eSense_38_July_2015

Issue 38
July 2015
Onwards + Upwards with UniSIG
►MARTINE CROLL ON HOW TO ORGANIZE A JUBILEE CONFERENCE
►GUEST BLOG ARLENE PRUNKL’S EDITING ON A TROPICAL VACATION
►INTRODUCING HI SOCIETY + MUCH MORE

IN THIS ISSUE
Editorial...................................................................................................................................................................... 2
From the EC............................................................................................................................................................... 3
Onwards & upwards with UniSIG......................................................................................................................4
Embracing English.................................................................................................................................................. 8
Six questions on organizing a conference.................................................................................................11
The sense of singing ........................................................................................................................................... 14
Making sense of the unimaginable.............................................................................................................. 16
Are forum posts contagious?..........................................................................................................................20
Language professionals and the Nationaal Vertaalcongres 2015 ...................................................24
From artist to editor............................................................................................................................................28
Editing on a tropical vacation ........................................................................................................................ 31
Lizzie Kean & the Keanmachine......................................................................................................................35
BONUS CONTENT That Witch!...........................................................................................................................38
Peeves & pleasures..............................................................................................................................................40
Hi Society.................................................................................................................................................................43
COVER PHOTO
Camilla Brokking (in red) leading excited SENSE members onwards and upwards to the 7th floor
of Park Plaza in Utrecht for the inaugural meeting of the new special interest group: UniSIG.

eSense 38 | July 2015 | 2
Editorial
by Ragini Werner
Years ago, a SENSE member emailed a query to the Society’s list forum (as it
was then, before we had sense-online). “I need to crowdsource this,” she wrote.
“What's the name for the key bit of text, often a direct quote that you extract
from an article and feature in a box?” I perked up at “crowdsource”, a word I’d
not heard before. Googling it, I found it defined in a New York Times story on
buzzwords of 2007, “Crowdsource: to use the skills or tools of a wide variety of
freelancers, professional or amateur, paid or unpaid, to work on a single
problem.”
What a good word for SENSE, I thought then, and still do now. We
crowdsource on our forum, sharing knowledge, and networking (which sounds new but in the sense of
“interconnected group of people” is from 1947). And now our communal network has spread further afield
onto social media. Like MET, SfEP and other sister organizations, SENSE is active on Facebook, with a closed
group for fun, and a public page to promote Society events like our conference. So, join us online, on our own
forum and on Facebook, join the crowd... sourcing!
Now then (my pet oxymoron) (what’s yours?), preparations for this issue – my first as eSense editor –
included thinking up a couple of new features: the Guest blog is open to submissions from both inside and
outside SENSE, and a new column, Hi Society, shines a special light on in-SENSE activities. These two changes
reflect our new scope, approved by the EC on 1 July 2015: eSense aims to provide useful and entertaining
content of interest to English-language professionals in the broad SENSE community, while promoting the
work and activities of the Society and its members.
The broad SENSE community is us, of course, plus people we work with (and for), crowdsource and
network with on LinkedIn and Facebook, and meet at events in the field; colleagues and clients. To cater to
the complete SENSE community, we’ve put an eSense button on our Home page that opens a new public
page for eSense, and that's where you'll find a link to the latest PDF. No member login is required to
download it. The online edition stays an important benefit of SENSE membership. Members will always get to
read eSense first as the PDF is published a few days after the online version has appeared. Only you have
access to the full contents of all issues. Only you can delve into the complete archives of both online and PDF
editions, going back to the very early days of SENSE News. And only you can place comments (online), so
please, go right ahead. Tell me what you like (not), and if you want to contribute an idea, submit a blog post,
share some business news, write an article, or – especially for all our editors – if you simply want to suggest
an improvement (there’s always room for that), just send me an email. But first, happy reading! ◄

