Author Archives: thattranslationblog

A day in the life of Adam Yeomans

Hello everyone! I’m Adam Yeomans, freelance linguist from Clevedon, near Bristol, in the UK, but now based in Ettlingen, Baden-Württemberg, Germany. I translate from German, French and Italian into English and have been running my one-man-band AY Linguistic since 2014. Without further ado, here’s what a typical day looks like for me …

I usually get up around 7 and go for a brisk 45-minute walk before having breakfast in front of the TV, then I move across to the computer for 8:30 at the latest. That walk, followed by a shower, something to eat and an episode of one of my favourite shows, is non-negotiable. It allows me to clear my head and process any complex thoughts or deadlines before I dive into demanding German or Italian texts (I do work with French, too, as I said, but most of the work I get these days is from German or Italian). All of this ensures that I’m in the right state of mind when I sit down at my desk, which is where the magic happens. 😉

My professional bubble is my dual monitor setup, which is absolutely essential for efficient working as I can translate on one screen (CAT tools of choice: Trados and MemoQ) and research on the other. My prized possession is actually the old QWERTY layout keyboard I had sent to me from the UK. Accidentallz tzping mz surname as Zeomans thanks to the German kezboard lazout and constantlz seeing an Ä appear when I think Iäve tzped the @ szmbol was hugelz annozing! Just using my old British keyboard has increased my efficiency no end.

I break for lunch at 12-1 and I tend to finish for the day at 5 or 6 – when I was single, I used to work into the night and at the weekends (don’t tell my clients! 🤫), but now I’m living with my partner, I obviously have to consider her schedule as well. Moreover, her mother doesn’t seem to understand what “self-employed” means … to her, being in gainful employment means working Mondays to Fridays, 9-5, and no more. She’s always perplexed, and concerned my work is taking over our lives, if she invites us over on a Saturday and I have to decline because I have a translation deadline looming. All of this is actually great motivation for maintaining better work-life boundaries.

As the amount of translation work coming in for me has started to ebb and flow more severely in recent years (*cough* Covid *cough Geopolitical Turmoil *cough* AI *cough*), I’ve had to embrace the “portfolio career” and diversify somewhat. I now offer private tuition to local schoolkids, have two clients taking the online “Speak English like a Brit” conversation course you might have seen me plugging on LinkedIn of late and am looking to branch out into monolingual copywriting. I’ve also started working at a local language school teaching English to adults to guarantee some extra income in translation-lean months.

Teaching’s great for adding a little variety to the day, but, more importantly, I feel it’s made me a sharper translator. Constantly teaching vocabulary and grammar and explaining complex concepts in English to German speakers forces me to revisit and consolidate my understanding of linguistic structures. It’s the ultimate professional development!

On a Monday, I tend to stop at 4:30pm and head out to the local pub, where I host the quiz night, and help the landlord set up. This weekly event is important for me to give back to the community that welcomed me with open arms when I arrived here in 2017. It’s an essential injection of socialising and networking that both forces me to speak to actual people after a full day of staring at text on a screen and allows my jovial, fun-loving personality to shine. On Tuesdays, my girlfriend and I always have a late lunch at the restaurant where we met – it’s our little ritual that’s become sacrosanct. These small, private commitments are what keep me grounded, help me maintain the focus and quality required for language work throughout the rest of the week and stop me from becoming a workaholic. From Wednesday to Friday, if I’m not translating, I’m teaching and vice versa.

It can be a demanding life sometimes, but blending my skills with my rituals, i.e. balancing my time at my desk, in pubs and restaurants and in the classroom, ensures my clients can collaborate with a focused, sharp and highly adaptable linguist – not a stressed and burned-out workaholic.

How to survive the summer slowdown

How to survive the summer slowdown

I know it’s not just me. LinkedIn is a hive of introductions and activity. I’ve made peace with not having much work throughout July and August. In fact, I’m starting love the quiet.

But that doesn’t mean it’s not a challenging time. I still have bills to pay and kids to feed, but I’ve leaned into the summer slowdown and made it work for us.

Instead of fretting, I’m all about enjoying my quiet time, staying semi-productive, and making the most of busy periods later in the year.

Here’s how I plan for a low-work summer.

Put in overtime during the busier months

This will be different for everyone, but after recording my monthly income over the last few years I can see a pattern emerging and I can plan to have busier months. This is when I’ll earn more than normal, to supplement the summer months. It might mean I have to dial back social plans and work some extra evenings and weekends during these busy times, but on balance, I think it’s worth it.

Book some work in

To keep things ticking over, I’ve planned a bit of work for August. It’s not loads, but it’s enough to keep my brain in the game and get some money trickling in. I use the rest of my time to enjoy the quiet and the nice weather, and recharge for the run up to Christmas.

Get on top of other tasks

Do whatever you need to do to make your life easier when things invariably get busier again. This could be marketing, social media, portfolios, or even the dreaded tax returns. Why do you think I’m writing this blog? 😉 I’ve got the time to do it at the moment.

