Part 1 in our Summer Blog Series ”Translators Around The World”!
My name is Desiree Tigerstrand Cox, I grew up in Germany and have been living in Kalmar, Sweden, for 9 years now. I hold both German and Swedish citizenship and translate from English and Swedish into German, mainly CSR related texts and marketing. Honestly, I don’t know when I first wanted to become a translator, but probably during my teenage years when I discovered my love for languages. Back then of course I wanted to translate books, mainly because I didn’t know much about the profession. Since my diploma in 2007, I have worked as translator and translation project manager, in-house as well as remotely, and in very different sectors from gaming to financial communication. Since I started freelancing in 2017, I never looked back. The flexibility and freedom is invaluable, especially since I recently discovered that I am autistic. With the way the translation industry is evolving, I am exploring different ideas and suggestions for extending my range of services, but translation is still my first love.
There is not really a typical working day, even though I try to keep some routines around working hours and break times. As my creativity peak is during the afternoon/evening, mornings are usually for final read-throughs and admin work. After lunch, “getting things done” can end up in hyperfocus for several hours and I have no problem working late – rather than early – if it doesn’t become a habit. Same goes for weekend work: I’d rather work a bit on a weekend with no interruption and take a day off during the week instead.
Ideally, I also incorporate some movement into my day, the gym only 15 minutes away has very flexible course times and therefore comes in very handy. Or I take a lunchtime walk and listen to a podcast.
There aren’t really any colleagues near me, so personal meetings are rare. Thankfully, I have a few good friends who are always open to talk, rant or celebrate. While Facebook certainly has its issues, there are a few groups on there that are very important for me to keep up with what’s going on. I also try to check LinkedIn regularly, though I am not very good at posting myself. A very important community for me are translation conferences as I usually come home with a lot of new ideas and motivation.
While my online experience is mainly within the translation bubble, I am also a member of a local network for entrepreneurs and try to attend networking meetings offered by the local authorities. I met quite a few interesting people there, even though opportunities to work together have been rare/fell through at the last minute. But I’m not giving up!
I’ve always been an avid reader and the piles of books I want to read only grow higher. Right now, they contain mainly non-fiction on topics like autism, feminism and inclusive language. A few months ago, I decided to go to the gym more regularly and with a clear goal – fingers crossed I’ll keep it up! I love to travel and discover new places, another reason why translation conferences are so interesting. And I just started crocheting again which is really relaxing (and stops me from snacking at night!).
As I said, I realised that I am autistic recently and was allowed to present on autism and translation at the last BP conference in Kraków. Having worked with and meeting a lot of freelance translators over the years, my theory is that a lot of us might be autistic without knowing about it and therefore are having a hard time. This is why I want to raise awareness about the topic and encourage my colleagues to look into it. There is nothing wrong with us, we just need to understand what is going on. I’d be more than happy to connect with anyone who wants to discuss this.
