{"id":1643,"date":"2024-10-21T09:00:11","date_gmt":"2024-10-21T08:00:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.bath.ac.uk\/on-parade\/?p=1643"},"modified":"2024-10-25T16:01:41","modified_gmt":"2024-10-25T15:01:41","slug":"parade-profile-morag-neath-ba-modern-languages-and-european-studies-1994-pgdip-in-conference-interpreting-and-translation-1995","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.bath.ac.uk\/on-parade\/2024\/10\/21\/parade-profile-morag-neath-ba-modern-languages-and-european-studies-1994-pgdip-in-conference-interpreting-and-translation-1995\/","title":{"rendered":"Parade Profile: Morag Neath (BA Modern Languages and European Studies 1994; PGDip in Conference Interpreting and Translation 1995)"},"content":{"rendered":"

Bath alumna Morag Neath is the Head of the English and Irish Interpreting Unit at the European Commission, managing a large team of interpreters and regularly interpreting a staggering five languages into English at a wide range of summits and committee meetings.<\/span><\/b>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Read on to discover how her studies at Bath set her up\u00a0to thrive in this challenging and rewarding career path. <\/span><\/b>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\n

 <\/p>\n

Why did you choose to study at Bath?\u202f<\/span><\/b>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

I was lucky enough to be able to do both French and Italian as part of my Highers at school in Scotland and was looking for a university where I could study both languages. <\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

There weren\u2019t many courses that offered Italian, and most of those that did were only ab initio which didn\u2019t interest me. <\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

I also didn\u2019t want a very traditional literature-heavy course, which is why the joint <\/span>BA Modern Languages<\/span><\/a> and European Studies really appealed. I loved the range of modules on offer and the prospect of a year abroad.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\"Image<\/a>Did you have a particular career in mind when you chose your course?<\/span><\/b>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

I knew I wanted a career with languages but, beyond teaching, I didn\u2019t really know what other options there were. <\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The interpreting taster module in the final year looked really interesting and that set me on a career path to becoming a conference interpreter. <\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Bath\u2019s <\/span>MA Interpreting and Translating<\/span><\/a> (MAIT) <\/span>(the equivalent during my time at the University being the PGDip) <\/span>has the best track record of any English-speaking university when it comes to <\/span>training interpreters to work for the EU institutions.<\/span><\/a> That\u2019s why I decided to stay on after my BA and do the postgrad at Bath as well.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Can you tell us about your experience of studying here? <\/span><\/b>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Coming from Edinburgh, Bath reminded me a lot of home, with similar beautiful Georgian architecture and surrounding nature <\/span>\u2013<\/span> but with a lot more sun! <\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

I enjoyed a lot of the sports clubs in the first year <\/span>\u2013<\/span> from kayaking to swimming <\/span>\u2013<\/span> and tried out things like jiu jitsu, but I also had a great social life which took up most of my free time. <\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Bath is a nice compact city with a lot going on, and if you want a bigger city with even more happening then Bristol is just a short train journey away. <\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Whenever I visit Bath, I always walk up the hill to the University across the fields and stop to admire the views. I love the Bath skyline walk.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Describe your career journey since graduating. <\/span><\/b>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

After completing the PGDip in Conference Interpreting and Translation (now the MAIT), I did a couple of translation traineeships with the European Parliament and Commission, along with some freelance interpreting and translation work, before getting my first staff interpreting job working for a small organisation in Brussels. <\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

I worked there for three years and then passed a competition for conference interpreters at the European Commission where I have worked ever since, becoming Head of the English and Irish Interpreting Unit almost three years ago. <\/span><\/p>\n

I work from French, Italian, Portuguese, Dutch and Spanish into English. I still work two days a week in the booth interpreting from all my languages in a wide range of meetings from summits to technical Commission committees. The rest of my time is spent managing a team of over 50 staff interpreters, and some 180 freelance interpreters, who work from the 24 official languages of the EU into English.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

How did your studies help you to develop, professionally and\/or personally? <\/span><\/b><\/p>\n

There was a large European studies component to the BA course which has stood me in good stead in my career as an interpreter for the EU institutions. I spent my year abroad at Dijon University which really consolidated my French. <\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

During the postgrad, I was lucky enough to go on a six-week placement at the European Parliament\u2019s translation service in Luxembourg which led to further placements after the end of the course.<\/span><\/p>\n

One of the great things about the postgrad, now MAIT, is that it\u2019s a joint interpreting and translation course which teaches you <\/span>both <\/span><\/i>skills; <\/span>some are better at one than the other, but they are mutually beneficial. <\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The EU and UN support the course and send trainers and examiners which is a great way to form contacts and a bridge between university and the world of work.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

What advice would you give to prospective students thinking about studying your course at Bath?<\/span><\/b>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

I can highly recommend both the BA and MAIT at Bath. <\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Despite Brexit there are still career opportunities for native English speakers in Europe and of course working for other international organisations such as the UN. <\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

If you love learning languages and want a varied and rewarding career in a multicultural environment, then conference interpreting may well be for you. No two days are ever the same; you work as part of a team, you get to travel and discover new places and you never stop learning!\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Bath alumna Morag Neath is the Head of the English and Irish Interpreting Unit at the European Commission, managing a large team of interpreters and regularly interpreting a staggering five languages into English at a wide range of summits and...<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1926,"featured_media":1644,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[124,119,133],"tags":[93],"class_list":["post-1643","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-humanities-social-sciences","category-parade-profiles","category-postgraduate","tag-modern-languages"],"acf":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/blogs.bath.ac.uk\/on-parade\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/48\/2024\/10\/Parade-profile-header-23.png","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bath.ac.uk\/on-parade\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1643","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bath.ac.uk\/on-parade\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bath.ac.uk\/on-parade\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bath.ac.uk\/on-parade\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1926"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bath.ac.uk\/on-parade\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1643"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bath.ac.uk\/on-parade\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1643\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bath.ac.uk\/on-parade\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1644"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bath.ac.uk\/on-parade\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1643"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bath.ac.uk\/on-parade\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1643"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bath.ac.uk\/on-parade\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1643"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}