TATW: Jenifer from Denmark

Final part 7 of our Summer Blog Series ”Translators Around The World”!

My name is Jenifer Lloyd, I was born and raised in the American Southwest. But more than 30 years ago, I travelled to Copenhagen as an exchange student and ended up exchanging the beautiful deserts of Arizona, Texas, and California with the gorgeous green countrysides of Denmark. And in 2021, I finally became a dual citizen.

I hold a BA in English literature from the University of California, and a BA in linguistics and an MA in English and translation studies from the University of Copenhagen. After 10 years working as an in-house translator for two Danish agencies that have long since been bought up by giants in the industry, I went freelance in 2010, and in 2020, I fired my last translation agency client and transformed Lloyd Language Services (LLS) into a boutique agency specializing in creative translations, transcreation, and copywriting – leveraged by Human Intelligence.

I founded LLS because I felt it had to be possible to provide high quality translations and great service to clients and still treat freelancers with dignity. Fortunately, I found companies that agree with me, and gradually more and more clients started using us for other language combinations besides English. Now I always say “we” when talking about my company, because even though I’m a solo-entrepreneur, Lloyd Language Services would be nothing without our amazing freelancers.

When the large language models, or LLMs, first came on the scene, we lost some clients, of course, and I did a lot of research and took some courses in an effort to keep up with the times and figure out a way to incorporate AI into the business without compromising our values. But I just can’t accept the compromises on quality and creativity that come with AI, and I’ve come to realize that there is a market for human-powered translations and non-AI language solutions. So now my focus is on getting the word out to the world about why it still makes sense to use human translators.

I live in a suburb of Copenhagen and share an office in the city with two other solo-entrepreneurs in a fantastic co-working space. I try to get into the office 3-4 times a week, but don’t always succeed if I have meetings or courses or have to stay home with our dog, Clara, during the day, so we can leave her home alone in the evening instead. When I do go to the office, I take the train – to avoid traffic and parking problems, but also because walking back and forth to the stations is an easy way to get some exercise every day. And the train ride is a great chance to get some work done or just unwind with a good book or some knitting.

At work, I spend about three quarters of my time on project management – negotiations with clients, managing multilingual projects, quality control, etc. But I also want to keep my translation, transcreation and copywriting skills sharp, so I make sure to have time every day to do my own projects in US English as well.

From the very beginning, my company has been network-based. I source translators from my large network of talented linguists and I attend networking meetings and events as often as possible to build a brand and get the word out about what we (me and my amazing team of suppliers) can do. As a result, most of our clients have come to us via word of mouth. At the moment I’m a member of four business networks, ranging from a network for women business owners to a “knitworking” group hosted by my trade union. I am also a member of several professional groups on Facebook and am active on and off on LinkedIn. The focus of my messaging in these fora is on helping people understand that AI has its uses, but when it comes to reaching their target audiences with authentic communication, nothing beats human translation and copywriting.

My main professional translator network is an amazing group of Danish translators on Facebook. We used to meet up once a year or so, and some still do, I think, but most of our contact takes place online. It’s a really important network though, and a continual source of useful professional input. I think it’s vital that freelancers in the language industry form these kinds of safe communities where they can talk openly about their work, agencies, rate setting, and now, handling the impact of AI on our industry.

While the end goal of my networking efforts is to bring in new clients, I feel I also benefit personally from participating in these professional gatherings. Running a business all on you own can be quite lonely at times, and it’s important to have good people with whom you can talk strategy and bounce ideas around.

Obviously, running an agency all on my own takes up a lot of my time. But when I do get a chance to take some time off, I enjoy binging British and American TV shows (solely to keep my language skills up, of course 😉), knitting, long walks and hikes with doggo and friends, gardening, travelling, and spending time with family, especially my oh-so-clever granddaughter.

Finally, I would like to take this opportunity to thank Mili and the team at The Translator’s Guide to the Industry for reaching out and showing an interest in my work as a translator. We translators spend too much time working in the shadows of the business world. This blog is a brilliant initiative to bring translators out into the light and show the world that we’re here and to show others in our community that while they may work very much on their own, they’re not alone.