Welcome to DITL of a freelance translator, where we attempt to answer the question “What do translators do all day?”

This week we’re off to Germany to meet Cathy Castling!

I’m Cathy. I’m a German to English translator (occasionally Spanish into English too) from the Northwest of England and based in the Northeast of Germany (in the country’s smallest but prettiest capital city). I work part-time as a freelance translator and part-time as a website optimisation specialist for a German brand that sells leather fashion products.

At the moment, I’m enjoying Instagram, so you can find me there: https://www.instagram.com/cathytranslates/

I’m also on Linkedin (although I’m more of a lurker than a poster): https://www.linkedin.com/in/catherine-castling-translation/

I have my own website too (it’s a constant work in progress which I think most of our translation colleagues can relate to): https://www.cathytranslates.com/

A Day in my life

Tuesday 3^rd June 2025

7:00 – 8:00 am

Workout time! I’ve been a rower since I was about 14 – I feel there must be some connection between the perfectionism that rowers and linguists both strive for – and invested in a rowing machine a couple of years ago (thanks Ebay for helping me find a local person who didn’t want it anymore).

I’d like to claim I’m not a morning person but have realised since I left uni that if I want to exercise then I have to do it first thing or I’ll never get round to it. So I chose 7 am to continue the tradition from uni.

My workout is followed by a large cup of tea (Yorkshire tea is my preference but I can only get my hands on PG Tips in Germany) and breakfast.

8:00 am – 12:00 pm

Work time! At work, we’re currently migrating our online shops from one ecommerce system to another (Shopware to Shopify). Today’s big challenge was trying to figure out how a customer had found a link to our FAQs that are no longer linked on the website (thanks ChatGPT for sharing this link with them) and removing it from search results so it doesn’t pop up again in the future.

I’ve also been put in charge of testing different AI translation tools that we can integrate into Shopify. There’s been mixed feedback from our team so I’ve got no specific opinions other than that there are pros and cons of all of the tools that we’ve tried.

We usually have a break around 10 am and when I go to the office, we spend the break stood outside – regardless of the weather. This year I’ve enjoyed my break in -10 degrees, spitting rain, and warm, sunny weather. When I work at home, I usually use this break to stare out the window at the building works happening outside and have a guess at what they’re doing while I make my coffee.

12:00 – 1:00 pm

Lunch time! Today is leftovers – tandoori salmon from the Quick Roasting Tin by Rukmini Iyer. I swear by all of Rukmini’s cookbooks – super tasty meals that are easy to make and can be (mostly) shoved in the oven to cook. I read while I eat and am currently engrossed in the German translation of Fredrik Backman’s Anxious People (Eine ganz dumme Idee in German).

1:00 – 2:00 pm

Worktime part two! I usually use the hour after lunch to finish off any outstanding tasks from the morning and prep my to-do list for the following day accompanied by my second excessively large cup of tea. I use a digital calendar for meetings and deadlines along with a to-do list in Google Sheets (that’s probably not as organised as it could be) and a physical planner (I’m a Filofax person) – I have to write things down (deadlines, meetings, priorities for the day) otherwise I forget about them. In the recent past, I’ve accidentally missed a coaching call with my coach, a dentist appointment, and nearly missed a hairdressing appointment.

2:00 – 3:00 pm

Break time! Time for my afternoon walk to get out of the flat. I do a round of a small-ish lake in the city and enjoy having the chance to look at the architecture, trees, birds and water. I’ve lived in this city for over four years (and Germany for seven years) and my favourite hobby is still checking out the buildings and being blown away by the fact that they look so different to the houses in the UK. Again, another opportunity to stare – I think this is actually my favourite hobby.

3:00 – 5:30 pm

Worktime part three! I use late afternoon to work on freelance projects. This week’s tasks include proofreading packaging in both PDF format and in Trados. These tasks came from an agency that I’ve been working with almost since I started freelancing in 2019. I quite like these shorter, more straightforward tasks, and I enjoy the PMs I work with.

I’ve got some extra time so I deal with some student loan related tasks – mainly calling SLC to ask a question (cue ten million automated questions before I’m allowed to speak to anyone) and uploading more proof of my income for my repayments.

I don’t think there are too many downsides to freelancing or living abroad but having to deal with any sort of bureaucracy between two countries and tax/student loan systems that don’t quite understand each other or match up is one of the things I’m not wild about.

6:00 – 8:00 pm

Language café time! I found an Internationales Haus (International House) in my city a couple of months ago that hosts weekly language-café-style events for foreigners. I started going as a way to meet other foreigners in the city. We usually start the session talking about an article, event, or particular part of German language/culture and finish it off with a game. This week’s article was about a student in the UK who has created a modular kettle that’s easy to repair. After chatting about the article, we played Stadt, Land, Vollpfosten – you work in teams to note down a river, city, country, celebrity, etc. starting with the letter chosen at the start of the round. The game at the end is always my favourite part of the language café as you get to know people in a more relaxed way.

Others in this series have said that every day is different for them, and it’s generally the same for me – there aren’t two days that are the same. Writing out what I did today makes it look like I get loads done but it rarely feels like that. I’ve definitely struggled with balancing everything in the past and am trying to stay flexible so that I can do all of the things I want to each day without becoming overwhelmed.