Stay in touch with clients

This time of year is hell for project managers because so many suppliers are on holiday (I know this because I used to be one). If you’re available to work, let your clients know, because now could be the time you can take on more urgent projects. You can be that knight in shining armour who jumps into a project when the usual translator is on holiday. They’ll most likely go back to their usual team when they can. That’s not a reflection on you, it means they’ve done their job well. You’ll be remembered for doing a good deed, and most likely be assigned the next available suitable project.

Accept that a slow summer is normal

I’ve noticed that a lot of businesses slow down operations in Q3, and lots of people in the northern hemisphere go on holiday. That means projects and decisions get pushed back until September time. It’s completely normal, and it doesn’t mean my business is going to pot.

More experienced freelancers used to tell me to stop panicking and enjoy the quiet time while I could. They were right. Enjoy the summer, because it’ll soon be time to start assisting companies with their festive content.

A day in the life of a vanslator, Jiří Toman

Welcome to DITL of a freelance translator, where we attempt to answer the question “What do translators do all day?” This week we’re asking Jiří Toman, a freelance Czech language specialist who is currently working and travelling around Europe.

A picture of the German countryside with a lake and a forest in the background.

Hi, I’m Jiri, aka The Cycling Translator. I’m a Czech language specialist for all things sport, bicycles, and computer games. I’m slow-traveling around Europe in my camper van while working full-time as a freelancer, trying to spend ¾ of the year on the road. The rest I usually spend at my base camp in Czechia.

Sport is my way of life. Translations and writing are my bread and butter. I’ve simply managed to combine my greatest passions: travel, sports, words, and technology, and made them work together. A few years ago, I co-founded a collective of bike & language experts called Cyclinguists, providing comprehensive language services for bike brands.

So how was a day in the life of a vanslator traveling with his trusty bike and guitar? Read on!

6:00 – Waking up to birds chirping in a parking lot in Kaltenbronn, Germany, in the middle of the Schwarzwald forest, where I stopped on my way from a bike trade show in Frankfurt to another one in Paris. I just wanted to escape the heat wave and do some biking and running. (Did you know that you lose 1°C with every 150m of vertical distance? I hope you’ll put that knowledge to good use when another heat wave comes!) 😉

6:20 – Getting up (rather climbing down, because my bed is in the upper part of my van), putting my clothes on.

6:20–7:00 – Converting my bedroom to living room, eating muesli, yogurt, and a persimmon for breakfast since I have no bread left. Mental note: add bread to my shopping list when I get to a supermarket somewhere.

7:00–8:30 – Translating ads for a computer game using my favorite approach: “translate and have it read to you by your computer to avoid typos.” As usual, I was alternating between sitting and standing positions. (Yes, you can have an ergonomic workspace setup in a van!)

8:15–8:20 – Brushing my teeth, cleaning up after breakfast.

8:20–9:20 – Replying to emails (including a request for a quote I received on my LinkedIn profile the day before), liking and commenting on LinkedIn posts.

9:20–9:40 – Proofreading newsletters for an outdoor equipment brand.

9:40–9:45 – Moving the van from one parking spot to another to work in shade since the sun is already getting too strong for my liking. But it’s always a trade-off… I have a solar panel on the roof, so if I’m in the shade and not sweating in my van, it generates less electricity for my battery.

Jiri's van parked in the shade

9:45–12:00 – Doing language testing of a website (for the same outdoor equipment brand). Connecting a big screen to my laptop to make the task easier.

12:00–12:20 – Checking LinkedIn, transcreating a 10-word website banner for a bike manufacturer.

12:20–14:20 – Converting living room to kitchen, cooking lunch on my gas stove (spätzle, since I’m in Germany!), eating, doing a short business video meeting, washing dishes, cleaning up, converting kitchen back into office. Wanting to eat something sweet for dessert but not finding anything in my van – another item for the shopping list.

14:20–14:40 – Post-editing a video game update article in my third working position: kneeling.

14:40–15:50 – LinkedIn, admin work, a few calls to organize replacement of an old router and cables at my base camp in České Budějovice.

15:50–16:55 – Workday is over! Using various apps and maps to find spots for sleeping for the next few nights, a supermarket, a petrol station, a water source. Planning a 10K trail run and preparing for it. Usually, I’d do something a bit longer, but since I biked some 80km yesterday, I want to take it easy.

16:55–18:20 – Running on gravel paths and wooden footways on high moor bogs, taking pictures and videos of lakes.

18:20–18:30 – Eating and drinking to replenish energy after the run, preparing my outdoor bathroom.

18:30–18:50 – Showering outside with my custom-made shower system, tidying everything away, hanging out my sweaty clothes to dry.

A picture of a van with the door open and a camping shower on the front seat with the camping shower hose poking through the window ready to be used

18:50–20:00 – Converting living room to kitchen again, cooking dinner (semolina pudding, part of which I plan to eat for breakfast tomorrow), eating, washing dishes and tidying everything away. (Because if I don’t do that, there’s not enough space in my living room!)

20:00–21:05 – Stretching, finalizing this post, exchanging messages with friends about our planned holidays in the Dolomites coming up soon. Reactivating my Couchsurfing subscription for the trade show in Paris I’m attending in a few days. (The plan is to leave my van in Strasbourg and take the TGV to Paris and back, so I need accommodation in Paris.)