From the EC
by Jenny Zonneveld
What a busy time it has been since the AGM! I should know – I’ve been trying
to get to as many SENSE events as possible. Unfortunately, I couldn’t be at all
the SIG meetings last month, but I did go to the Summer Social in July and
really enjoyed walking and talking to so many of you there. But the biggest
event of the year, where I really hope I will be able to meet everyone in SENSE
is our Jubilee conference in November. Oh wait, the Paushuize has a maximum
capacity of 150, so sign up soon now to be sure of your seat. And if you do so
before the end of August, you’ll be entitled to the early-bird discount.
We’re organizing the conference to celebrate 25 years of SENSE. That’s 25 years of making sense! I
must say, I’m really happy and so pleased to be a member of this community. Being involved again, attending
SIG meetings and other events, being on the Jubilee Conference committee, and now as Chair, has reminded
me of what I missed out on by being a more or less dormant member for several years. It’s such fun being
among like-minded people who understand English jokes and puns, as well as the trials and tribulations of
being a freelance language professional.
WELCOME TO THE EC
As you may have noticed, we’ve been rather short-staffed on the EC. For
the past two months, we’ve been asking members to volunteer. Many said
no without giving the question much consideration, but fortunately for
SENSE, a handful of people were more positive. Recently Maartje Gorte
and I met a few for a gezellig lunch at a waterside restaurant and talked
about what being on the EC involves, that it’s rewarding, and that many hands make light work. And now I’m
delighted to be able to announce that after the holiday period Wil van Maarschalkerweerd (left) and Kirsten
van Hasselt will join us on the EC. They will be sharing the duties of Secretary and Membership secretary.
Besides organizing the conference, there are many other things going on behind the scenes in SENSE
too. Apart from approving the new scope for eSense, we have reinvigorated the survey analysis team (watch
out for our report later this year), there’ll be a fantastic PerfectIt workshop in September (I’ve even
postponed my holiday so I can be there!) and occasionally I find time to bake some of those delicious
muffins featured in the previous issue of eSense. I’ll let you into a secret: if you dust the berries with flour
before adding them to the mix, they don’t sink to the bottom, and sprinkle granulated sugar on the top
before popping them into the oven for that extra crispy crust!◄

COVER STORY I
Onwards & upwards with UniSIG
by Ragini Werner
Before the day of their inaugural meeting, on 17 June 2015,
the co-conveners, Joy Burrough (left) and Camilla Brokking
simply assumed that only about a dozen members would
want to come. Both were surprised by the record turnout.
“The response to the announcement on sensenews and the forum was overwhelming,” says Camilla. “We
fielded expressions of interest from 40 SENSE members, with 27 saying they planned to come.”
“Despite no-shows and cancellations,” adds Joy, “we achieved 26 attendees: more than enough for
the brainstorming session planned for the second part of meeting.”
But before we move on to all the excitement of the meeting, let’s backtrack and recap on how this
important new SIG, with such great appeal to our membership, came about.

HOW IT ALL BEGAN
Early in 2013, Camilla opened a new thread on the SENSE forum. In it, she wrote: “I found the following article
via Twitter today and thought it worth sharing.” The link Camilla placed led to an article on the KateProof blog
written by Kate Haigh (a member of SfEP) entitled ‘The ethics of proofreading for students - an update’.
“Kate had collated a useful list of points, which I quoted, and then for comparison, I followed up that list with
the pertinent section from Australia's Institute of Professional Editors.”
Besides Joy Burrough and Jackie Senior, many other long-standing SENSE members like Michael Dallas,
Tony Parr and Charles Frink responded to Camilla’s initial post and thus ensued a lively forum discussion on
the ethical issues surrounding editing for students. “In particular,” Camilla explains, “we discussed how far
editors should go in helping non-native English speakers to tidy up their writing in the essays, theses, papers
and other texts that students have to submit for assessment.”
This thorny issue has also been discussed by language professionals in other countries (the UK,
Australia and Canada, for example), and has resulted in the development of guidelines to clarify the degree
to which editors may correct student English. “In general,” says Camilla, “the idea seems to be that editors
can correct errors in spelling and grammar, but we can’t make substantive changes with regard to the
content, logic or flow. People feel that those things are more the concern of the student’s supervisor.”
In June 2013, an article appeared in the Dutch press: Duizenden studenten betalen voor hulp bij
scriptie. The article made obvious the universities’ lack of agreement about what constitutes appropriate
language professionals’ help to students. Accordingly, students seek varying levels of help with their
academic writing, ranging from proofreading to writing instruction; sometimes even ghostwriting.
Camilla’s post on the forum soon elicited 62 responses in a lively SENSE-wide discussion.
Camilla’s initial post led to a group of interested SENSE members meeting in September 2013 to discuss the
possibility of the Society establishing a set of editing guidelines for student texts along the lines of those
already established by SfEP (UK) and IPEd (Australia). “Because Dutch universities operate so independentlyof
one another, we felt that it wouldn’t be possible to set up a national guideline, but it would be useful for
SENSE to have a set of guidelines for members.”

