Study Abroad: ‘So many more places I want to travel to’

There’s a bit of a ‘Tours theme’ emerging in these recent posts, just based on the coincidence of what articles come in and when and what we’re all up to. What is particularly fun about this all is that we’re getting different perspectives on the Erasmus exchange process, from our colleagues going to Tours to Tours colleagues coming to us and now, after Mairi’s recent post about her first impressions, Rhiannon, who is also in Tours for the semester as part of her BA Hons in French, has sent her thoughts and some great photos of her travels:

‘Bonjour,

This semester I am doing my study abroad in a place called Tours in France. It’s in a region that is part of the Loire Valley meaning that it is surrounded by history with many castles and museums which I love because there are so many interesting things about France. For example, I learned more about the French revolution and Joan of Arc when I went to Orléans and actually stood in the very spot where she once stood, which admittedly gave me chills.

Since coming here, I have managed to do a lot of travelling. We had a week’s holiday during February, and I managed to go to Switzerland, Slovenia, Austria and the Czech Republic (all by bus) which was so surreal. I had the best time seeing places that I’d never thought I would ever get to see, in particular, Lake Bled in Slovenia. The scenery was just breath-taking, and we had an amazing view of the Alps in the background. The weather also seemed to work in our favour and surprisingly it didn’t rain.

Tours itself is very nice, and I have been able to try some amazing food. There are more bakeries than I can count so it is nice to always have a selection of cakes and pastries wherever I go. There is a huge cathedral that I am always in awe of whenever I am nearby as it is simply stunning. One thing that I do love is the transport system and how efficient it is. It is so bizarre to me that a bus can actually be on time.

I am enjoying my classes at the university and have found that all my teachers are lovely and very helpful and welcoming. All of my classes are for exchange students which I do very much enjoy as I am meeting people from all over the world and have made very good friends with people from countries such as the USA, Germany, England etc.

I am now nearing the half-way point of my study abroad and it has gone by so fast. There are so many more places that I want to travel to and I am thankful that this experience has given me the opportunity to do it all.’

Many, many thanks to Rhiannon for having sent this great blog post and we hope you’re able to continue taking full advantage of everything Tours has to offer, as well as travelling well beyond the city, over the remaining months of the Semester Abroad.

 

Erasmus Visitor from Tours

As promised in the last post by Jean-Michel DesJacques, more Tours-related news here to give a little more detail about our Tours colleague, Joëlle Popineau, who will be with us in Stirling next week.

Joëlle is currently working as an Assistant Professor in Translation Studies at the University of Tours, France. She also teaches classes in juritraductology in the Faculty of Law, University of Tours. She holds a Doctorate in Linguistics on Computer-aided translation (1992) and a Maîtrise in Specialized Translation (University of Lorraine, France) (1986). Her academic interests include linguistics, translation studies and didactics. She is a fully accredited researcher at the Laboratoire Ligérien de Linguistique (UMR 7270 CNRS) and the head of CerLiCO, a French linguistics society.

Joëlle will be with us for the whole week and our final year students, as well as our Translation postgrads, will be able to benefit directly from her visit. She’ll be teaching Written Language classes on our final year core language module, focusing on translation from French to English, and she’ll be delivering a postgraduate seminar on the translation of commercial contracts to students from our postgraduate programmes in Translation. There’ll doubtless also be time for discussions with colleagues from our International Office, a visit to the Experiences of Exile exhibition that forms part of Fiona Barclay’s AHRC project (including a guided tour courtesy of our colleague, Beatrice Ivey) and plenty of scope for discussions about teaching, research and Erasmus with a wide range of colleagues.

More to follow!