21:05–22:00 – Preparing and posting a reel about the trail run I did this afternoon for my Instagram (feel free to follow my adventures there!) while lying on my acupressure mat to release tension in my muscles.

22:00–23:10 – Playing guitar and singing a bit since there’s no one in the parking lot and I’m in the mood.

23:10 – Converting living room to bed, brushing my teeth, going to sleep after some 20 minutes on my acupressure mat. Thinking that this was a good day, full of actual translation/proofreading work – I don’t usually spend that much time on it every day.

Good night and see you somewhere on the road!

A day in the life of Samuel Byiringiro

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

This week we’re asking Samuel Byiringiro, a translator and interpreter from Rwanda working with English, French, Kinyarwanda and Kirundi.

My Name is Samuel Byiringiro, I was born and raised in Rwanda, a landlocked country in the Eastern-Central part of Africa, with beautiful hills and mountains. It’s popularly described as the Land of a Thousand hills. I am a professional translator and interpreter. My working languages are English, French, French-Canadian, Kinyarwanda and Kirundi (coming up for Spanish, though still limping, hahaa). As a private consultant translator, I carry out freelancing projects in the fields of health, finance, administration, religion, etc… and I work with a company as a community interpreter (that is medical, social, legal fields). Apart from that, I do some volunteer work with networks that I am affiliated with, whereby I translate a monthly devotional from English to Kinyarwanda and interpret some live-streamed programs from time to time in the course of the month. Well, my world is centered around translation and interpretation and I enjoy it a lot because I love people so much and I am passionate about communication, which birthed my interest for languages. I always wish I could speak with everybody (funny, right?).

We can connect at:

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/samuel-byiringiro-1bbb57117

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/sam_graced_n_blessed?igsh=YzljYTk1ODg3Zg==

What is a day in my life like?

6:00am: I am up for morning devotion and prayer with a church group online. We pray and read the Bible and our rhapsody devotional to start off the day for one hour.

7:00am-8:00am: A bonus sleep 😃😀 (you will understand the why later as you keep reading), but basically, it’s because I go to bed very late most of times and I always wake up for prayer; so that’s to help ensure I get enough rest for the tasks ahead.

8:00am-9:00am: As I wake up refreshed, I have some meditation time for a few minutes, about 20 minutes. Sometimes, I can read the Bible or another book, or listen to an inspiring audio or video podcast to get my mind ready. I will then make my breakfast ready and do some clean-ups.

9:00am-10:30am: Time to check my online world and do some work as well. This is the moment I start off with my phone and check some messages on social media, check my email and also send some communications to people I may need to be in touch with. Of course, during this time, I am having my breakfast as well which varies from day to day, but my breakfast menu is usually made up of two of these: porridge, tea, milk, pancakes, donuts, bread and eggs. Today, it was oats porridge. It’s also the moment I get some things in order at home, like some undone laundry over the weekend if any, someone I need to check on during the week and the carry-over work I need to do something about. While at this, I might be listening to my favorite music, usually groovy gospel songs, or slow ballad worship, depending on the mood.

10:30am-12:30pm: At around this time, I am starting to think about my lunch and my office work. I get started with lunch preparations, usually simple and convenient (you understand it’s for a single guy, multitasking and working to thrive). As the food is getting ready (which usually takes 25 minutes to 40 minutes depending on the menu), I get to do some informal work that I enjoy. Today, I was working on a song and instrumental to sing at my church service this week. So, I have my lunch and chill, then start getting ready to go to work.

12:30pm-1:20pm: It usually takes me 40 minutes to get ready and leave home for the office, which usually takes 20 to 30 minutes to get there depending on the road traffic of the day. I usually get to the office 15 minutes or 5 minutes before and I get to check on my colleagues before I log into the system.

2:00pm- 4:25pm: I am on my desk and logged in online, awaiting to receive calls for duty from my clients. My clients range from healthcare providers, attorneys, judges, police officers, social workers, case workers in refugee centers and each interpretation session varies in length and kind and language pair. Imagine, the switch I enjoy, from English-Kinyarwanda, English-French and English-Kirundi, in one work session. I am ready and set for any call that might come in. While I wait for the clients online, it’s time to work on some translation projects. I have a devotional that I translate and proofread every month. As I am writing this story now, I am at the proofreading stage and today, I gave myself some break from it to focus on something else. We usually have 1 hour break time broken into 15 minutes, 30 minutes, 15 minutes segments respectively. During my break time, I usually grab a drink, usually African tea and milk with some snacks at the office. (it’s very important for this kind of work). I also do some stretches and I get to have some convo with my colleagues. Though, sometimes they are intrusive because we have different work shifts. During this session, the volume of the calls is not very high because, according to the time zone of my clients (in the US and Canada), it’s still too early in the morning.

