I have attended every ITI conference since 2007, and now regard it as an essential part of my professional and social well-being. I am particularly looking forward to this year’s conference, given that (a) Newcastle is an interesting and handsome city and (b) the venue is close to my home in the Yorkshire Dales.

I have been translating chemistry related material from Japanese into English for 16 years, 6 years in-house at one of Japan’s largest chemical companies, and then freelance since 2005. I incorporated my translation business in 2013, and would encourage others to do the same.

I took a slightly unusual route into professional translation. Originally, my language education finished at the age of 15, after which I took science A-levels and then gained a degree in environmental chemistry from the University of Edinburgh. Immediately after graduating in 1991, I accepted a job in Japan teaching English as a foreign language, planning to stay for 1 year and then return to a job in the UK nuclear industry. Life in Japan, however, was unexpectedly appealing, and the 1 year soon became 7, long enough to learn the language to a fairly high degree. I’m very fortunate in that there is a great deal of demand for Japanese-English chemistry-related translation, but relatively few people qualified to do it. Work tends to find me rather than me looking for it.

When not translating chemical patents (my main field), I can generally be found walking up mountains in the Yorkshire Dales or riding my motorbike on the largely deserted roads. I’m also a keen landscape photographer.

I’m very much looking forward to meeting old friends and making new ones at the conference in April.