Erasmus exchange / Mission Erasmus

Next week, we’re looking forward to hosting Joëlle Popineau, a colleague from our Erasmus partner institution the University of Tours, on a staff mobility exchange. More about her to follow in a moment but, coincidentally, our own Language Coordinator, Jean-Michel DesJacques has, in fact, just returned from an Erasmus staff mobility in Tours earlier this month so it seemed the perfect time for his post and some pictures:

‘As you can see from the title, the French version of this scheme seems a bit adventurous and almost secretive. Well, sorry to disappoint you but it was neither of those things. It was in fact well planned by my colleagues from the International Office here at Stirling and colleagues in Tours to whom I am very grateful, with a special mention to Magali Hassen-Orry who organised my timetable to suit the purpose of my visit. Thanks to a previous blog by one of our current exchange students Mairi, you know where Tours is, the Loire Valley and its châteaux.

It should be noted that my exchange occurred under the auspices of the Faculté de droit, the Law School. This is an important detail since the campus is outside the city but easily reached by tram (cheap and reliable integrated transport is a wonderful thing). Furthermore, the students I met and taught were not linguists. In fact English was not part of their degree per se but simply an element of the curriculum. It was fascinating to see how English for non-specialists was taught and how it was perceived by the students themselves. Le Centre de langue, equipped with everything you need to access English materials in any shape or form, plays a central part. Students were asked to work individually and in groups under the helpful supervision of a tutor for a two-hour period. I love the double-period concept, things can move at a slower pace but at the same time I feel that you can be a bit more ambitious with your aims and teaching methods. Time and a place dedicated to teaching languages made me feel rather envious.

It is perhaps self-evident but there is nothing like going somewhere else to see how things are done. I really believe in the virtue of the Erasmus exchange for staff and students. There is always something you can learn from your experience and I can’t help thinking how disastrous it would be if the Erasmus + programme were to suffer from the current political climate. This an ancient tradition from which we can all benefit. It would indeed be shameful for it to disappear from the UK’s academic landscape.

Et les gilets jaunes, alors? Well, I had to wait until my last day in Tours to see any. This was during a visit to le Musée des Beaux-Arts. There were about 15 of them, very active, asking lots of questions, marvelling at the paintings they were looking at. It was the school holidays and these gilets jaunes were about 6-7 years of age and part of a holiday camp which had organised a visit to the museum for Valentine’s day…

One final anecdote: On a visit to St. Gatien cathedral, by chance I approached a group of what my trained eye assumed to be Erasmus students listening to a talk. I was right. Our own students Mairi and Rhiannon were there, enjoying their class of histoire de l’art in the sunshine. I can’t wait to hear from them on their return.’

Many thanks to Jean-Michel for finding time amid the post-mid-semester marking to write and send us this great blog post (including that final picture of the slightly odd juxtaposition of a Tours shop window…) and more Tours-related posts to follow very soon…

‘I wouldn’t have been offered the role without French’

And last but not least in this little flurry of updates, a post from Henry who graduated with a BA Hons in French and Spanish in 2016:

‘Life after Graduation is still going well and a lot has happened since our last correspondence… On completion of my traineeship at the European Commission (I believe that is where I was last time we spoke) I faced a big question. Et maintenant, je fais quoi?

Fast forward 1.5 years – I’m now working for a company called Gartner, an American IT and advisory company, as a Leadership Client Manager. The name is fancier than the job itself but I love it. I work as a hybrid consultant / account manager looking after a very specialised portfolio of clients who are mostly based in France. So yes, French is still proving to be useful and in fact I would have not been offered the role without it.

I believe I may have mentioned this before but..  if there are any undergraduates reading this post, here’s some advice – Enjoy University, learn as much as you can and know that French or any other language you are studying and investing your time in to learn, will support you when you’ve graduated.

Personally, French has been a huge enabler in my professional career so far. The time you invest now will help you in the future.’

Many thanks to Henry for sending this great update – we’re delighted to hear life is treating you well and wish you all the best in your career over the coming months and years! We should also explain that Henry’s work has recently taken him to Miami so we thought this was a great excuse to be able to post some very sunny pictures he sent…

French at Stirling: What happened next…

And following on from Evelyn’s post about Semester Abroad in Aix, another great article by Claudia who graduated in 2012 with a BA Hons in French (the same programme as Evelyn is doing, coincidentally…):

‘I think it must be a couple of years since I was last asked to contribute and let you all know about what happens when you graduate!

