I became vice chair of Nordic Editors and Translators (NEaT) in the middle of that first few weeks of lockdown. Two years later, I was elected chair, and this week, after four years in post, I handed over to our new chair. For me, a key thing in positions of trust is making sure that there are new people growing into the roles, ready to take over and do things in a new way. And there are some fantastic, skilled people doing just that!
NEaT itself has grown in the 2020s. We’ve moved from being Helsinki-centric to international, with more partners and members across the Nordic region. Our annual seminar used to be called English Today. Reflecting growing understanding of the language’s role as a lingua franca, it is now called English as a Lingua Nordica (ELN). For our tenth anniversary ELN2024, we had speakers from the language councils of Denmark, Finland, Norway and Sweden. Moderating that panel about how their national languages interact with English was a highlight of my time as chair.
NEaT turns twelve this year, and on the cusp of teendom, there are likely to be growing pains. Because in the last few years, a lot has changed for editors and translators. While new members are joining us all the time, it is a reality that others are leaving the profession. The field is changing fast. More writers now use large language models instead of – or in combination with – the work of human language professionals. Tidying up poor, automatically generated output may well not make financial or professional sense. So many language professionals are moving into other careers.
New tools are also changing how we write. Editors and translators are often your first, closest reader. We can see the difference in how texts are constructed. We can feel when writing is very fluent, but not very accurate, or brimming with enthusiasm, yet actually says nothing at all. We can spot the gaps and jumps when bits of text are cobbled together from different sources. We can talk your text through with you to make it flow better and feel more like you. It’s what we’re trained to do. We know how to get the most out of language programmes, and we know when they’re not worth using. We’ve tried them all, from the first clunky CAT tools to the latest chat tools. The gaps and jumps are different, the changes we propose may be different, but our linguistic expertise remains.
So I am hopeful that NEaT will navigate our growing pains and enjoy our teenage years to the full! There are not all that many language professionals working between a Nordic language and English. Or working with English in the Nordics. We’re a small group with a large amount of expertise between us. It’s safe to say we punch above our weight, and will continue to do so.
new retreat dates – seuraavat retriitit
Ridge Writing Retreats 