Sophie Llewellyn Smith is a conference interpreter with 15 years' experience of interpreter training. On her site theinterpretingcoach.com, you will find eBooks and eCourses to help you consolidate or update your interpreting skills in areas such as note-taking, research skills, analytical skills, and retour interpreting (working into a B language). Each course breaks the skills down into manageable sections and uses a mixture of text, audio and video to examine underlying principles and work on practical exercises. In this way, you can use self-study at your own pace to target your weaknesses, improve your performance and become more marketable.
This week, I’ve chosen to create a gap filling exercise for you, since the cost of living is such a topical subject.
Exercise 1
Grab a piece of paper and a pen (or the computer equivalent!).
Set a timer for 5 minutes.
Write down all the words and phrases you can think of relating to the cost of living crisis.
I’ll share my answers at the end, otherwise they might give you too many hints for the gap filling exercise!
Gap filling
Close to a third of single parents have _______ __________ meals to __________ because of __________ food costs, according to research revealing the household types worst _________ by the cost of living crisis.
Three in 10 single parent households surveyed said they had missed meals as a consequence of _________ food prices. That compared with one in seven parents in couples and an overall figure of 14% in the poll by the consumer group Which?
“Our research has found that families across the UK are ______ with the rising cost of living, with single parents most likely to be skipping meals or ________- food banks to make ends meet,” said Rocio Concha, its director of policy and advocacy.
Which? wants supermarkets to ensure prices are easy to compare and that budget food ranges are ______- available.
The most recent official data showed food price inflation _____16.4% in October – its highest level since 1977 – because of big increases in the cost of ________- such as milk, butter, cheese, pasta and eggs.
Which? said households experienced different rates of inflation, with single parents and pensioners ______ hit because they spend a greater ___________ – 30% – of their budget on food, energy and fuel. For couples with children this drops to about a quarter. However, all households are spending significantly more of their income on essentials than they did a year ago.
In another ___________ sign, almost a fifth of single parent households and one in seven couples with children said they had ___________- a vital bill payment, such as their mortgage or rent, in September and October. On average, the missed payment rate was 8%.
Close to a third of single parents have resorted toskipping meals to make ends meet because of rising food costs, according to research revealing the household types worst hit by the cost of living crisis.
Three in 10 single parent households surveyed said they had missed meals as a consequence of runaway food prices. That compared with one in seven parents in couples and an overall figure of 14% in the poll by the consumer group Which?
“Our research has found that families across the UK are struggling with the rising cost of living, with single parents most likely to be skipping meals or turning to food banks to make ends meet,” said Rocio Concha, its director of policy and advocacy.
Which? wants supermarkets to ensure prices are easy to compare and that budget food ranges are widely available.
The most recent official data showed food price inflation hit 16.4% in October – its highest level since 1977 – because of big increases in the cost of staples such as milk, butter, cheese, pasta and eggs.
Which? said households experienced different rates of inflation, with single parents and pensioners badly hit because they spend a greater proportion – 30% – of their budget on food, energy and fuel. For couples with children this drops to about a quarter. However, all households are spending significantly more of their income on essentials than they did a year ago.
In another worrying sign, almost a fifth of single parent households and one in seven couples with children said they had missed a vital bill payment, such as their mortgage or rent, in September and October. On average, the missed payment rate was 8%.
resorted to: you could also say ‘have started skipping meals’, or ‘have had to skip meals’, ‘have been forced to skip meals’
skipping meals: you could also say ‘missing’
to make ends meet: something else that would fit here is ‘to save money’ or ‘to make savings’
rising food prices: there are lots of options for this: skyrocketing, spiralling, ever-increasing, escalating, soaring or just ‘high’. And of course, you can use ‘runaway’ food costs, which comes up a few lines down, or ‘out of control’.
worst hit: could also be ‘worst affected’
struggling: the preposition ‘with’ doesn’t leave you many options. You could try ‘grappling with’ or ‘having problems with’.
turning to: you could use ‘resorting to’ or ‘using’, ‘making use of’, or ‘relying on’.
widely available: there aren’t many adverbs that collocate well with ‘available’. The best options are ‘readily’ or ‘easily’ (according to the dictionary, but I’m not keen on ‘easily available’).
