Newsletter
Newsletter June 2001
In the opening lines of our last newsletter we mentioned that our fourth anniversary had come and gone in October 2000 without anyone taking any notice. This year we will be celebrating the fifth anniversary of the founding of SIMCONSULT on 1st October 2001 and we have already started to plan to make this a red-letter day.
The second item in the newsletter of October last announced the creation of Interp.net., a world-wide network of 22 offices set up by AIIC members is now up and running as a portal website with direct access to all the member companies. Our plan is to extend the network even further, the intention being to make it easier to establish contact between clients and professional interpreters. We think we have come up with a well-designed portal and invite you to judge for yourself at www.interp.net.
The first conference of our calendar year was held again in January at the beginning of the millennium, a workshop on cytotoxic drugs. The team of interpreters was led by Karin Messmer. This is the sixth time we have provided interpreting services for the workshop and we look forward to many years of successful co-operation with Mr. Meier and Conevent in future.
A conference of experts on hospital administration was held in March at the European Surgical Institute with SIMCONSULT providing interpreting in four languages. This was a welcome opportunity for our colleagues to work in the lovely new auditorium at the institute, this time at a conference where the agenda was not entirely dedicated to scientific medical topics, as it usually is at ESI.
At the beginning of April we were presented with an interesting task. We were asked to put together a team of interpreters for the European Works Council Meeting at British American Tobacco, working with German, English, French, Spanish, Italian, Dutch and Greek. Languages such as Greek and Dutch are not part of our daily routine and there are not all that many colleagues working to and from these languages. When you need them of course you find they are in great demand and their schedules are booked well in advance.
At the end of April a very exciting assignment came along for Susan Fergusson-Günther. She was asked to accompany the German President Johannes Rau on a state visit to Australia and New Zealand. The trip together with a large delegation started from Berlin on board an Airbus 310 of the German air force on 30th April and ended back in Berlin on 11th May, covering 42,5000 kms with a flying time of 54 hours and stopovers in Canberra, Melbourne, Sydney, Wellington, Queenstown and Auckland and several consecutive interpreting assignments at each place. After that a brief pause for recovery was more than welcome.
On 22nd April Karin Messmer made her debut as a marathon runner during the Hamburg Marathon. She ran the 42.5 kilometre course in 4 hours 46 minutes. We are sure that running is a good way to offset the strain of working constantly in the interpreters‘ booth and you get to see cities and conference venues in various countries all over the world from a different perspective at the pace of a runner. Training is to continue doggedly so that we can expect a SIMCONSULT team to take part in next year‘s Hanse Marathon, wearing of course a blue and yellow SIMCONSULT tricot.
Thank you for taking time to read our newsletter. We look forward to contacting you again soon.
All the best from Gänsemarkt, Hamburg
Your SIMCONSULT-Team