I have now taken a bit of a side step from French and I am a trainee legal executive at a law firm in sunny Dorset. My days are now filled with compliance, mortgages and completions instead of language, translation and reading but the skill set I learned at Stirling is transferred daily. For example, learning to translate French literature means I can now read leases and find the key passages with ease. Whilst I did not naturally find presentations and talking in front of the class easy, I can now confidently give advice to clients and speak up in meetings and at networking events.

With the rise of social media, Facebook kindly reminded me recently that it has been 10 years since I started my degree (September 2008) and 8 years since my student placement at Limoges University (January to May 2011). Whilst it may be a while since I graduated, it sure has gone by quickly and the University prepares you well for the world of work. I can’t believe I used to whinge at a 9am start- now that feels like a lie in!

Whilst I may not use French on a day-to-day basis the skills you learn are invaluable and you won’t even realise you are doing it. Legal work is challenging and long-distance learning is tough but the studying I did at Stirling has made me focused in my future career and when I feel I can’t do something I remind myself of all those nights that I wanted to give up and go home. I’m so glad I didn’t and there is no doubt in my mind that Cristina and Aedin kept me at university.

I’m hoping to go back to France soon and explore more of the beautiful cities that France has to offer; the world is bigger than the Pathfoot building, though it may feel as thought that is your world for 4 years. Hopefully the next time I get to write a post I might be a little closer to qualification. Keep an open mind- you never know where French will take you!’

Many, many thanks to Claudia for sending us this fantastic update and we look forward to following your progress in your legal career over the years ahead! And particular thanks from Cristina and Aedin – we’re delighted you stayed!!

Semester Abroad: ‘Aix has begun to feel like home!’

The last day of our mid-semester break and it’s time to post a few updates, starting with this great post from Evelyn who is in the 3^rd year of a BA Hons in French with us and is currently enjoying her integral Semester Abroad:

‘It’s now been a month and a half since I set off for Aix-en-Provence for my semester abroad at Aix-Marseille Université. The time has flown by and Aix has begun to feel like home which I didn’t think would happen in such a short space of time!

Whilst I had applied for and been granted a room in student accommodation, I wasn’t able to move in until the Tuesday of the first week. This meant that I had to stay in a hotel for the first few nights which, whilst annoying, did mean that I spent a bit of time in the centre of town and so got to know my way around quite quickly. When I was finally able to move into the halls, I was pleased to see how close they are to the university campus and it reminded me happily of my first year at Stirling when I could roll out of bed and make it to class in half an hour! Although basic, the halls are actually really nice, as long as you like aeroplane bathrooms and not socialising with your neighbours. There are thirty rooms to one kitchen, Geddes almost sounds like a dream in comparison, and people seem to enter, cook and leave with nothing more than a simple “bonne soirée”.

The main university building is almost as much of a maze as Stirling’s Cottrell Building, but thankfully there are maps at the end of each colour-coded corridor to help you find your way. My first class was French to English translation where I quickly learnt that translating into your native language isn’t as easy as you might think! I had a few false starts with my timetable, ending up in one class where I hadn’t completed the first semester of the course and another that I was informed I didn’t have the right to be in; I was promptly asked to leave! It’s all worked out in the end though and I have a timetable of classes that are interesting and definitely developing my French!

I am very lucky to be travelling with my Stirling friend Charlotte who has family nearby in Marseille. Her family has been so kind in helping me to get settled and discover the area. This experience has brought us so much closer as friends as well as introducing us to other great people! We have a small but fun group of friends comprising other Erasmus students with whom we have explored a lot to discover the town and its culture.

There is a fair bit to do in Aix with a choice of three cinemas, lots of shops, several museums as well as multiple restaurants and bars. There are weekly parties organised by the Erasmus Student Network which give us the excuse to discover new bars and meet new people; although I have to say Aix’s IPN Club makes Fubar back in Stirling look pretty impressive! The ESN also organise cultural tours and events around Aix and Marseille which help to discover the local culture.

All in all, I am loving my time here in Aix-en-Provence and I can already tell that leaving in May will be very difficult!’