hit 16.4%: you could also say ‘reached’
staples: also ‘basics’, ‘essentials’, or just ‘foods’
badly hit: this is a bit like ‘widely available’. There aren’t many options, other than ‘hard hit’ and variants thereof, e.g. ‘particularly hard hit’
proportion: also ‘percentage’ or ‘share’
worrying sign: ‘bad’, ‘disturbing’, ‘ominous’. Nowadays people also use ‘concerning’.
missed: ‘skipped’, ‘failed to make’
Brainstorming suggestions
Here are a few of my ideas.
spiralling costs
soaring fuel prices
rising fuel prices
fuel poverty
to go without
heat or eat
to be sparing, frugal, thrifty
to watch your spending
to keep an eye on outgoings
to make ends meet
to tighten your belt
to cut back on
to cut down on
spending on luxuries
shopping habits
wasteful
to cope with
to put food on the table
to make savings
non-essential spending
discretionary spending
necessities
money-saving tips
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Interested in more material like this to help you boost your retour? Why not join my monthly membership site, Rock your Retour, with tailor-made written materials and weekly live group classes (online)?
Sophie Llewellyn Smith, writing as The Interpreting Coach, is a coach, interpreter trainer, conference interpreter, designer of online teaching materials, and creator of Speechpool. Follow the blog to pick up tips on how to improve your interpreting skills.
A RyR member was asking me about these two words recently. In particular, she was wondering whether we say ‘a society’s collective remembrance of events’, or ‘collective memory’ (the answer is memory).
Here are some more thoughts about memory vs remembrance.
The first and most important distinction to remember is that remembrance describes an act or behaviour.
Remembrance and commemoration
Remembrance is the act of remembering and showing respect for someone who has died, or a past event.
For example:
A church service was held in remembrance of the victims of the arena bombing.
Here are some examples from the press:
Every year, walkers from all over the north join members of the Fell and Rock Climbing Club on a trek up Great Gable in remembrance of those who have lost their lives in conflict.
If you wear a red poppy this year, it will mean something different. The Royal British Legion has said that the symbol that has long represented remembrance of the UK’s armed forces will also stand for civilian victims, not just of war, but terrorism too.
The 11th November is called Remembrance Day in the UK.
If you want to talk about a ceremony or ritual to honour and remember someone, use the verb commemorate. Commemorations are often held on the anniversary of someone’s birth or death; or they can honour an event, like a war, in which case they are often held on the anniversary of the event (or its beginning or end).
Memorial
A tangible way to honour a famous individual or remember an important event is to erect a memorial.
A memorial is a large object, often made of stone, dedicated to the person or event you wish to remember.
Many villages in the UK have a war memorial, for example.
Here are a few adjectives that are often paired with the word memorial:
a lasting memorial
a permanent memorial
a fitting memorial to…
We talk about building a memorial to the fallen/those who have disappeared etc.
The word memorial is also used as a shortcut for ‘memorial service’, i.e. a ceremony to remember someone who has died, usually taking place after the burial.
Memory
Memory means two things:
the ability to remember
something you remember from the past
Let’s talk first about the ability to remember. We use memory, in this sense, with the preposition for:
I have a terrible memory for names.
Here are a few typical adjectives that go with memory. Some of them are clearly more colloquial than others:
good
excellent
outstanding
prodigious
bad
poor
terrible
awful
unreliable
Exercise 1
Let’s say you take your children to a fair, and you suddenly pass a truck selling candyfloss. This reminds you of all the times your parents took you to fairgrounds as a child.
Do you have a pen and paper? You have two minutes to write down all the verbs and phrases you can think of that carry this meaning of ‘reminding you’ of the past.
Here’s what I came up with:
it jogged my memory
it brought back memories
the memories came flooding back
it conjures up memories
I also thought of ‘it evokes memories’. This is more formal, though.
Here’s what I came up with:
it jogged my memory
it brought back memories
the memories came flooding back
it conjures up memories
I also thought of ‘it evokes memories’. This is more formal, though.
Now let’s look at a memory as something you remember from the past.
Exercise 2
Can you think of four adjectives that go with the word memory and that mean the opposite of ‘transient’?
The adjectives I had in mind were:
lasting memories
abiding
enduring
lingering
Exercise 3
How many other adjectives can you list that go with the word memory (meaning ‘something you remember’)?
How about
vivid memories
distant memories
dim
hazy
vague
affectionate
fond
good
happy
lovely
nostalgic
pleasant
precious
sweet
warm
wonderful
bittersweet
bad
disturbing
embarrassing
painful
sad
traumatic
unhappy
unpleasant
childhood memories
Recollection
Recollection is a more formal word than memory, but it has the same two meanings.
something you remember:
I have many pleasant recollections (=memories).
