improve your retour | refresh skills such as note-taking | consolidate skills learned in class | earn CPD points

The Interpreting Coach offers you personal coaching, proven tools, and a structured approach to self-study

Meet The Interpreting Coach

Sophie Llewellyn Smith imageI’m Sophie Llewellyn Smith, interpreter trainer, conference interpreter, designer of online teaching materials, and creator of Speechpool. I have trained hundreds of aspiring interpreters, some of whom have gone on to work for the United Nations or the European Union, and dozens of fellow interpreter trainers. Every learner is different, but some tried and tested techniques work for everyone! I’m really excited to be bringing you some digital material to complement your face-to-face learning, and empower you to take control of your learning. Learn more about my background.

FREE RESOURCES from The Interpreting Coach

do you have a growth mindset_ Free 7-day growth mindset challenge. Click on the image to sign up.
Free 5-day note-taking challenge. Click on the image to sign up.
FREE exam-style consecutive speeches in English, to help you practise for EU accreditation tests.

 

FREE exam-style consecutive speeches in English, to help you practise for EU accreditation tests.

 

WEBINARS with The Interpreting Coach

I periodically run webinars on a variety of subjects, such as stress management, note-taking skills, improving your English retour, frequent errors made by retourists (e.g. Italian As, German As), and more.

Do get in touch if you’d like me to run a tailor-made webinar, e.g. for an association of interpreters.

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Click on the image to access my free CPD webinar.

TRAINING AND CPD with The Interpreting Coach

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Rock your Retour

TIC’s flagship membership site for English retourists. Maintain and improve your retour, attend live classes, and interact with motivated colleagues. Boost your confidence and become more marketable, all for an affordable monthly fee!

Click on the icon for more info.

Rock your Retour 2019 archive

The entire 2019 archive of Rock your Retour. No tie-in, no commitment to weekly classes. Just tailor-made materials about vocabulary, syntax, and pronunciation, for you to peruse, download as PDFs, or print.

Click on the icon for more info.

 

Develop your retour

60 minute training for interpreters wishing to assess and improve their B language, with a particular focus on retour interpreting technique, vocabulary acquisition, and productive practice.

Click on the icon for more info.

 

Principles of note-taking

100 minute training for interpreters wishing to learn the principles of consecutive note-taking from scratch or refresh their skills.

Click on the icon for more info.

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English for Interpreters

Tailor-made, curated materials about vaccination to improve your English C (or B!). A fantastic shortcut, designed by interpreter trainers for interpreters.

Click on the icon for more info.

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English for Interpreters

Tailor-made, curated materials about fake news to improve your English C (or B!). A fantastic shortcut, designed by interpreter trainers for interpreters.

Click on the icon for more info.

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English for Interpreters

Tailor-made, curated materials about the gig economy to improve your English C (or B!). A fantastic shortcut, designed by interpreter trainers for interpreters.

Click on the icon for more info.

English for Interpreters

Tailor-made, curated materials about the circular economy to improve your English C (or B!). A fantastic shortcut, designed by interpreter trainers for interpreters.

Click on the icon for more info.

English for Interpreters

Tailor-made, curated materials about taxation to improve your English C (or B!). A fantastic shortcut, designed by interpreter trainers for interpreters.

Click on the icon for more info.

English for Interpreters

Tailor-made, curated materials about supply chains to improve your English C (or B!). A fantastic shortcut, designed by interpreter trainers for interpreters.

Click on the icon for more info.

L’Atelier de Poche

Access the Atelier website with 50+ articles tailor-made to help you improve your French B.

Click on the icon for more info.

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Consecutive Clinic 

Short modules focusing on consecutive note-taking skills: intro video, practice speeches, symbol brainstorming.

Click on the icon for more info.

PRAISE for The Interpreting Coach

Coaching

Sophie’s feedback was always to the point, clear and delivered in a very friendly and supportive manner. What is also worth mentioning is that Sophie offers a truly individualized approach and can provide additional materials and ideas on how to work on one’s retour between the coaching sessions.

Within a few weeks, I could see improvements in my confidence, delivery, and use of English. Moreover – the coaching sessions were a great support in my preparations for an English retour exam at the European Parliament, which I passed at the first attempt!

Natalia C. ,accredited interpreter (PL <> EN; IT, FR > PL) with 6 years’ experience.