This was the start of the Thesis Editing Guidelines working group. Chaired by Camilla, the group
included Joy Burrough, Jackie Senior, Mike Hannay, Maartje Gorte, David Barick, Michelle Mellion, Curtis Barrett
and Fulco Teunissen. During the next 12 months, it met several times and produced three documents, all of
which are available to members. You’ll find them filed on our website under Professional Support: the SENSE
Guidelines for Proofreading of Academic Texts, the Definitions and Proofreader Tasks, and the Form to
Confirm Proofreading Service for a Student Thesis/Paper (see Thesis Editing Guidelines).
The working group submitted the guide to the EC late in 2014 and it was approved for trial by SENSE
members. Camilla notes, “We’re now gathering feedback on how people use it, so that we can refine the
documents and produce a final version.” If you have already used the guide or plan on using it, do let Camilla
know how you got on.
“Once that project was done,” she recalls, “we felt it might be a good idea to set up a new SIG, called
University SIG, UniSIG for short, for members who work on academic texts. So we announced the inaugural
meeting, and as I said before, the response was overwhelming. We had 26 attendees on the day, including a
couple of potential new members of SENSE.”
LIVELY DEBATE & UNISIG INTERESTS
The meeting was divided into two parts. The first was supposed to be a talk by Alison Edwards. Her topic,
“How and why Dutch universities have embraced English” was clearly of great interest to the audience, which
included more than ten SENSE seniors of the likes of Mike Hannay, Ed Hull and Mike Gould, whose average
years of experience in teaching academic English and/or editing academic texts would be well over 30 years
each. Alison’s introduction stimulated such a lively debate that she found herself simply chairing the chat
and unable to finish her planned talk. To make up for it, eSense gave her the chance to present something
similar (see Part II).
The second part of the inaugural meeting concerned the practicalities of the new SIG, covering the
frequency and location of meetings and potential topics for the future. Now Joy (right) picks up the thread.
“As the group was too big for us to begin the planned brainstorming session in the customary way of inviting
self-introductions, to make it easier for us to attach names to faces I used the attendance list as a register,
calling out the names and asking each person in turn to stand up.”
Moving on to SIG business, Joy and Camilla put themselves forward for election as co-conveners and
(of course) were unanimously elected. Several other business matters were also quickly dealt with. Joy
reports, “We decided UniSIG should meet about four times a year on Wednesday evenings, preferably at Park
Plaza, but perhaps with the occasional ‘field visit’. We might sometimes have a Saturday daytime meeting,
which would be easier for members living further afield to attend.”
When planning meetings, UniSIG must take two other SIGs into account: Utrecht SIG, because it also
meets on Wednesdays, and SENSE Ed, because of a possible overlap of interests. “However,” says Joy, “a few

UniSIG members who also go to SENSE Ed meetings assured us that the two SIGs serve different needs. In
SENSE Ed, teachers of academic English form a minority.”
To get an idea of UniSIG members’ shared interests, Joy asked some questions. Her “unofficial” survey
revealed a roughly equal split between science specialists and humanities specialties. Not many translate for
their academic clients, most work freelance as editors or teachers of academic writing (or combine these).
Some edit solely for students (mostly Master’s students), some specialize in editing for PhD students and
established academics.
“To see whether this is representative of the wider group,” Joy says, “Camilla and I are planning an e-
survey of everyone on our UniSIG email list. This will also allow those who couldn’t attend on 17 June to
contribute suggestions for future meetings.” If you’ve already signed up for UniSIG, watch out for the e-
survey landing in your inbox. If want to join UniSIG and do the e-survey, please email Camilla or Joy.
LOOKING BEYOND SENSE
One idea to emerge was that UniSIG could aspire to synergy with other organizations, such as EASE (European
Association of Science Editors), MET (Mediterranean Editors and Translators) and EWCA (European Writing
Centers Association). Joy says, “It’s certainly worth bearing in mind.”
The wide-ranging brainstorming concluded with a session on possible meeting topics that yielded
requests for discussions about methodology and didactics in relation to both editing and teaching. “We
ended up with a shared feeling,” Joy reveals, “that we need to educate our clients so they know what to
expect from us and what we expect from them. This led to a popular suggestion for a topic for the next
meeting: SENSE’s Thesis Editing Guidelines. Details will follow soon!”
With reminders that UniSIG has its own forum thread where members can post questions and
announcements and – hot off the press! – the new SIG has a slot in the programme of the SENSE conference,
the inaugural meeting closed and, says Joy, “we adjourned to the bar to celebrate the launch of what
promises to be a lively and rewarding SIG.” ◄