Many, many thanks to Evelyn for this great post and we hope you continue to enjoy all that Aix has to offer over the months ahead!

SGSAH Doctoral Internship for Fraser McQueen: ‘I can’t wait to get started!’

Congratulations from all of French at Stirling to our PhD student Fraser McQueen who has just found out that his application for a SGSAH Internship has been successful:

‘Doctoral internships are organised through the Scottish Graduate School for Arts and Humanities, who work with partner host organisations to give PhD students the chance to enhance their CVs by using their skills outside of academia for a fixed period of time. The programme is open to Arts and Humanities PhD students at any Scottish university.

After going through the application process, I’ve been fortunate enough to be chosen by the Scottish Parliament to work on an internship relating to this year’s Festival of Politics. The Festival, which will take place in October and of which this will be the fifteenth annual instalment, aims to stimulate and engage with public interest in politics, interpreted broadly; in recent years, it has included panel events, art exhibitions, film screenings, live music, and interventions from prominent keynote speakers including politicians, journalists, academics, and political commentators. My role will include researching panel topics and speakers, liaising with panellists and external partners, and general planning and administration of the event. Additionally, I’ll be carrying out research for various events associated with the Scottish Parliament’s twentieth anniversary celebrations. 

I’m really pleased to have been given this opportunity. Not only will the experience of working on a large-scale public engagement event be beneficial to my future career prospects, but I honestly believe that projects like this are hugely important in ensuring that people feel involved and included in national politics. As such, I’m keen to get involved and to help ensure that the Festival is as big a success as possible. I’ll be working part-time on the project, for three or four days a week over a period of several months, which will also mean that I won’t have to entirely put my research to one side during that time. This is a really exciting opportunity for me, and I can’t wait to get started!’

Thanks, of course, to Fraser for sending the post and all the best for the internship – we look forward to updates over the months ahead. And we should also add that Fraser will be giving a paper on ‘The ‘Ex-Musulman’ and the ‘Musulman Laic’ in Contemporary French Literature and Film at the IMLR’s conference on ‘Disaffiliation, Disidentification, Disavowal’ in April.

‘The difference we can make to the world through translation’

Time for another catch-up with one of our recent graduates… Alex graduated with a BA Hons in French in 2017 and the past 18 months or so have seen him return to campus in a role that he hadn’t entirely anticipated at the time:

‘It’s been a little over a year since I wrote my first post for the Stirling Uni French blog and slowly but surely I’m adjusting to life outside of university; the initial fear of beginning the “rest of my life” has gone, and working Monday to Friday is becoming the norm – it’s really not that bad!

At the time of writing my last post I was about to embark on a Graduate Scheme with Enterprise Rent-A-Car. Since then, I have finished my time there and moved on to a new role as an Account Manager at Global Voices, a translation company based in Stirling – specifically at the Innovation Park on the university campus This means a number of my lunch breaks are still being spent at the Atrium, which I’m sure will be all-too-familiar for students past and present.

Working at a translation company has so far proven to be a fantastic experience. I’ve learnt so much about translation and interpretation; when I first started, I didn’t think there was anything to it – to me, translation was translation. In reality, there are so many factors to consider that I would never have thought of before I started, and no two language projects, let alone days, are the same. The variety is amazing – I find myself dealing with everything from translations of a couple of lines in length, to interpretation at technical events with thousands of people and numerous language combinations. I also never truly realised the extent to which translation work is required for business around the world – companies large and small will spend thousands of pounds a year out of necessity getting translation work done and companies in almost every discipline – from law to life science – have at the very least some kind of requirement.

What has struck me most, however, is the difference we can actually make to the world through translation work. When I went for my interview at the company, I asked my interviewer what the most satisfying part of his job was. He told me that whilst it was a great feeling helping the clients themselves, it’s about more than just the person you talk to about their requirements – you could be helping to translate something that could save thousands of lives through medical work, or could be stopping an innocent person from going to prison. This really stayed with me as it’s very easy to forget that when you get caught up trying to get the job.