The following example illustrates the difference in register:
I have no recollection of the incident.
A less formal version would simply be ‘I don’t remember what happened.’
2. the ability to remember
His powers of recollection are second to none.
Note that when we mean someone’s ability to recall information, we talk about their powers of recollection and not simply their ‘recollection’. So where we would say ‘He has an excellent memory’, we don’t say ‘he has an excellent recollection’, but rather ‘he has excellent powers of recollection’.
You can use the same adjectives with recollection as with memory: clear, distinct, vivid, dim, hazy, vague, faint…
Finally, a useful idiom: ‘to the best of my recollection’.
Exercise 4 – idioms
This exercise has two versions, one easier than the other.
For the harder version, I will give you definitions/explanations/paraphrases of several idioms. You have to try to come up with the idiom. Hint: they all contain the word memory.
if I remember correctly
let’s talk about something that took place in the past, let’s go back in time
to have an excellent memory
an event that has taken place recently or within someone’s lifetime
I will never forget this event
to have a terrible memory
‘if memory serves’, or ‘if my memory serves me right/correctly’. This is a very useful idiom in meeting situations. Personally, I use ‘if memory serves’, because it’s shorter and you’re less likely to make mistakes!
let’s take a walk/stroll/trip down memory lane
to have a memory like an elephant
within living memory (or within recent memory). For example: ‘He actually apologised?! That hasn’t happened in living memory!‘
This event is engraved/etched on my memory
to have a memory like a sieve
Easier version of exercise 4
Match the idiom to the explanation or paraphrase.
if I remember correctly
it is etched on my memory
let’s talk about something that took place in the past, let’s go back in time
to have a memory like a sieve
to have an excellent memory
if memory serves
an event that has taken place recently or within someone’s lifetime
in living memory
I will never forget this event
let’s take a trip down memory lane
to have a terrible memory
to have a memory like an elephant
if I remember correctly
if memory serves
let’s talk about something that took place in the past, let’s go back in time
let’s take a trip down memory lane
to have an excellent memory
to have a memory like an elephant
an event that has taken place recently or within someone’s lifetime
in living memory
I will never forget this event
this event is etched on my memory
to have a terrible memory
to have a memory like a sieve
Exercise 5
Can you rewrite this short text in a more formal register?
I have lots of happy memories of Blackpool, but last time I went there something awful happened. A car ran me over. I don’t remember what happened at all, but everything that happened afterwards, including my long hospital stay, will stay with me forever. Now every time I smell fish and chips, it brings everything back.
There is no single answer, but here is one suggestion:
I have many pleasant recollections of Blackpool, but on my last visit, something dreadful occurred. A car knocked me over. I have no recollection of the incident, but the aftermath, including my long hospital stay, will remain etched on my memory forever. Now the smell of fish and chips always evokes bad memories.
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Interested in more material like this to help you boost your retour? Why not join my monthly membership site, Rock your Retour, with tailor-made written materials and weekly live group classes (online)?
Sophie Llewellyn Smith, writing as The Interpreting Coach, is a coach, interpreter trainer, conference interpreter, designer of online teaching materials, and creator of Speechpool. Follow the blog to pick up tips on how to improve your interpreting skills.
We so often hear of something having a negative impact, yet there are many more idiomatic ways of expressing this idea.
You can often use a verb or adjective instead, which allows you to be more precise or more colourful. Another option that often works is using a verb and modifying it with an adverb.
Here are some options for you.
Verbs
Instead of has a negative impact, try some of the following. Of course, your choice will depend on context.
damage
weaken
undermine
hurt
hit
affect
cause harm to…
Add adverbs to modify the verbs, especially if you want to make them stronger. Seriously, badly, and severely are usually safe choices.
A few idioms:
to leave a mark on
to play havoc with
to take a toll on
to deal a blow to (you could add adjectives: ‘a crushing blow’, ‘a severe blow’, ‘a serious blow’)
(informal) to do a number on
Adjectives
Instead of saying X has had a negative impact on the economy, you can use adjectives.
Either replace negative with something more descriptive, or say that the effect of X has been…(insert adjective).