COVER STORY II
Embracing English
by Alison Edwards
Researcher, translator, editor and writer,
with a PhD in Linguistics from Cambridge
University, Alison Edwards pops up to give
talks at SENSE events, much like this talk,
which she (nearly) gave at the first UniSIG
meeting.
HOW AND WHY DUTCH UNIVERSITIES HAVE
EMBRACED ENGLISH
In 1989 Jo Ritzen, then the Dutch education minister,
proposed that there be more teaching in English at
Dutch universities. (This was the same Ritzen,
incidentally, under whose reign Maastricht University would go on to become the country’s first officially
bilingual university.) Then, as now, the arguments in favour were to connect Dutch academia with the global
academic community and to prepare students for what was becoming an increasingly international working
environment.
There was public outcry and an inquiry was launched. Ultimately, the proposal was rejected and the
position of Dutch as the prime language of instruction in higher education was reiterated. But let’s take a
closer look at the precise legal formulation as it now stands in Article 7.2 of the Higher Education and
Research Act (WHW):
Het onderwijs wordt gegeven en de examens worden afgenomen in het nederlands. In afwijking
van de eerste volzin kan een andere taal worden gebezigd […] c. Indien de specifieke aard, de
inrichting of de kwaliteit van het onderwijs dan wel de herkomst van de studenten daartoe
noodzaakt, overeenkomstig een door het instellingsbestuur vastgestelde gedragscode.

The wonderfully broadly formulated clause c, as Van Oostendorp (2012a: 257) notes, “makes the whole
article all but vacuous.” In short, the legal door to a massive switch to English in Dutch universities is wide
open, and indeed most universities have been doing their best to sprint through it.
The figures are well known: some 80% to 90% of master’s degrees are offered only in English. This
proportion is lower at bachelor’s level, but still rapidly increasing. A string of universities has followed
Maastricht University’s lead in becoming, or planning to become, officially bilingual. Numerous individual
faculties, like the university colleges, have claimed English as their only official working language. Most
academics have long had no choice but to seek publication in English: among the A-list journals there simply
are no Dutch-language journals.
So Dutch universities have embraced English – the question is, how disastrous is that, really? In June,
the NRC published a spread by the philosopher Ad Verbrugge calling for “Nederlands in het hoger onderwijs –
en geen globish” [subscription required, or sign on for 15 free articles]. It tapped into all the usual
unsubstantiated claims made by non-linguists.
This development has occurred “ten koste van de onderwijskwaliteit,” he wrote. It’s true that many
Dutch lecturers report having difficulty explaining complex topics in English and needing extra preparation
time. But what impact does this really have on student learning? Research on the Dutch situation is scarce,
but what we do know so far is that students show an initial dip in performance, which dissipates after about
a year. As for lecturers’ anecdotal complaints that students’ eyes glaze over or they don’t seem to be taking
things in – frankly, that’s going to happen whether you’re droning on at them in English, Dutch, Klingon or
whatever language.
“Wie niet zijn eigen taal beheerst, krijgt een vreemde taal helemaal niet onder de knie.” This is
another of Verbrugge’s claims, and it’s an interesting one because he purports to be calling for a more
diverse, plurilingual learning environment. And yet, perversely, claims like this betray a typically Eurocentric
conception of monolingualism as the norm. In Asia and Africa, which are vastly more diverse linguistically
than Europe, many people speak many languages, and they certainly don’t learn them sequentially. Even
bilingual kids here don’t learn their languages in neat consecutive order.
NOT ZERO SUM
Verbrugge seems to think the reason English has been allowed to infiltrate Dutch universities is because
English is the language of global academia. Never mind the fact that that’s just one reason among many. “De
meeste studenten gaan echter helemaal niet werken in de wetenschap,” he says, “maar komen terecht in
het bedrijfsleven, in het onderwijs of bij de overheid.” I can see it now: “S’okay, I’m going to work at Shell
or the Gemeente Amsterdam, so I won’t be needing English.”

eSense 38 | July 2015 | 10
But the main and most problematic claim, around which his entire position revolves, is this: “de taal
beheersing nederlands laat bij veel aankomende studenten te wensen over […] een goede beheersing
van het nederlands [is] van cruciaal belang.”
Er … well yes. No one in their right mind would dispute that. To be fair, it’s a little disingenuous to
single out Verbrugge here, as he’s by no means on his own in linking more English with worse Dutch. What all
such claims have in common is the assumption that there’s only room in our brains for one language. As
though it’s zero sum, and more of one language means less of the other.
If it’s true that Dutch students these days have poor literacy in their own language – and remember
that this is what my parents’ generation thought, what their parents thought, and so on ad infinitum – then
that’s a problem with how Dutch is taught at VWO. It’s not something you can “blame” on English.
Likewise, if students have trouble with “het zorgvuldig lezen en interpreteren van teksten, het
onderscheiden van hoofd- en bijzaken, […] het logisch opbouwen van een alinea” and so forth, as
Verbrugge complains, then that’s not because a couple of their university courses are in English. It’s because
they’re not being taught rhetoric, argumentation and critical analysis – and this, too, is a problem
everywhere. The exact same concern has been heard all over the Anglo world for years.
There are legitimate moral and theoretical questions to be asked about an unscrutinized switch to
English in Dutch higher education and legitimate concerns to be raised about its implementation in practice.
But the tired old straw men Verbrugge trots out in the NRC article are not among them. It was yet another
missed chance to bring the debate to a higher level. ◄