4:40pm-7:10pm: Sometimes, the shift may change depending on the length of the last call I had before break, which may delay my break time. During this session, the volume of calls is the highest; I may receive calls during the whole shift with varying cases and languages. So, I am mostly focused on the clients online. It’s during this shift that I may require some cup of coffee to deal with Mr Sleep 😃 because he always tries to sneak in at around this time (now that his secret is known, he might change his strategy, but I got him anyway 😄😆). During this time, I am assisting patients, some who came for consultations, others for surgery, others for regular doctor’s appointments for check-ups. I also get to assist with legal procedures at immigration and refugee centers. Many times, I get to assist in social programs appointments, and facilitate the care and support of the less privileged immigrants. I enjoy this a lot and I find so much purpose in it, not leaving the interventions during court cases with prosecutors and judges. While doing this, I get to mediate, translate and advocate for different people and ensure that they are cared for in the best way possible. I get my second break for 30 minutes. During this time, I can check on my phone, answer some calls and/or messages, call some friends and chill.

7:40pm- 9:45pm is another busy session of my work shift. I still have lots of calls to work on, but they are gradually reducing. During this time, I also do some side work, like writing. I am currently writing a book as well, which will soon be published. It’s at this point that I am writing this story as well. After this, I have another 15-minute break.

09:45pm – 11:00pm: This is the last session of my daily shift. At this time, I am almost rounding off my day, taking some few calls from my clients and this is when I get to receive some clients who might extend my shift, (which I don’t always like but I am always happy to help). At this point, I am also rounding up my online work, reviewing and saving some documents worked on during the day and getting ready to go home. Since it’s already late at night, I just head straight home and I get dropped by the company vehicle.

11:00pm – 12:30am: It takes 30 minutes to get back home, of course with some stress from the day and I have to rest and refuel. I get supper and some tea and prepare to go to bed. But before this time, I may have to watch a movie, follow a sermon or check my social media to cool off my mind. At around 1:00am, I just pray and go to bed. I get my first sleep at around 1:30am and sleep off until the next morning. It may get different when I have a deadline to meet which is closing up on me. Then, I may have to stay up until 3am or 4am, then sleep until 10:00am. That’s my day.

A day in the life of Cathy Castling

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 3rd 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.

A day/night in the life of Mónica Rodrigues

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

This week’s diary is by Móni Rodrigues, who you can find here: linkedin.com/in/mónica-rodrigues-mazan-6b394031

Having been interested in other cultures and languages since an early age, I became a translator in 2001, after completing a BA Hons majoring in Translation in former ISAI (now ISAG). Years later completed a Post-Graduation in Translation Studies in the University of Portsmouth, which gave me more IT skills that weren’t available in 2001. I work from EN/FR/ES into EU Portuguese, specialising in the medical, IT and marketing domains.

I am originally from Portugal, but have been living in the UK for a few years now. I am interested in travelling, reading and cooking.

A day in my life

Days look a lot different after motherhood. I am with my baby all day, apart from when my husband has a day off. There is no more this hurly-burly of a translation after another as when before the baby arrived. And that is ok.

My day starts early, usually at 6 or even earlier when baby decides he had enough sleep. I go downstairs to prepare his milk and after he has his bottle we just stay in bed and play a little bit until 8 am. We read a book in Portuguese or Hungarian or play together with his toys. It is family time.

At 8 am husband has gone to work, my little man and I go downstairs. I start thinking about what I am going to prepare for our breakfast. I absolutely love cooking, and I start going through the recipes I have been saving on Facebook or Instagram. I do not usually replicate the recipe completely, I like to give wings to my creativity and add something different, try different ingredients and combinations. Sometimes the result is a failure, but I suppose that’s part of the process. Other times, baby throws it on the floor after just a bite, I accept that’s part of the process too.

We eat together and while he is watching Pepa Pig in Portuguese for the 50th time I go through my e-mails.

At around 11 am, it’s nap time just before lunch at around 1 pm. Lunch must be a quick fix if I don’t have any leftovers, so pasta it is 😊 pasta with different sauce and ingredients, baby friendly. The afternoon is busy between cuddles, playtime and tantrums until the baby is bathed and goes to bed at around 7 pm. When the hubby comes home after 5 pm, I can have a break and time to cook dinner, a nice dinner for the 3 of us. I have now time to create recipes or cook more elaborated meals with a pinch of love and a cup of creativity.

During all this time, I can check my e-mails and reply to e-mails. Being a translator is a little bit like being on call from 9 to 5, I suppose. My clients already know I cannot normally work during the day, so I receive requests with delivery the next day. I get the odd query or a change request that needs to be dealt with as soon as possible and that I can do quickly. I have tried to work while baby is in the crib, or even in the carrier, but it only works for 30 minutes until he starts crying. When translating, or reviewing, concentration is paramount for me. With a velcro baby I cannot work during the day, so I decided to work evenings or nights.

After the baby goes to sleep, I start my day, or should I say, my night. Sometimes I accumulate more than one job with delivery the next day and sit at my desk working until 4 am (which means some days I don’t get much sleep). I enjoy the silence of the night, my concentration is not disrupted, it is my “me time”. There is no interruption in my line of thinking, and creativity flows like water. I do not worry about anything else; the husband is there to take care of it all.

When I finish my jobs, I feel this sense of achievement and finally can rest a bit before I start again the day with my baby. The days are now longer, which means I can sit at my desk with the frail rays of a setting sun coming through my office window. It is a good start for the night ahead.

A day in the life of Rebeca Encinas

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

We’re off to sunny Spain to meet Rebeca Encinas for this week’s diary!

