SMLC Spotlight: Jae Marple

What did you study at Warwick?

I graduated from the University of Warwick with a BA Hons in Modern Languages (French, Spanish and Portuguese) in 2018. I’ve always loved French since my very first lesson at secondary school, while my desire and decision to learn Spanish and Portuguese at university came about through the great interest that I developed in Latin America during Geography lessons at school.

What are you doing now?

After completing my MA in Applied Translation studies a year later, I set up my own freelance translation business from my back-garden office in 2019 and I’ve been working for a mixture of direct and agency clients ever since in the areas of sport (mostly football), tourism (accommodation providers, tourist boards, etc.) and international development (NGOs and charities). The knowledge that I acquired in my language and cultural modules at Warwick equipped me with the linguistic and cultural expertise that I use every single day to produce high-quality translations. Having to hand in multiple pieces of work for all three languages every week at Warwick also prepared me to deal with ever-increasingly tight deadlines — most clients want their translations done yesterday, especially in the sports industry.

What are the key skills you learnt at Warwick that have helped you with your career to date?

For me, one of the best things about studying languages at university is that it gives you the chance to delve deeper into the cultures of the countries where those languages are spoken and the invaluable opportunity to live and work/study in other countries and meet people from all over the world.