Using adjectives allows you to play with register and emphasis, since some adjectives are much stronger or more formal than others.
unfortunate
destructive
damaging
harmful
detrimental
(formal) deleterious
dangerous
adverse
Stronger options:
catastrophic
disastrous
devastating
crippling
dire
Synonyms
Remember, there are a few words that have a similar meaning to negative impact. As always, they may or may not be suitable for the context:
drawback
disadvantage
downside
You could also choose to use a synonym of impact, along with a different adjective. For example:
damaging ramifications
undesirable consequences
adverse effects
an unfortunate outcome
catastrophic repercussions
Exercise
Here are some headlines (hence the missing verbs) and sentences taken from the press. All of them could have used the term negative impact.
See if you can come up with a different phrase. There are many possible solutions.
Pandemic’s negative impact on mental health of women and young people is most serious.
In France, nearly half (47%) of people aged 18 to 24 said the pandemic had had a negative impact on their mental health.
Half of people aged 18-24 in the UK say the pandemic had a negative impact on their mental health.
Lockdown may have a negative impact on mental health
The negative psychological impact of coronavirus in Britain – a visual guide
Anxiety levels double and 80 per cent of people report negative impact of living with pandemic threat
Pandemic hits mental health of women and young people hardest.
In France, nearly half (47%) of people aged 18 to 24 said the pandemic had taken a toll on their mental health.
Half of people aged 18-24 in the UK say the pandemic badly affected their mental health.
Lockdown may have a number of negative consequences for mental health
The psychological toll of coronavirus in Britain – a visual guide
Anxiety levels double and 80 per cent of people report devastating effects of living with pandemic threat
Interested in more material like this to help you boost your retour? Why not join my monthly membership site, Rock your Retour, with tailor-made written materials and weekly live group classes (online)?
Sophie Llewellyn Smith, writing as The Interpreting Coach, is a coach, interpreter trainer, conference interpreter, designer of online teaching materials, and creator of Speechpool. Follow the blog to pick up tips on how to improve your interpreting skills.
I’ve created a short reformulation exercise to help you work on your English – whether it’s a passive language in your combination, a retour language, or your mother tongue.
I’ve given a short speech about Shell and the windfall tax (see video below), but left gaps (silences) in the sentences.
if English is your mother tongue, pause the video when there’s a gap, and see if you can find 3 or 4 possible solutions.
If English is your B language, try shadowing the speech, repeating what you hear, and filling in the blanks as you go along (you’ll need a decalage of a few words in order to do this).
If English is one of your C languages, interpret the speech in simultaneous into your A language. Can you compensate for all the gaps and deduce what I must have said?
This is an exercise I created for members of my Rock your Retour group for English retourists. They have access to the original text of my speech, as well as suggestions for filling in the blanks in different ways (and in different registers).
Last Friday, I experimented with something new. I set up an online co-working session on Zoom, emailed my subscribers to let them know about it, and waited to see who would turn up and what they would get out of it.
It was clear from some of the questions at the start of the session that some participants were expecting a class or guided session (‘How will you organise us, by language combination, or by technique?’, or ‘Could you put me in a breakout room?’ – well, yes, but who with, and what for?).
Perhaps the co-working concept isn’t that familiar to interpreters, so I thought it would be worth exploring briefly in this post. Above all, I’d like to address another question which a colleague asked me (and, I confess, I asked myself!): what’s the point?
What is co-working?
[For the sake of avoiding ambiguity, I should perhaps explain that I’m not talking about ‘coworking’ in the sense of ‘team interpreting’, where two or more interpreters provide communication to and from the participants in a meeting.]
Co-working spaces are places where freelancers can get their work done, without feeling isolated because they’re working alone at home and without breaking the bank by renting an office full-time.
There are co-working spaces to rent by the hour or day, or you can get together with fellow professionals in a location of your choice, and work alongside each other.
Here are some of the benefits to co-working:
feeling less isolated. If you work from home, you can end up feeling as if you never talk to another human being.
better focus & fewer distractions. If you’re sitting next to someone who’s engrossed in their work, it’s harder to justify spending ages on Facebook.
networking
synergies. Sometimes another freelancer can offer you a helping hand (for example, with a technical problem that’s causing you difficulty, or a recommendation).
extra services. Some co-working spaces offer facilities such as a cafe, a relaxation area, conference rooms, and even happy hour, ‘lunch & learn’ events, and more.
So far, so reasonable. I think it’s relatively easy to understand the advantages of a physical co-working space for freelancers: cheaper than a full time rented office, possibly more conducive to focused work than the home environment (no chores, no noise, no other distractions), more convivial, etc.