My name is Rebeca Encinas and I am a Spanish legal and sworn translator based in Alicante (Spain) specialised in legal translation. Most of my translation work is within the immigration and visa niche, providing sworn translation for visa, nationality and residency applications for English-speaking clients (law firms, notaries, visa agencies and private individuals). I absolutely enjoy my specialisation, since I feel I play an important role in people’s lives by easing their immigration process to come to beautiful Spain.

Web: https://legalandsworn.com/

LI: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rebecatranslation/

A day in my life:

Today, like most days, I wake up at 7:00 am and I run straight to the shower. I have about 30 min before the rest of the household wakes up, so no time to waste. As soon as I’m done, I go to the kitchen and I prepare my daughter’s “picnic” (her school snack): chopped fruits, cheese and biscuits. At 7:25 am I can already hear her waking up, so I go to the bedroom and we start the day. She’s not a morning person, so I have to be extremely positive and energetic to lift her mood.

[OK, before I continue, a bit of background about our house: Our household is a multilingual one: my husband, Roland, is Albanian, I’m a Spaniard, and we speak in English to each other (he lived in the UK for over 20 years, I lived there with him for the last 10). We moved to Spain during the pandemic, me being 6 months pregnant and moving all of our belongings from London to Alicante in an old banger, crossing our fingers that neither the baby nor the luggages would pop out of the car at any moment…– hey, never a dull moment in our lives! We moved to an old house that we had purchased in Alicante a few years back, with the plan to renovate it fully (my husband, not me, I can’t even change a bulb!) while we focus on our growing family and my translation business].

At 8:55 am we make it to the school. My daughter Amelia, who is about to turn 4 years old, attends a British preschool, with a mixture of Spanish kids and expat kids from various nationalities. She goes there 4 hours a day, which are my core working hours.

The school is just 5 min from home, so by 9:05 am I’m already at my desk. I have a busy day ahead of me: two deliveries (sworn translations for visa applications) and five other jobs booked to deliver by the end of the week. I open my spreadsheet and establish the priorities for the day and note the deadlines for the following days. Translate, translate, translate. No phone, no distractions. My time is limited so I need to make it count.

At 12:50 am I need to leave the house to pick Amelia up. I grab the pram and I make my way. She’s full of energy and so excited to tell me about her day: today they read “The Gruffalo”, went to the sand area and did arts and crafts. She also found “a diamond” in the playground (a little plastic bead she’s treasuring and won’t even let me touch it…).  

At around 1:15 pm my husband and I have lunch (Amelia has already had her lunch at school). We usually talk about the house renovation: he’s now building some bespoke sash windows which are as beautiful as they are challenging. Then he usually does the clean-up and I take Amelia to the sitting room for some “reading time” (a bit of quiet time to decompress, something we’ve introduced recently, since she quitted napping). “What are we reading today” – I ask. “Alice in Wonderland!” – she says, without hesitation. In order to keep the “English-speaking bubble” for as long as possible, I have actually researched and memorised all the key expressions and character names in English for all her favourite books. So, I dim the lights, open the (Spanish) book, but tell the story in English, the adventures of wonderland featuring the Queen of Hearts, the Cheshire Cat and the Mad Hatter.

I spend most of the afternoon with her exploring the garden: feeding breadcrumbs to the ants, picking and eating loquats directly from the tree, playing with the cats. Once outside, we use English and Spanish like a ping-pong game, naturally changing from one to another, whatever comes. As a translator, it’s absolutely beautiful to see her speaking fluently in both languages. We get in at around 5:00 pm and she has a snack, so I use the chance to reply to some e-mails.

Just before 6:00 pm Roland comes back from his workshop and plays with Amelia. He speaks in Albanian to her, and she understands him, but she usually replies in English or Spanish. I go to the office to work for another hour and a bit. I can hear Albanian in the background, such a beautiful language. I got an hour left, focus: I do two quotations for new potential jobs and I translate a couple of pages. At 7:15 pm I’m already in the kitchen cutting potatoes to put in the air fryer while I bathe Amelia. Roland has made some fish, so we’re having fish and chips tonight! At 7:30 pm, Roland has an online course about electricity, to become a certified electrician, so I take care of bedtime with Amelia. When she’s tired, she starts mixing the languages. Tonight, it goes like this:

  • At school we are playing a new game. No me acuerdo cómo se llama… Oh “Wolf catch”. Es de unos lobos, yo hoy era el “Wolf” y si “catchaba”… – she doubts.
  • “Catchaba”? What are you saying? – I ask her.
  • Catching the wolf… me catchaba, me cazaba, then otro nene becomes the wolf – she says.

Sounds like a fun game, but enough wolves for tonight. Time to sleep. At 8:15 pm I put her to bed and ask her what book she’d like me to read. She says “Alice in Wonderland”. Again?! If I was given a penny every time I’ve read that book, I wouldn’t have to translate anymore. “Pero en español” – she says. So her days ends with “la Reina de Corazones”, “el Gato de los Deseos” and “el Sombrerero Loco”.

My day is not over yet. She falls asleep and I take the chance to come to the computer to write this blog entry. When I finish, Roland will have finished his course too. At 10:30 pm I’ll go to the sitting room and we’ll watch a bit of Netflix together. Not for long, though, I’m very tired. Before 11:30 pm we’ll definitely go to sleep. And that’s another day in my life.

