Welcome

Hello and welcome to my blog “A Smart Translator’s Reunion”. In case you’re wondering where the mouthful of a name came from: my family name is Smart, I’m a freelance translator, and I live on Reunion Island, a French overseas department in the Indian Ocean.

Here are a few reasons why I started writing this blog:

• Language and translation are passions for me, and I want to share that passion with other people.
• Compared to most people, I probably have a slightly different perspective on things – I’m a long-term expat (I first left the UK in 1990), I live in the southern hemisphere on a remote island surrounded by people who don’t speak my native language, I’ve travelled enormously, and I also lived in the Far East for three years.
• I often share interesting articles and information on Twitter, Facebook and Google+, but the nature of these social networks means that information has a tendency to be lost in the mass. With my blog I’d like to spend longer on subjects I find really interesting.
• As a translator I feel it’s important to practise and use my own writing skills. How can I translate into articulate English if I can’t write coherently myself?
• Writing articles will force me to keep on learning and being curious (I know this from my experience with my other blog!).
• I’m really looking forward to interacting with readers and getting feedback.
• Branding & marketing: I’d be fibbing if I didn’t admit that I hope this blog will help me make myself known to a wider public of clients and colleagues.

The downsides:

• As other bloggers know, blogs are easy to start but hard to maintain.
• It means spending (even) more time in front of the computer instead of doing something useful like cleaning out my kitchen cupboards.
• There’s always a risk of getting plagiarised (although they say imitation is the sincerest form of flattery).

I hope you’ll enjoy my blog, and I look forward to reading your comments and remarks.