SpanNet - CPD

The ITI Spanish Network was established to support translators and interpreters working both into and out of Spanish, Basque, Catalan and Galician. One of our main goals is to share knowledge and assistance by organising CPD events and webinars for our members. We also offer a subsidised mentoring scheme to provide feedback to those who wish to develop their skills in hand with more experienced professionals. Our Groups.io and Facebook forums are also a great place for us to share events organised by other groups or to discuss tricky translations.

Translation slam at the ITI Conference 2017

Mentoring

The Spanish Network mentoring scheme has been running since 2011. Each year we match around 5-6 mentors with a mentee, depending on how many people apply. The scheme is part funded by the network and part paid by the mentee (£90 each). Mentees discuss their goals with their mentor and then receive six texts of around 500 words to translate over the course of six months. Mentoring is open to both newcomers to the profession and those who want feedback from a specialised colleague. Previous requests for specialisation fields have included international development, legal, marketing, business, technical and medical translation. To apply, please contact Pilar Gáñez for the application form and further information.

Download the guidelines (PDF)

Read former ITI Chair Sarah Bawa Mason's motivation for setting up the scheme (PDF)

For a fuller picture, listen to our one-hour webinar with the founder of the scheme Sarah Bawa Mason, one of our mentors Gill Holmes, and a recent mentee Holly-Anne Whyte:

Webinars

Each year, we run approximately two to three webinars on topics relevant to our members. Highlights from recent years include:

Rob Lunn gave two excellent webinars on translating contracts from Spanish to English based on his popular blog.

Mercedes Pacheco gave a two-part webinar on QA procedures in medical translations;

Bill Maslen gave a superb webinar on transcreation;

Susie Kershaw gave a thought-provoking talk entitled ‘Rethinking yourself’

Richard Lackey shared his top tech tips to help us get the most from our computers.

And Elizabeth Garrison revealed what life is like as a digital nomad translator.

Training Events

Every few years we organise a major training event to bring together our members in the UK. In 2015, we held a popular workshop with Spanish translator Xosé Castro on advanced Word skills (see photo below). In 2016, we visited the International Maritime Organization together with the ITI French Network. And in 2019, we helped organise the ITI Dual Spanish/English Litigation Translation Workshop and our own spring workshop (see below).

Workshop led by Xosé Castro

Spring workshops

Since March 2019, we have organised an annual hands-on workshop for 40 of our members featuring practical workshop exercises in the morning and translation slams in the afternoon. The second event was held online in March 2020 and we plan to hold another in March 2021.

Grants

We offer financial assistance to members who wish to take part in translation related events, courses or any other projects, subject to certain criteria and approval by the committee. Grants may be put towards attendance fees or travel costs. We offer a bursary towards becoming MITI for members who have been with us at least two years and who take the exam from/to Spanish. Please contact our Coordinator to apply.

Co-working

In January 2018, we organised a co-working day in London so that network members could meet for the day in a central London office. Our members met and shared their experiences over the course of the day.

AGM and Socials

As our AGM is only held every two years (last held in September 2019), we occasionally organise social lunches or dinners at other times of the year, such as in the photo below from June 2018.