I really enjoyed every session I had with Sophie. They always were engaging, lively and really useful.
Sophie flagged what I specifically needed to work on, besides the usual “French mistakes”, and gave me exercises to improve. Plus having a regular one-to-one coaching session helps to be organized and really pushed me to practice more efficiently between sessions.
All in all, even though this is a somewhat expensive investment, that is precisely what it is. An investment in my career and I find it absolutely worth it!

Lenaig T., freelance interpreter

Stress management webinars/seminars

Sophie offered lots of practical tips and a very insightful analysis of the situations that can lead to stress in an interpreting environment. Her webinar included a string of very useful and easily applicable ways in which we can overcome stressful situations, both in the booth as well as in life. The webinar was KISS technique based. Right to the point all the time and always ready to take any questions from participants. It is very clear that she knows what she is talking about in all the topics she covers (eating and sleep habits, exams, assignments, how can an interpreter feel).

I wish I had attended this webinar at the beginning of my career. Sophie’s webinar is a source of inspiration and a very positive way of finding encouragement to improve performance at work and satisfaction with oneself. I definitely recommend this webinar to everyone, and not only to interpreters, as many things can be applied to all sectors and life in general.

David R., professional interpreter with over 10 years of experience working on the Spanish private market

A wealth of practical tips and ideas to help us understand how stress works and how we can cope with it. I especially liked the scientific background of the presentation.

I would absolutely recommend Sophie to organisations/individuals that need to learn how stress affects their daily life and what they can do to cope with it. Well-researched practical tips and ideas in a non-judgmental atmosphere is what most of us need to start regaining our inner balance and self-esteem.

Yolanda G., EU-accredited interpreter

BLOG by The Interpreting Coach

Latest blog posts

Idioms involving hands

There are so many expressions containing the word hands (and feet!). How well do you know them? Exercise 1 Grab a pen and paper (or just type into your Notes app or similar). How many idioms and expressions can you think of containing the word hand or hands? Hang onto your ...

Improvisation exercise (criticism)

In today’s post, I’d like to look at different ways to express criticism. There is a plethora of verbs and expressions in English to express the idea of criticism. Activity 1 I’ve created a word search for you. Your task is to look for 10 words that mean ‘criticise’ or ‘rebuke’ ...

An exercise to help you choose between efficient and effective

These two adjectives (and their equivalent adverbs) are so difficult to use correctly. I hope you have had a chance to read my vocabulary sheet. In today’s exercise, you are going to practise making sentences using either efficient or effective. Efficient or effective? NOUNSVERBScommunicationswantdistribution networkdeliverenginemakeuse ofimplementresourcesuseattacktakesolutionsbe responsible forargumentbeactionhelppolicydevelopstrategyprovespeechdiscoveryprocessbecomeadministrationappeartechniquetransport systemdrugsmarketing toolspostal service Above ...

Improving your formal register (part 1)

Most of my readers and clients are conference interpreters. The types of meetings we interpret at usually call for a neutral-ish register, sometimes with elements of formality or technical vocabulary. In general, I have found that my coaching clients sometimes struggle with everyday, colloquial language, but they don’t often have to ...

How to prep 3 speeches in 30 minutes

I've written quite a lot about speech preparation as a useful exercise, both for interpreters and for trainers. In this post, for example, I've talked about the benefits of speech prep, and in this one, I've outlined how I go about preparing a speech quickly and efficiently. Today, I want to ...

Two fun ways to work on your B language

I've spent twenty years helping interpreters improve their retour (at least I hope my techniques are helpful! 😉), but I'll let you into a little secret: I've hardly used my own (French) retour in ten years. When I was last in Brussels on a temporary contract with the European Commission, I ...

Speech prep in a jiffy with interviews or podcasts

In my last blog post, I attempted to convince you of the value of speech prep, especially if you are a retourist and you use speech preparation as an exercise to develop your retour. I outlined the process I use to create well-structured speeches, and listed 3 simple structures: linear, pros/cons, ...

Speech prep in a jiffy – the process

I ran a webinar recently about improving your retour (i.e. interpreting into a B language - a language other than your mother tongue), and I asked participants to send me any questions in advance, so I could tailor the content to their needs. This is a useful exercise, as it often ...

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