If you are considering going down a translation career path, or want to learn more about the world of translation, the University does a fantastic Translation Studies post-graduate programme and I believe French at Stirling sometimes runs taster sessions for 4^th year students who may be considering it as a future option (Cristina will confirm I’m sure!). It’s something I’d highly recommend. Of course, if you’re already confident about wanting to do translation or work in that sector then I would, of course, say that Global Voices is a fantastic place to gain experience and always looking for talented linguists and graduates. If you would like to consider this, speak to Cristina who can put you in touch with me and I’ll be happy to help.’

Many, many thanks to Alex for the great post and we’re delighted to hear that life in the world of translation is going so well!

Stirling, Kaohsiung, Aix-en-Provence…

And, following on from the update from Charlotte, another blog post from one of our 2017 graduates, Lysiane, who completed her BA Hons in French and Spanish just over 18 months ago:

‘After graduating I decided to go back to where I grew up in Taiwan. I went to Kaohsiung from January to August and studied Chinese at the University of Wen Zao and I started to teach at cram schools. It was really a self-discovery journey, to explore the real world as an independent woman and figure out what I really wanted to do with my life.

I am now living in Aix-en-Provence and I have opened a language centre with my sister. We offer English, French, Spanish and Chinese classes to everyone from the age of 3 to 100. We have conversation groups on Mondays and Tuesdays where we just chat together over biscuits and coffee. At this time of year, we have a lot of high school students who are looking for help to prepare them for the Baccalaureate. I also do private tutoring on the side so I’m teaching all the time.

Recently with my parents, we decided it might be worthwhile I actually do a Master’s degree in teaching since, if I wanted to work elsewhere in France or abroad, in the future, I would have a recognized qualification to do so but also mainly to study the methodology of teaching. I can speak the languages but teaching them is another thing. I have learnt this through experience and whilst doing my TEFL certificate online. So, this September the plan is for me to try the ‘Professeur des Ecoles’ post-grad in Toulouse and I am going to be sitting the CAPES (fingers crossed!).

Afterward, I am a little uncertain exactly what I’ll do, maybe I’ll go abroad to teach or I was even thinking of working in the world of diplomacy as the Master’s I’ll be doing opens doors to this field and to translation, too. I also think I would really like to work as a Special Needs Teacher but in order to do so, one must first be a qualified teacher so we’ll see if afterward, I can try to specialize in that. I guess we’ll find out what life has in store for me. As always, I stay optimistic and I chase all the possible opportunities presented to me while keeping a passionate and determined mindset to succeed.’

Many, many thanks to Lysiane for taking the time to send us this post and we hope all continues to go well with the language centre, and wish you all the best with the CAPES in due course, too!

Life as a Languages Graduate: Catch-up

About 18 months ago, we posted an update from Charlotte who had – at that point – fairly recently graduated in French and Journalism and had just landed a job that was about to take her to work in London. A year and a half on, we’ve been back in touch with Charlotte to see how things have evolved since then:

‘Since graduating from the University of Stirling in 2017, I have moved to London and I now work as a Project Manager for TransPerfect, an American translation company with a London-based office, and have been working there for roughly a year and a half.

When I graduated, I did not even know that project management in translation was even a career path that I could go down! As someone who has a great interest in languages, this was an interesting environment to be working in. I have discovered that there is a lot more to learn about this industry besides paper translation. I have learned about transcreation, typesetting, subtitling and so much more! Furthermore, not only have I made friends with colleagues from all over the world, I work with linguists and fellow Project Managers in places such as New York, Hong Kong and Hawaii (just to name a few)!

Project management in the translation industry can be extremely fast-paced and a great stepping stone into either Project Management or the translation industry. I hope this provides you with food for thought regarding job prospects. There are definitely opportunities to work with languages apart from teaching or being a translator, which are good options for some people, but not for everyone J.

Thanks once again to the languages department at Stirling for all the support they gave me during my studies!’

Many thanks to Charlotte for taking the time to send us this post and we hope things continue to go well with the translation project management. We look forward to more updates over the years ahead!