Although the majority of interpreters are freelancers, we are also social creatures. For this reason, we thrive on communication and interaction with our clients. Similarly, networking is essential in our profession to update our skills and keep pace with current trends. With time, networking can also turn into friendships and mutually beneficial collaborations.
One example of such a collaboration is a series of podcasts recorded for the blog of my friend and colleague, Rie Hiramatsu. Rie is a conference interpreter and voiceover artist. She was educated in Japan, Northern Ireland and England and now lives in London and the Peak District. Over the years, her business has taken her to Europe, the Far East, Middle East, USA and Africa. When Rie invited me as her “special guest”, I jumped at the opportunity to try something new.
Rie neatly structured her podcast series into four recordings of five minutes each. Her idea behind “Your life in 5 minutes” is to interview colleagues with different language combinations and backgrounds about their life, job, hobbies and their favourite things – all in small 5-minute chunks. Although Rie’s podcasts are usually in her native Japanese, the interviews are in English and thus available to a wider audience.
You can listen to my part of each recording by moving the slider to the recommended time and clicking the play button.
Your life in 5 minutes
Your job in 5 minutes
Your hobbies in 5 minutes
Your favourite things in 5 minutes
Rie has also kindly contributed to my Idioms from Around the World series available here.
