Societies, Cultures and Modern Languages

Stéphane Le Grand - in-house translator for a technical documentation service, Munich, Germany (French, German, English)

Master's degree in specialized multilingual translation, Université Grenoble Alpes (formerly Stendhal University), "Yes we can" class of 2009

After obtaining my LEA degree and returning from an Erasmus year in England, I joined the Master 2 TSM program at Université Stendhal Grenoble 3 in September 2008. I then did my end-of-studies internship in Germany, in a translation agency in Munich. It was this same office that offered me my first job at the end of the internship. My work involved translating various types of text (advertising, business, technical, etc.) from German and English into French, revising translations done by external translators and proofreading documents written directly in French. My most important activity, however, remained project management. Among other things, I was responsible for drawing up quotes for translation projects, setting up a work team and ensuring the smooth running of projects - from order confirmation to delivery of the final product, including team coordination and quality control.
After more than three years in this office, I wanted to discover another company and specialize in a particular field. Today, I work in the technical documentation department of a German company operating in the ophthalmology sector. I'm in charge of checking technical documents (user manuals and production documents) and the terminology used by the company's various departments. I also help manage translation projects. Working in parallel as a freelance translator since 2012, I regularly work with clients from a variety of sectors (my most important project in recent months was the translation of a medical book for an American allergist).
In addition to the CAT courses, which I believe are an essential teaching module for aspiring translators, the young Atlas company - a special feature of the Master's program - offers students an excellent opportunity to discover the professional world of translation. The experience they gain is invaluable when it comes to entering the world of work, and enables them to familiarize themselves with certain aspects of the profession that they might not expect, such as project management, customer relations and teamwork.
If you have any questions about this status or this way of working, please do not hesitate to contact me: stephane.le-grand@hotmail.fr

Alexandra Dupé - translator at the German Embassy in Paris (French, German, English)

DESS Specialized Translation and Multilingual Text Production (which preceded the TSM Master's degree), formerly Université Stendhal, now Université Grenoble Alpes, class of 2000 "Champions".

My first job as a translator took me to the Paris region, where I worked for over a year in a translation agency, with the well-known German company SAP as my main client. Then the University of Grenoble sent me an advertisement from the German Embassy in Paris. My application was accepted, and it's certain that the various stays in Germany I'd made during my university studies (an Erasmus year, two internships, including the long internship for my DESS in technical translation) were decisive. Of course, they also contributed to my language level.
but also enabled me to get to know German culture and mentality, which was essential for my new employer.
So, for the past 15 years, I've been one of the embassy's two translators. Working in-house allows me to take on a wide variety of tasks: translation of course, terminology, revision of my colleague's translations, but also of texts written in French by German colleagues, and occasional consecutive interpreting. In this way, I'm the real "referent" for French and French culture within the Embassy. I also enjoy a major advantage: I have access at all times to the authors of the texts I have to translate, which makes my work easier and gives it added value. The content of the texts evolves according to the latest political, economic, social and cultural news, as well as the media used (social networks were born after my studies).
The training I received in Grenoble was crucial in my career, as it taught me to adapt to all types of text, whether legal, formal, editorial or technical, and provided me with the network that enabled me to get the (dream) job I still have today.
If you have any questions about this status or this way of working, you can of course contact me via linkedin