth, WA
Practising as a translator/interpreter since: 2006
Member of AUSIT since: 2012
Main area(s) of practice: tourism, marketing, literature
Q1:
How did you come to be a T/I?
A1:
I really enjoyed the translation components of my university degree, which was in French, German and linguistics, so after graduating I decided to look into translation as a profession. I graduated in 2006, and there weren’t anywhere near as many resources available then as there are now, but I completed an online Certificate in Translation, created some profiles on a few platforms, sent my CV off to numerous agencies, did lots of test translations … and ended up landing a few jobs! It just kind of went from there. And I still work with some of my original clients to this day!
Q2:
Tell us about a project you have worked on that was especially interesting or challenging (within the bounds of confidentiality of course).
A2:
The most interesting project I’ve completed to date was a literary translation of a book written by German travel journalist and ultramarathon runner Peter Hinze, about his experience of running the entire length of Nepal along its 1,850+ km section of the Great Himalaya Trail (a proposed trekking route across the Himalayas from east to west, following ancient trading routes from Pakistan through India, Nepal and Bhutan and ending in Tibet). That area of the world has always fascinated me, so reading and translating Peter’s experiences was a dream job. I was simultaneously educated and captivated by his descriptions of the stunning scenery and the amazing people, cultures and religious traditions – mainly Buddhism, Bön (an indigenous Tibetan religion that predates Buddhism) and the pre-religious animism – but also of the social and environmental issues increasingly being faced in that part of the world. This translation project has made me even more keen to visit the Himalayan region myself.
Isabel von Prollius
Translator or interpreter (or both): translator
Language(s) and direction(s): German>English
Location: Perth, WA
Practising as a translator/interpreter since: 2003
Member of AUSIT since: 2014
Main area(s) of practice: visa applications, skills assessments, historical documents, personal letters
Q1:
How did you come to be a T/I?
A1:
I did a few units in translation as part of my degree to become a high school teacher. When I came to Australia, one of the first friends I made was a translator. She talked me into sitting the NAATI exam, and I worked as a high school teacher and translator for several years. The arrival of my third child coincided with me taking over a German language school, and I now translate during the day and teach three nights a week.
Q2:
Tell us about a project you have worked on that was especially interesting or challenging (within the bounds of confidentiality of course).
A2:
I’ve been translating a file of love letters and other correspondence from World War II, it’s an ongoing project that started a few years ago. The writer was a young German lady who worked as a secretary for the Wehrmacht (the armed forces of Germany’s Third Reich) and was posted in Paris for a while. Her letters provide a great insight into what life in Paris was like for the German occupation forces. In Paris, she worked with Ernst Juenger, a highly decorated officer and philosopher. She exchanged a lot of passionate love letters with her husband, a Luftwaffe pilot who died in the war. Her second marriage was to a British officer she met right after the war, and their son is my client. Her later letters describe life in Scotland and the difficulties she faced there as a German so soon after the war. She also expressed her concerns about her son not doing well at university and making poor personal choices. As a mother of teenage boys this touched me greatly, and I’m happy to share that the son – my client – ended up having a great career and has been happily married for many years. A very rewarding project on many fronts.