However, there are two important questions here:
isn’t this much more relevant for, say, translators, who have written projects to complete, rather than interpreters? After all, when you’re busy with an assignment and interpreting at a meeting (whether in person or remotely), that obviously doesn’t fit the co-working model at all.
how does online co-working compare to co-working in a physical space?
Online co-working
Online co-working attempts to replicate the ethos of a physical co-working space.
There are many ways to organise an online co-working session: via Skype, WhatsApp, Zoom, etc.
Clearly it isn’t always possible to provide the same services and facilities as in a physical workspace, but the motivation, positive energy, and conviviality are all there. Synergies and networking are also possible, depending on how the co-working is organised.
What happens during an online co-working session
Well, that depends on the organiser and the participants.
There are several co-working platforms and apps for freelancers to choose from, and they all have their own way of doing things.
For example, https://grooveapp.io lets you join a 1 hour session, with a ‘check-in’ at the start to state what you want to work on, and a brief wrap-up at the end. On the other hand, it’s a phone app, which means you might easily be distracted by social media…
https://www.flow.club is another option that allows you to join a session with up to 8 participants. These sessions are hosted, and the host chooses a playlist of music, which you may find motivational or…distracting.
For the co-working session I ran on Friday, I chose a format with a brief ‘check-in’ in the chat box for participants to tell each other what they wanted to work on. Then I set a 50 minute timer, and everyone got on with their own work. Two people chose to go to a breakout room together. At the end, we had a quick chat and shared progress and impressions.
Does it work for interpreters?
The most interesting part of the exercise for me was finding out what each participant was working on.
One person wrote the ‘about’ section for their website, and completed the ‘simultaneous interpreting’ section.
Another participant listened back to a recording of their performance during a recent interpreting assignment – something they dislike doing, and had been putting off.
Some people were preparing meeting documents. One did some shadowing to improve French pronunciation.
I designed an exercise for members of my English retour membership site.
In short: when you’re an interpreter, there are plenty of tasks to be getting on with, other than interpreting itself: meeting prep, working on one of your languages, invoices, posting on social media, translation or other work, preparing classes if you also teach, etc. etc. Or perhaps even some of your ‘home’ admin: making appointments, filing your tax return. The list is endless!
To answer my original question, ‘does it work for interpreters?’, I would say yes, definitely. Although co-working may seem more suited to professionals like translators, copy writers, graphic designers, etc., there are plenty of tasks an interpreter can do during a co-working session.
In fact, these are often the tasks that get pushed to the bottom of the pile after finding clients, preparing for meetings, and actually interpreting. Yet some of them are critical to running your business efficiently (e.g. invoicing), and others are important for keeping your skills up to date (e.g. maintaining your languages, going to CPD events, analysing your interpreting performance). So it’s useful to have an extra motivational boost!
But is it for everyone?
Now that’s a whole other question.
Some people wouldn’t dream of going to an exercise class or the gym without a gym buddy. They’re just not motivated to go alone, and they don’t find it enjoyable.
For these people, a co-working session may be just the ticket. Some of the participants last Friday, for example, said they found it motivating seeing the faces of their colleagues hard at work (camera on). The accountability of the co-working session helped them get much more done, and gave them a sense of satisfaction.
For others, this is a completely pointless exercise. If you’re self-motivated and not prone to distraction or procrastination, you could get just as much (or perhaps more) done by yourself!
Funnily enough, I would have classed myself in this latter category, because I prefer ploughing my own furrow. However, on Friday, when I got halfway through my task and it was becoming rather boring and difficult, instead of stopping and flicking over to emails or LinkedIn, I looked around at the others working so assiduously on their projects, and decided if they could do it, so could I. So I knuckled down and finished my task, which was very satisfying.
Perhaps co-working works for me, too!
What are the options for online co-working?
Set up your own session. All you need is a like-minded group of people and a communication channel.
Co-working isn’t for everyone: it may not suit your personality.
If you do decide to join a co-working session or platform, think about how it matches your needs and the way you do things.
One of the great things about the session I set up on Friday is that we’re free, as a group, to make or change the ‘rules’. We decided that we’d check at the beginning of each session, and if anyone wanted to do some interpreting practice with a partner, I would open a breakout room for them. I’m also open to other ideas, for example if participants want to spend some of their time networking.
These free sessions are for you, and you can help shape them!
I’d love to hear your thoughts in the Comments section below. Have you tried online co-working? Did you find it useful, or was it not your cup of tea?
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