Patrick Geddes

Question and Answer

• What is your name?
  • Patrick Geddes
• Where do you live?
  • Wellington, New Zealand
• What made you decide to become a translator or interpreter?
  • I studied languages at university and then lived in Berlin, Germany for 4.5 years. I find the mechanics of translation fascinating. It is a great mental exercise...the closest form of reading.
• List one strength that you think sets you apart from your colleagues.
  • Fluid writing style
• Name the one thing that you most enjoy in your translating or interpreting career.
  • Discussing translation conundrums with colleagues
• We all have worked on those not-so-perfect assignments. Write about one such assignment that was not ideal and what you learned from it.
  • Assignments where clients seek 'feedback' on the quality of the translation from internal staff, whose linguistic skills is questionable. Very difficult dynamic to negotiate.
• If you could go back in time to when you were just starting out as a translator or interpreter, what advice would you give to your younger self?
  • Part of the challenge with being a translator is the ongoing education of clients as to the process involved in translation and the inherent value of the translator in this process
• Name one resource – such as a phone app, CAT tool, website, and so forth – that you find especially helpful in your translating or interpreting work.
  • Google images
• What's the best book you've read this year?
  • Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn

THE #1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER

On a warm summer morning in North Carthage, Missouri, it is Nick and Amy Dunne's fifth wedding anniversary. Presents are being wrapped and reservations are being made when Nick's clever and beautiful wife disappears. Husband-of-the-Year Nick isn't doing himself any favors with cringe-worthy daydreams about the slope and shape of his wife's head, but passages from Amy's diary reveal the alpha-girl perfectionist could have put anyone dangerously on edge. Under mounting pressure from the police and the media—as well as Amy's fiercely doting parents—the town golden boy parades an endless series of lies, deceits, and inappropriate behavior. Nick is oddly evasive, and he's definitely bitter—but is he really a killer?