A day in the life of Bethan Thomas

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

This week’s diary is by Bethan Thomas, a Senior Project Manager at Planet Languages, a boutique translation agency in Farnham, Surrey. She’s also a part-time freelance audiovisual translator.

Wednesday 7 May 2025

6.00 am: I wake up unusually early. It’s already light outside. I can hear some faint rustling in the living room, and so I go to investigate. Fern the rabbit is perched on the sofa, looking nervous. Her partner in crime, Bee, leaps onto the sofa to join her. A few strands of hay cling to his fur. I realise he’s been rummaging in his digging box. They want some breakfast.

6.30 am: I usually spend an hour each morning on my freelance business. I check my emails. Since I don’t have any projects on the go, I finish some BSL homework and sign up for a client’s training course on using their new subtitling tool. I also schedule a LinkedIn post about Deaf Awareness Week.

It’s still very early.

7.00 am: I decide to do a workout that I’ve been putting off. I’ve signed up for a big run at the end of May, and I’m at the business end of a gruelling training block. Today’s session is an overs and unders run. I devour a slab of Kendal Mint Cake before I can talk myself out of it (again). It looks like the stuff you put on a fire to get it going. It has a similar effect on me. I set off. There’s a nice loop nearby that’s fairly flat and shaded. Cue some awkward trudging and a lot of whimpering. A dogwalker waves hello and tells me to keep going. I appreciate the words of encouragement, but I’m fairly sure my smile is more of a grimace.

8.15 am: I get home and hop in the shower.

8.30 am: Breakfast is a liquid one. Two cups of coffee and a banana smoothie.

9.00 am: My Planet Languages day starts. I check and reply to emails. Once I’m happy that my current projects are running smoothly, I settle in for my first task of the morning.

9.30 am: I proofread an eLearning module about the basics of watchmaking for a brand that sells fashion watches. There are a few references to “gold” that should probably be changed to “gold-tone finish”. I flag them for the client. I grumble to myself for the umpteenth time about the client’s insistence on using title case for headings. The proofread file goes off to the client. Once we get their feedback, we’ll translate the eLearning module into 19 languages.

11.30 am: Second task of the morning is to prepare a PowerPoint presentation so that it’s suitable for languages that read from right to left. It involves mirroring the layout and reordering animation sequences. It’s a task that can leave me feeling a bit dizzy, especially if the designer has gone to town on the animations. Definitely no operating heavy machinery within two hours of RTL work for me!

12.30 pm: I check that I have everything I need for an audit that’s coming up in early June. There are some missing bits of information that I need from my colleagues. I send a few Teams messages and decide to break for lunch.

1.00 pm: One of the perks of working from home is making time for a proper lunch break. I need to use up some spinach that the bunnies won’t eat. I fry some butter beans in pesto and throw in the wilting spinach, a few pumpkin seeds and some pomegranate seeds. It’s tasty and filling.

1.40 pm: I check my personal email and see a new enquiry from a client I haven’t heard from in a few weeks. Could I create English subtitles for a 30-minute German documentary? The Monday deadline makes it doable. I reply to say that I’d be glad to help.

1.50 pm: I scroll through the BBC News app on my phone, then check LinkedIn. I make another cup of coffee.

2.00 pm: I join a two-hour training session with my colleagues on Teams. Our technology lead has been testing lots of new tools, and now they’re starting to form part of our workflows. It’s a chance for us to iron out any issues and ask questions. The session ends, and I feel much more confident than I did before. My colleague has also created a flow chart to show us exactly what we need to do for which situations. It’s a thing of beauty!

4.00 pm: Quick coffee break and a glance at my personal email. I see that the video and script for the German documentary are ready for me, so I confirm the details with my client.

4.10 pm: The training session has given me a few ideas for a blog post that I’m writing for the Planet Languages website. I jot down a few bullet points and write a few paragraphs. I find myself getting lost in arty photography as I search for suitable stock images on Unsplash.

4.40 pm: An email jolts me from my image search. A new collection drop from a jewellery brand. The content needs to be proofread before translation, so I make a start right away. I want to get as much of it done as possible this afternoon, in the peace and quiet of my spare room, as tomorrow is an in-the-office day.

6.15 pm: Feierabend. Fern and Bee have fresh greens for dinner.

6.30pm: I watch the German documentary and skim-read the script.

7.45 pm: Strength class. It’s good to catch up with the instructor and the other regulars. It’s a tough workout. The weights are a bit heavier than we’re all used to. My legs feel tired.

9.15 pm: Back home. Another shower.

9.30 pm: I scroll through Instagram reels while I make a low-effort dinner: scrambled eggs in a tortilla wrap. A six-month stint living in Spain changed my eating habits forever. I rarely eat dinner before 9 pm these days.

10.00 pm: My favourite part of the day: a nice sit-down on the sofa, hanging out with Fern and Bee. I find a podcast to listen to and reach for a fleecy blanket. It’s high-risk behaviour. The inevitable happens.

Some unknown time: I wake up. Still on the sofa. I uncrumple myself and head to bed.

