TATW: Elina from Italy

Our fourth guest in this year’s Summer Blog Series ”Translators Around The World”!

Hi, nice to e-meet you. I’m Elina, a bilingual English-Italian translator and copywriter. I was born in England to Italian parents, raised between England and Sicily, and now I’m based in Perugia, Central Italy. This means that I’ve always comfortably navigated these two languages, which has also made it easier for me to learn new ones as well (Portuguese, Spanish, and French).

I’ve always been passionate about languages and all things writing. 

When I lived in England as a kid, my grandparents would send me Italian storybooks, and I would have fun translating short snippets of those stories into English. Because, yeah, that was my idea of fun!

So, after my studies in languages and literature and a couple of related jobs later, it was only natural to turn this passion into a career, though it happened quite by chance: my sister Livia had replied to a job posting for an in-house translator here in Perugia. However, by the time they got back to her, she was no longer available, so I stepped in in her place. That was 18 years ago!

In 2010, I moved to another agency before finally going freelance in 2012. Since then, I’ve specialised in marketing, architecture and design, lifestyle, health and beauty, and tourism. More recently, I’ve also added copywriting to my services.

I start my day with a glass of water, an espresso, and a pilates session (in that order) to wake my body and mind. I also try to incorporate a long walk into the day, as I’m lucky enough to live in an area with lots of nature around. 

In my early days, I used to work long hours, including weekends, but then I learned to say no, choose projects, and manage time more wisely. Now, I try to limit my workday to 8 hours and keep the weekends to myself.

The translator community is very friendly and welcoming, as you can tell when we gather at conferences and events. I’m proud to call many of the professionals I’ve met on these occasions friends with whom I keep in touch all the time, on- and offline. I am a member of the Mediterranean Editors and Translators Association (MET), the International Association of Professional Translators and Interpreters (IAPTI), the Italian Copywriters Association (Associazione Italiana Copywriter), and several online groups for translators and copywriters.

When I’m not click-clacking away at my computer, I’m probably travelling, watching tennis or one of my favourite TV shows (usually involving firefighters and other first responders), or on the tennis court. I’m a huge tennis fan. I even played at a competitive level a gazill… (ahem!) a few years ago.

I do not accept projects involving machine-translation/AI post-editing or AI training because I’ve always been very critical (to say the least) of anything that commoditises our profession. Quite frankly, I’m sick and tired of all the slop and AI-generated images I see everywhere. Everything looks the same, everyone sounds the same, and the overall writing quality has plummeted. But what worries me most is that we’re getting so used to it that many (including professionals) don’t even notice. Not to mention the constant pressure on prices and deadlines. Fortunately, there are a few clients who demand not to use AI, but the hype around it is still too loud. It’s our job to make our clients understand that. The translation landscape has changed, but it’s up to us to protect it from total destruction.