Part 4 in our Summer Blog Series ”Translators Around The World”!
I am Erika Jareman Turner, I live in Portland, Oregon, on the U.S. West coast and have worked as a translator and project manager since 1998. I was always fascinated by languages, studied German at the University of Lund, mostly with the goal to go to Germany and get fluent, which I did. I never wanted to be a teacher, so I just happened to get an opportunity when Sweden joined the EU, and most of the then active translators disappeared to Brussels. There was only one university offering a program for professional translators at that time, and that was not enough to support the needs of the Swedish industry, so Lund University was the first school to offer another translators’ program and I thought it sounded interesting since it offered a possibility to work with language without having to be a teacher. After completing the program I was hired by INK Sverige in Uppsala and worked there as a translator and later project manager for about 8 years, before starting to freelance.
A typical work day starts around 7 with checking email. Since most clients are in Europe, I check if there is anything urgent I need to communicate about before they go home for the day. After that I work out, run or walk with the dog and have breakfast, before starting my actual workday. The workload has varied a lot lately, so it could be anything from an hour or two, to a 10 hour day and I work with diverse subjects from Surgical Techniques for orthopedic implants to bicycle manuals, and marketing texts.
I rely a lot on the FB group Svenska översättare. It’s a great resource for discussing terminology and other translation issues.
For the last 4 years, my husband and I have been obsessed with skate skiing. We are lucky enough to live within about an hour and 20 minutes from a Nordic skiing trail system with grooming at least 3-5 days a week and have been able to ski from November through April the last few years. In the off season, we backpack, road bike and kayak.
I suppose the big question for all translators these days is whether AI will be taking over our jobs or not. I was just about to give up and change careers when I was contacted by an agency doing work for the e-commerce industry and there is a LOT of work there. Not the most stimulating kind, but more interesting than some technical stuff I have had before. Interestingly, that is exactly what we all heard at the ATA conference last fall. I thought then that I had ”missed that train” because I am not great at marketing myself, but just like I got into the translation industry sort of by accident, this opportunity also more or less landed in my lap.
Erika Jareman-Turner
Freelance translator
The writer has previously worked as a project manager and inhouse translator but enjoys freelancing nowadays. She is based in Portland, Oregon.
In the arcticle picture we can see her hiking with family in Norway (left in the picture).