A day in the life of Paul Appleyard

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

This week’s diary is by Paul Appleyard, an award-winning French<>English interpreter and translator who works in a basement in Surrey and likes cheese. Let’s find out how his day went…

A day in the life of a Paul.

Not all days are the same, obviously, especially when I’m interpreting elsewhere, but here’s how I spent the last day of April.

The nights at this time of year are a complete delight. We might well live in the middle of the town, but it’s a very leafy area, with a lung of mature trees spreading right into the centre of town along the railway line. This means that nights, particularly at this time of year, are punctuated by the sounds of wildlife activity, with owls and foxes, as well as the odd badger or deer, clearly audible through the dark hours, replaced as dawn approaches by birdsong. It really brings to life the image of sleeping in nature’s cradle, and I swear I sleep better, rocked by the noises of life and activity going on around me.

More specifically, I’m quite a light sleeper, and will know if there’s a problem with the trains without even opening my eyes, simply by the sounds of the trains rattling (or not rattling) past. I’m happy to report that there aren’t any early problems on the Aldershot-Ascot line today.

I wake up properly at around seven, and then lie there, pondering, until the alarm goes off at 7:25 and delivers the overnight news horrors to my bed. I listen to them while doing the morning Wordle, always trying to get it done before daughter’s result arrives in WhatsApp, to avoid being influenced by her attempts. Once I’ve done that, I have a very quick glance at emails, to see if anything has come in overnight (since I often work with people on the other side of the Atlantic, there’s usually something there, but not today).

After listening to the news, I get up and trundle down to the kitchen. Depending on who holds sway on any given morning, breakfast is either toast and marmalade, or fruit, cereals and yoghurt, along with the first of many cups of tea. Today, it’s the end of a pain de campagne loaf, picked up a couple of days ago in Troyes, which is enjoyed while doomscrolling my usual news sources on a tablet (most regularly the BBC, Guardian, and TF1).

After depressing myself with the news, then picking myself back up by reading a couple of articles on something less topical, it’s time for a shower, before I go down to my office to take a proper look at emails. After that, I start work proper by keeping going with the current fairly substantial translation I’m doing for a regular, long-term client. It’s due next week and I’m on track.

Before too long, my thoughts turn to food (to be honest, a small part of my brain is always pondering grub in one form or another). I never plan what we’re going to be eating in advance, I like to be inspired (or not) on the day. So, at about 10:30 I set off down to the shops, to see what they’ve got in. Today they’ve got my favourite wild mushrooms at the fishmonger’s (don’t you buy mushrooms in your local fish shop?), so supper will be mushrooms and mackerel, and while I’m in there I pick up a bit of smoked salmon for lunch, which I’ll serve with a couple of boiled eggs in a salad of some sort (I might have picked up some crayfish tails too).

After lunch, I put the larger translation to one side and do a quick post-editing job. I only do them for one client, but it’s one I’ve been interpreting regularly for over the past ten years or so, which means that it’s an opportunity for me to familiarise myself with the materials I’ll be interpreting when I go to Paris next month for an assignment that takes place a couple of times a year. In short, I’m being paid to do my homework, which can’t be bad.

Uh oh, the garden is calling…

A couple of days ago, I went to the garden centre, to get a few things before the holiday weekend, so I allow myself to get distracted while I plant up the hanging baskets and a few pots, before getting back to my desk. At this time of year, on a warm day like today, my office door is open and, since it gives onto the garden, getting distracted is an occupational hazard. I’m also wondering how strictly I can apply no mow May this year, perhaps I’ll have to compromise because, after a mad growing spurt, if I wait until June, I won’t be able to reach the summerhouse at the bottom of the garden because it will be a jungle out there.

This evening, I’ve got another of my regular interpreting jobs, for somebody based on the North American east coast, so I also glance at the PowerPoint they’ve just sent through. They don’t always do so, so today is a good day! The job will be between 6 and 8pm (often finishing a little earlier than scheduled), so depending on our mood, we’ll have supper before or after interpreting.

After finishing the day’s work, I leave my office and go back upstairs into the house. It’s only a few steps (and I can also get to my office through the cellar, which is useful when it’s raining), but that short walk really separates work from home – turning the key in the lock sends a very clear message, even if the only recipient is me. It’s the little things.

At last, it’s time to relax, and we finally get to spend a little bit of family time in front of the telly, doing our favourite activity, which involves scrolling through the programmes we’ve currently got bookmarked, wondering if we can be bothered to finish something that hasn’t really grabbed us, or start something else that somebody or other told us we had to watch, before giving up and watching another episode of something that people have been talking about for ages, but which we’d managed to miss (currently, Hacks is fulfilling that role).

Back up the wooden hill at ten thirty or so and then reading until around midnight. That, in a nutshell is another day done…

A day in the life of me, Gillian Morris

A day in the life of me, Gillian Morris

I’m going to kick this series off with my own entry. Hope you enjoy!

Disclaimer: This diary is neither aspirational, nor motivational – but it is honest. Any translator will tell you that no day in our job is the same, and it rings true here. My working days consists of a mix of translation, editing, copywriting, and localisation tasks, but for the purpose of this diary, the day in the life of a translator, I’ve deliberately picked a day of translation to record.