eSense 38 | July 2015 | 11
JUBILEE SPECIAL
Six questions
on organizing a conference
by Cecilia M. Willems
Martine Croll is certainly no unknown
quantity within SENSE. But in the past year,
she has kicked her work for the Society
into high gear by masterminding our
jubilee celebrations, topped by the SENSE
conference.
Even the most dedicated SENSEr
might consider this beyond the call of
duty. But not Martine, who has waded in
with relish, as her answers to our six
questions reveal.
First of all, what on earth possessed you to take on this project? It seems absolutely
daunting. What inspired you to do it?
I was on the Executive Committee (as Programme Secretary) when we decided to organize a conference in
our jubilee year. Realizing that it was going to be a major project, and that it would help to have somebody
on the organizing committee who’d already worked behind the scenes of the Society, I took the plunge and
volunteered to organize it. But, I would like to stress that I was particularly lucky to get Joy Burrough, Daphne
Lees, Peter Smethurst, Lesley Walker and Jenny Zonneveld (yes, before she was voted in as SENSE chair!) on
board. They’ve made organizing the conference a whole lot less daunting!
How much time have you spent working on the jubilee? Has it impacted your work or
personal life, for example?
Of course, as these things go, you always end up spending more time than you had hoped you would. Yes, it
has been a battle (and still is) to combine my regular work with getting stuff done conference-wise. But the
nice thing about doing this type of work is that you get to see and speak to loads of interesting people. I love
thinking up suitable subjects, themes, speakers or whatever. And of course, I’m delighted that numerous

eSense 38 | July 2015 | 12
SENSE members have submitted wonderful conference proposals. It’s so nice to see that so many members
are willing to share their skills and know-how!
How did you start? Was it a question of picking a theme or did you first get to grips with
the physical logistics?
The kick-off was a leisurely lunch at my home: sitting out on the veranda on a beautiful summer day.
Basically, we brainstormed about everything that came to mind (which is probably the definition of
brainstorming!). We did think of using a specific theme, but since our membership is so varied – with editors,
translators, teachers, copywriters and more – we chose to keep it general and call it SENSE Conference for
English-Language Professionals. That means we can include something of interest for everyone. And I think
we have succeeded in that respect: besides two brilliant keynote speakers, there’s a panel discussion on our
role as gatekeepers of the English language, and morning and afternoon sessions varying from “hard core”
editing for clients in academia to how singing can help you become an even better language professional.
What’s been the most challenging part of the project so far?
For me personally, it’s the nitty-gritty organizational stuff. I tend to be chaotic. That’s where teamwork comes
in! Other members of the Jubilee Committee have been wonderful at keeping lists and chasing after things
that need to be chased after. Basically, it’s only possible to organize a conference like this one if everybody
does his or her job and is willing to chip in when and where they are needed. And having said that, that’s
probably also one of the hardest parts for all of us: combining jubilee conference stuff with our regular work!
The Jubilee Committee is extremely keen to make it a professional, worthwhile and well-organized
conference, but there are only so many hours in a day and so much to do….
Martine (left) and the other, super-efficient members of the Jubilee Committee (l-r):
Daphne Lees, Peter Smethurst, Joy Burrough, Jenny Zonneveld and Lesley Walker.
Are you happy with the way things are shaping up? Have you had any major setbacks?
Yes, we did have a setback. Or maybe it’s better to say that I underestimated the amount of work (time) it
would take to set up the conference pages on the website. That has been a major undertaking and is still a
work in progress. But, I’m glad we put in the effort: I’m really pleased with the result. It did mean we opened

