Welcome to May's CPD round-up! This is where I share a quick summary of the continuing profession development (CPD) I’ve completed during the month.

The Institute of Translation and Interpreting recommends that all members, including Qualified Members (MITIs) like me, do at least 30 hours of CPD per year. I normally end up doing rather more than that, and I normally only include subject-knowledge CPD (and sometimes some translation skills CPD) in this public summary. You can find out about the other types of CPD that the ITI recommends here and my previous summaries here.

Subject knowledge

A Decarbonised Energy System: Green Hydrogen And Storage (Chelmsford Science and Engineering Society)

Recording: not yet available

As you might expect from a pioneer of wind-power technology, Henrik Stiesdal spoke with great passion and in great detail about how we can build a green-energy future by combining renewable energy sources with the storage capacity of hydrogen (and its various derivative forms). But the most exciting thing about this talk was the sense of optimism it imparted. Stiesdal’s key message was that we have all the technology we need to make this future happen, we just need the investment and the vision to see it through. I thoroughly recommend watching the recording when it comes out if you’re feeling despondent about the future - his passion is infectious!

Preparing for the EU Deforestation Regulation (EUDR) (Soil Association)

Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yinkqVEbuOo

This was quite a technical webinar in many ways, definitely aimed at professionals having to think through the practical implications of this new legislation and challenges of implementing it. Three really interesting points came out of it for me: Firstly, if we want to get suppliers to feel more engaged in this sort of process, we need to make sure that they are getting something out of the amount of data they are required to feed in. Secondly (and related), we need to get better at integrating data collection between different certification schemes, so that producers are not having to waste time replicating the same data-gathering processes for different certifications. And thirdly, even though the UK has left the EU, our economies are still so deeply intertwined that it’s almost impossible for UK businesses to avoid being impacted by EU legislation.

Conservation covenants and responsible bodies: What they mean for landowners (RSK First Thursday Club)

Recording: https://rskgroup.com/events/conservation-covenants-and-responsible-bodies/

Arguably slightly off-topic webinar for me as a translator since the legislation being discussed is only applicable in the UK (though similar systems exist across the world), but interesting all the same. And of course, if you are an international organisation operating in, or expanding into, the UK, it is something you need to know about. It’s an interesting new development that enables positive obligations to be placed on land as part of covenants rather than simply restrictive obligations. It was, of course, a bit of a selling opportunity for RSK and their consultancy services, but interesting nonetheless!

BioRestBrennstoff: Energieeffiziente Nutzung sekundärer biogener Rest- und Abfallstoffe in Biomassefeuerungen (Energetische Biomassennnutzung)

EN: BioWasteFuel: Energy-efficient usage of secondary biogenic residual and waste material in biomass furnaces

Recording: not recorded

It seems like the idea of using biomass to produce energy is everywhere these days, from governments implementing national schemes to small modular designs intended to process agricultural waste directly on farm sites. But what this webinar showed is that when it comes to combustion specifically, it’s not as simple as drying biologic waste out, turning it into pellets or cakes and chucking it in a furnace. The material is, by its nature, non-homogenous in composition, and the undesirable components need to be accounted for when it comes to processing the materials for combustion. The webinar focused on two sources of biomass, grassland waste and commercial composting, and asked: how does the material need to be prepared to achieve maximum efficiency, and what steps need to be taken in the preparation to ensure it does not contain substances (like chlorine) beyond the limits permitted for combustion materials?

Biodiversité & CSRD : quelles méthodes et outils pour le secteur agroalimentaire et agricole ? (Agrosolutions)

EN: Biodiversity & CSRD: what methods and tools are available for the agri-food and agricultural sector?

Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?reload=9&v=_V9iiGPbtzQ

A dense but comprehensive webinar about what the process of reporting on biodiversity looks for companies, and when it will become mandatory for different companies under CSRD. One thing that always emerges from these sorts of webinars is how trying to implement a relatively simple idea like “Let’s have more information on how companies are affecting biodiversity” inevitably becomes a sprawling network of tools, standards and datasets, and above all, a nightmare for reporting organisations, particularly small ones. At any rate, it made my attempts to apply the GRI standard on agriculture to my allotment seem paltry by comparison!

Le devoir de vigilance des entreprises : cadres français et européen et implications pour les dirigeants (D&O Training Hub)

EN: The corporate duty of care: French and European frameworks and what they mean for managers

Recording: not recorded

This was a interesting introductory webinar on the legal frameworks at both the French and European levels. The interesting thing that this webinar highlighted is that France (and Germany) already have many of these legal obligations in place, but for other EU member states, the obligations will be completely new. That said, there are differences, with the EU legislation affecting a wider side of companies than current French law, and it is likely that the EU law will be implemented in France in a sort of fusion, with the new parts of the EU law being integrated but the unique features of French law still being retained.

Aufgaben und Wirkung von Green Teams (Glacier)

EN: The tasks and impact of green teams

Recording; https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G0oYjT7fM_E

There was a lot to take in in this webinar, mainly presented by ASFINAG, which oversees Austria’s motorways (autobahns) amongst things. You might not think they would be a natural candidate for a webinar on sustainability, but the speaker shared some interesting ideas about how motorways could be made at least a bit more green. One interesting aspect mentioned in passing (and I’ve seen something similar working on German texts) is the importance of noise remediation for both human comfort and wildlife – this is something that doesn’t seem to have really made it into the British conversation around sustainability.

IoT und Nachhaltigkeit

EN: IoT (Internet of Things) and sustainability)

Recording: not recorded

This webinar presented two use cases for combining hardware (especially sensors and monitors) with software in order to improve the sustainability of operations. The first looked at a company that provides monitoring equipment for water companies, using remote sensors and system models to locate leaks so that they can be eliminated. The second focused on the wider question of digital twins, which are software-based models of buildings, production lines and other complex mechanical systems, the purpose of which is to provide a way of understanding and monitoring existing systems, and therefore to identify faults and to optimise them (reduce power consumption, improve air quality, etc.)

Translation skills

Revision club

A revision club is a peer-learning exercise where a small group of translators get together to sharpen our translation skills. This normally involves one person translating a document as practice and the others reviewing it for potential improvements. It can also take the form of a ‘slam’, where everybody in the group translates the same text and then compares versions.

For this month’s revision club, we looked at a text about biophilia in architectural design, and particularly how it overlaps with, but is distinct from, biomimicry. It was one of those texts with lots of high-level concepts where you need to really understand what the author is trying to say if you’re going to translate it effectively. Another interesting element of this text was the number of extended direct quotes from an expert designer the author had interviewed. This is a challenge for translators for two reasons: 1) Because people speaking spontaneously don’t always express themselves as clearly as they might if they were able to write down and edit their message, and 2) Because it’s a bit of a balancing act trying to make the speaker sound ‘natural’ in English, without interfering too much in the way they present their ideas.