7 am: My husband wakes me up as he leaves for work. The kids are already up and eating breakfast. I go downstairs to make a cup of tea and come upstairs to find them splayed out in my bed, watching TV. I join them to drink my tea and catch up on LinkedIn.


7.55 am: Start getting ready, applying my SPF and mascara at a leisurely pace. Then I notice the time and a frenzy of teeth brushing, sun lotion applying, hat finding, water bottle filling, and shoe putting-on commences.


8.20 am: Leave house in good time to walk my littlest child to school. We talk about the differences between slinking, skulking, and sneaking, demonstrated through improv. Doesn’t look strange to passers-by AT ALL.


8.30 am: He stings his finger on a stinging nettle while trying to find some goosegrass (cleavers) to stick on my back. I resist the urge to tell him it serves him right, and find a plantain leaf to wrap around the offending finger.


8.41 am: They’re in. Back I go down the hill.


8.55 am: Back home. It’s time to check on my sourdough, which is bubbling nicely in the fridge, and put my little seedlings out for the day. Before I even step outside, I notice a baby slug idly chewing on what’s left of my sunflower. I guess the early slug catches the sprout.


9 am: I’ve got some yogurt, seeds and fruit for breakfast. I take it upstairs to eat while I turn on and check my emails and Slack channels. I have four inboxes: personal, work, and two client inboxes.


9.10 am: Start work for real now. My first task is tiny – I just have to translate a few text overlays for a video. Then I move on to today’s main task, some speech subtitles (around 1,700 words), which needs to be delivered by tomorrow (to me, that means today). Yesterday I spent a good few hours on the first draft (using my CAT tool), and I started confirming some segments last night, so I could estimate the speed it would take to complete. This one is quite complex, and I have a couple of glossaries to consult, so I think it’s going to take longer than normal.


11.00 am: Almost there. I had a few tricky sentences that were just far too long in the English. I’ve shortened them down so viewers don’t lose track of what’s going on when reading. Make a quick cup of tea for fuel.


12.40 pm: Catch a breath. I’ve now gone through the text several times and confirmed all the segments. Once for sense and meaning, once to check I haven’t missed any words out, and once to make sure it sounds good in English. I need to have a little brain break before the final proofread, so I go to the kitchen in search of sustenance. I’ve got lots of food in the way of ingredients, but little motivation to do anything with them for lunch, so I eat an apple and a packet of crisps.


12.50 pm: Back in my cave, eating al deskio. This is a terrible habit, but because I have limited working hours, I normally work straight through 9–3 while my kids are at school, and count pick-up time as my break.


1 pm: On the home straight. I export my translated document for a final proofread in the target text. Seeing it in a different environment (to the one I’ve been staring at for hours/days ) definitely helps.


2 pm: Deliver the job. Wohoo! I now have an hour left until I have to go and pick up the sprogs (my children). There’s not really enough time to get my teeth into anything, but I read through a copywriting brief and start taking notes/writing down ideas for a job I have to do tomorrow. This ideas time, plus a night leaving my thoughts to marinate will probably mean a smoother writing process tomorrow.


3 pm: I emerge from my dingy back bedroom office and step into the squinting sunshine, looking like a newborn vole. Shuffle up the steep hill to school, trying not to pant too loudly.


3.16 pm: Arrive at the gates looking like a sweaty tomato. Instead of “Hello darling mother, how was your day?” the sprogs greet with “Can we go to the park?”


3.20 pm: Actually, the park is not a bad idea. They’re all having a great time, and I’m sat on the grass, chatting to a few mums.


4.20 pm: Time to walk home. Their boundless energy immediately starts to run thin. It’s very unreasonable of me not to have teleportation abilities.


4.48 pm: Home at last. I put the oven on and sneak upstairs to log tasks, check off my to-do list, and email everybody back while it’s preheating.


5.17 pm: The computer’s off and the sourdough’s in the oven. I get the kids’ tea (or dinner, depending on where you’re from) sorted and clean up the kitchen.


5.40 pm: I’ve just dished up when my husband has arrived home just in time to back me up with the “my chicken fell off my fork” outburst, followed by “but I don’t like the black bits” (poppy seeds, which cannot be picked out, and he knows it). Looks like someone is tired. On the plus side, the sourdough is baked and looking good enough to eat.


5.45 pm: I make a brilliant suggestion that I could perhaps crack on with some of the weeding that absolutely needs doing.


6 pm: The sun is shining and I’m plugged into an audiobook, pulling up dandelions while my husband washes and reads with the little one. They all take a turn to come over and ask me something – I have no idea what, I’m not listening.


7 pm: I come inside to wash up and clean the kitchen (again), then go into the living room and sit with my eldest while he watches rubbish on YouTube.


7.30 pm: My husband brings me a toasted sourdough sandwich for dinner and after chatting for a bit, my eldest goes upstairs to do his reading and get ready for bed.


7.40 pm: We watch a couple of episodes of ‘You’ on Netflix. My husband brings us cup of tea at the halfway point (decaf, we’re wild like that), and I eat a satsuma and a Creme egg, for balance.


10.00 pm: Shower, book, bed. I am going to regret not blow-drying my hair in the morning when I wake up looking like a startled fox. Night world.