eSense 38 | July 2015 | 13
up registration later than anticipated, but registrations have been coming in steadily! The early-bird discount is
available till 31 August so there’s still plenty of time for people to register… but don’t wait too long, because
places are limited!
What three things do you hope SENSE members will take away from the jubilee conference?
1 - I know it’s a word that is currently over-used, but I would first and foremost like delegates to go home
feeling inspired. That’s also one of the reasons why we chose the venue: Paushuize is an amazing, extremely
attractive historical building. So it’s not only that we have an inspiring programme in place, there’s also the
beautiful setting and excellent lunch and dinner.
2 - Second on my list is that delegates take home a golden nugget of knowledge. I’m thrilled that we’ve been
able to get Geoffrey Pullum and Mark Forsyth as our keynote speakers. The programme features a wide variety
of information-packed presentations from English-language experts (including many SENSE members!).
3 - Many language workers lead solitary working lives. I personally sometimes find it difficult to approach
colleagues and ask them how they solve certain issues. So, the third item on my take-away list is that I hope
the conference will be an easy way for people to meet up and share experiences. It’s so much nicer when you
realize you’re not the only one who sometimes finds work a pain (besides also being what you enjoy
doing). ◄
Don’t forget, the dinner is also for
partners, so if yours wants to come, be
sure to reserve a place for them when
you register. The conference is open to
non-members too, and if you know
someone interested in attending, be
sure to pass on the good news.
Now scroll on down for a piece
on the conference programme written
by Martine herself. In it, she explains
the background to what is bound to be
a fun and magical conference session.

eSense 38 | July 2015 | 14
JUBILEE SPECIAL
The sense of singing
by Martine Croll
Recently, I spoke to a close friend who enthusiastically told me about a personal development workshop he’d
been to. During the workshop, the participants, including my friend, worked with a small choir. The pinnacle
of his experience had been the opportunity to step in front of the entire group (singers and participants) and
conduct.
He recalled how he had stepped forward not knowing what song the choir was going to sing. This is
what happened next: “I began moving my hands cautiously and some beautiful sounds emerged. After
around 45 seconds, the piece ended and we all reflected on what had happened. I remarked that whilst the
music was beautiful I didn’t really feel connected to the group and the workshop leader challenged me by
asking whether I was actually leading them. I realized that I was actually following,
at an almost undetectable fraction of a second behind the singers.
“I tried again, deciding that this time I would be bolder and move my hands
more assertively. It was better. I felt connected and this time I was leading the
singers. But something was still missing. Then I decided to try yet again. This time
though, I told the group: ‘I’m going to be really intense, an overly dominating
conductor who will annoy you all.’ I moved my arms in what I felt like an overly
exaggerated way, stressing the timing and texture, feeling like a scarecrow in a hurricane. The choir
responded beautifully. The piece ended. It was the best of the three pieces I had conducted.”
DARING TO FAIL
Having heard my friend’s story and seeing how exhilarated he was by the experience, I reflected on how hard
I sometimes find it to make bold decisions and just go for it. What would it be like to experiment with making
things bigger? If I feel I’m operating at an 8 then I’m going to aim for a 12 and see what happens. Or by making
things smaller? If I always do things at a 5 or a 4, then I’m going to try doing them at a 2 or a 1 and see what
the effect is. Damn the fear of failure that usually stops me from experimenting in this way! Maybe a playful,
experimental curiosity will help me to regard any failures I experience as happy ones as, by failing, I will have
learnt something very valuable.
You can imagine my enthusiasm when Joy Burrough (after reading an article on how singing can
benefit your health on the ITI website) suggested we include something to do with singing in the SENSE
Jubilee Conference programme.

eSense 38 | July 2015 | 15
We’ve been extremely lucky to have found SENSE's own professional singers (l-r) Barbara Borden,
David Barick and Robert Coupe willing to give a session on how singing can provide untold benefits to us in
our work as language professionals. No, you
won't be asked to stand up and conduct a choir,
but you will be asked to sing. And, the absolute
brilliant news (say Robert and David) is that,
yes, most folk can sing. It’s just that many of us
assume we can’t and give up before we even
try. As the audience, we’ll be participating
actively in this fun session. Although it’s very
unlikely that we will be pitch perfect, at least
we’ll have loads of laughs while we graciously
fail, singing a canon together in several
languages. ◄

eSense 38 | July 2015 | 16
TECH CORNER
Making sense of the unimaginable
by Frederik Wallaart
Technologist, futurist and serial entrepreneur, Frederik (Freek) Wallaart is owner of
Sophios Exponential Technologies, Mindcraft Engineering and iVault Data Services.
He is giving a workshop on Data Privacy and Security at the SENSE conference. His
favourite occupation is “making sense of the unimaginable technology-driven
future that awaits us, and in the process, hopefully, helping others do the same.”
Frederik Wallaart got an MSc in aerospace engineering
or “rocket science” at TU Delft, then decided that space
technology was progressing too slowly for him and
moved into computing and software development.
“My talk at the SENSE conference will cover just a few
aspects of the changes brought on by the exponential
growth of disruptive computer technology.”
Sophios B.V.
tel : +31 (0)174 443112
mob : +31 (0)653 325477
email: wallaart@sophios.nl
web : www.sophios.nl
EXPONENTIAL GROWTH OF COMPUTING POWER
The avalanche of technological development we see today is actually the result of a trend that started with
the invention of the first integrated electronic circuits in the late 1960s. Since 1965, this trend has been
known as “Moore's law”, after Intel co-founder Gordon Moore. He was working at Fairchild Semiconductor at
the time and noticed that the number of transistors his company managed to squeeze into their integrated
circuits doubled every year between 1958 and 1965. Moore's law was later adapted to state that computing
price-performance doubles about every two years and, amazingly enough, it still holds true today.
Back in 1971, the race to produce the first computer on a chip was on between three R&D groups. The
military's Central Air Data Computer (CADC) won the race, followed by Texas Instruments’ TMS 1000 and Intel’s

eSense 38 | July 2015 | 17
4004. The Intel® 4004, using a then state-of-the-art metal-oxide-silicon (MOS) process, squeezed 2300
transistors on a single piece of silicon at a cost of USD 300 in today's money, approximately $0.10 per
transistor. It was an incredible piece of engineering at its time, capable of performing 92,000 operations per
second.
Now let us fast-forward through over 30 years of Moore's law to today, when in 2015 we have the
current flagship GM200 graphics processor from NVidia, with eight billion transistors at a cost of $400 or
about $0.0000005 per transistor, and capable of seven billion operations per second. Compare these two
processors and you see 40,000 times more performance and a transistor price reduction of 200,000 times.
Graph: Think Exponential / Original credit belongs to Ray Kurzweil in The Singularity is Near.
In case you’re still wondering where these seemingly crazy gains come from, it is the constant doubling, this
exponential character of the trend that keeps progress seemingly linear at the start, followed by an ever-
steeper growth. We are now at the curve of the hockey stick where change is really taking off.
THE FUTURE EXPLOSION
Think of the future consequences of this exponential trend. Today we are looking at an average €1,000
desktop computer doing 100 billion calculations per second. Around 2023, that's eight years from now, that
same €1,000 will buy you a computer that will reach the magical number of ten to the power of 16

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calculations per second, which happens to be roughly equal to the processing power of the human brain. You
can calculate for yourself what €1,000 would buy you in 2053 – it might approach the processing power of
the entire human race.
THE DRIVER OF DISRUPTION
Exponential growth of computing power in turn enables and drives the exponential growth of a number of
disruptive technologies like artificial intelligence, sensor networks, robotics, digital manufacturing & 3D
printing, digital medicine, synthetic biology, neuro-sciences and material sciences. Many of these
technologies existed in the past but their progress was seriously hampered by a lack of computing power
slowing down everything from forming theory to experimentation, and from communication to the timely
generation of meaningful products.
The emerging stratum of fast-growing computation takes these limits away and becomes the wave
that sweeps these technologies along at ever-increasing speed. Each of them is disruptive on its own,
capable of transforming economies, societies and professions, but there is another effect going on where
these technologies are now converging and cross-pollinating since information is now so easily and
abundantly generated and shared.
SOFTWARE IS EATING THE WORLD
Software is what controls all this exponentially growing computing power and its applications to disruptive
technologies. You see it infiltrating every object and aspect of our lives. The phrase "Software is eating the
world" was coined in 2012 by Marc Andreessen, founder of Netscape. It refers to his theory that a rapidly
growing percentage of economic value is captured by software-focused businesses. Today, in 2015, this is no
longer just a theory but a well-confirmed trend. We all know Google, Facebook, Amazon and Apple but there
are also Uber, disrupting the taxi branch, and Foxconn, the world's largest electronics manufacturer and third-
largest employer in the world, hard at work to replace much of its 1.2 million strong workforce with 1 million
robots.
Software business is now eating into the traditional territory of a wide range of industry sectors and
professions. Wherever it does so, it causes widespread disruption to existing business models and it eats
jobs, often in unexpected places. For example, you would think that highly trained professionals like lawyers,
investment managers and radiologists would remain outside the danger zone for some time to come, but
current trends already predict that over 80% of their work will be taken over by computers within about five
to ten years. At first glance this seems a doom scenario but it’s not necessarily so. There will be significant
technical unemployment in current professions but adapted and new professions will emerge with a better
balance and seamless fit between human creative capabilities and the tasks computers are good at. We are,
however, creating a future where everything that surrounds us will be programmable and networked.

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MACHINE TRANSLATION
If you consider machine translation today, you probably think of Google Translate or Yahoo Babel Fish and the
pretty abysmal job they do currently, compared to professional translators.
There is, however, a rather fundamental shift underway in which several technologies are converging to
create something completely different. We see artificial intelligence moving from rule-based learning and
decision-making to “deep learning” systems with a design modelled intentionally on the structure of the
human brain. These systems are no longer programmed with rules but instead “learn” from repeated
exposure to original text and the desired translation.
The idea of deep learning is not new, but in the past it went nowhere for the lack of computing power.
But, as illustrated above, that is being resolved rapidly now. Apart from Moore's law still holding, we now see
rapid evolution of chips specifically designed to model brain-like neural networks like IBM's Synapse. If you
imagine ever-faster self-learning systems like that, hooked up to the internet and learning from Big Data
stores of countless human translations, you get an idea of where it’s heading.
This points to a future where humans will work in much closer interaction with intelligent translation
systems and will do only limited editing and proofreading, lending their creativity instead into making their
translations unique.
OUR FUTURE LIES WIDE OPEN
Strange things await us, like the longevity trends we are now seeing, propelled by exponential growth and
convergence in synthetic biology, neuro-sciences, digital medicine and nano materials. Chances are that if
you survive the next 30 years you will likely live for the next 100 years too. That alone might put a different
perspective on life and what to expect from it.
Further in the future we will see more significant technological unemployment, but on the other hand,
automation and robotics will make productivity boom, so our combined wealth will very likely not diminish
but instead grow substantially.
The difficulties in the path ahead are not so technological, but more social and psychological as
people will have to redefine what is really important in their lives once work is no longer a necessity, at least
not in the way it is today. Of course, we will have to navigate inherent problems like the potential of even
more uneven distribution of wealth and the consequent social upheaval, but there will be so much to do and
learn if we manage to keep ourselves on track. These are definitely interesting times to live in.
CONFERENCE SESSION: DATA PRIVACY AND SECURITY
We wouldn’t have data privacy and security issues on the scale we have today without the exponential
growth of computing, artificial intelligence and ubiquitous sensor networks. At the same time, these issues
are only a minor part of the changes that are coming our way, so consider my talk at SENSE a nice but
necessarily limited introduction to the issues at hand. We’ve only seen the start of things to come. ◄

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Are forum posts contagious?
by Kumar Jamdagni
Previously, in Thoughts on our forum, Kumar Jamdagni
explained how it has always fascinated him that one forum
post gets more responses than another, and that one Facebook
post goes viral while another similar post is ignored. Now he
wonders, “Is attracting an audience an art or a science?”
After finishing Jonah Berger’s book Contagious, in which Berger proposes six principles of contagiousness
that products or ideas typically contain to help them spread, or “go viral”, I asked myself whether our SENSE
forum posters are doing their best to make their posts irresistible reads and getting fellow members to
respond? In other words, are their posts contagious? First, here’s a quick recap of Berger’s six principles of
contagiousness:
Source: Jonah Berger’s book Contagious, page 209.

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So let’s take a look at the SENSE forum in this light. Here’s a list of 16 posts with the most views since the
forum began and which prompted at least one post in the three months up to June 30.
Table 1: SENSE forum posts (1 April – 30 June 2015) ranked according to most views
Subject Category Topic started Last post Replies Views IR
Why are Americans giving up
their citizenship?
Open discussion 27.9.13 18.6.15 75 789 0.095
Inaugural UniSIG meeting,
Wednesday 17 June 2015 UniSIG
20.5.15 15.6.15 39 249 0.156
Registration for the 2015 SENSE
Summer Social is now open!
Society Business 4.6.15 9.6.15 11 237 0.046
Registration for Free Lecture
with Steve Schwartz open
Society Business 9.3.15 13.4.15 3 181 0.016
A recommendation for PerfectIt
proofreading software
Computer-related 14.5.14 6.5.15 12 132 0.091
Is 'horeca' an English term as
well?
Terminology 17.5.15 19.4.15 12 104 0.115
SENSE discount for Kluwer / Van
den End Juridisch-Lexicon
Resources 20.9.14 19.5.15 3 78 0.038
Meet or Meets Terminology 18.4.15 20.4.15 9 76 0.118
Hi, I'm Joyce... and Joy Unknown Introduce yourself 10.4.15 16.4.15 5 70 0.071
Made of silver OR from silver? Terminology 8.5.15 9.5.15 8 68 0.117
Advice please on subtitling
software for beginners!
Computer-related 18.3.15 9.4.15 7 65 0.108
Hello! Introduce yourself 16.4.15 20.4.15 8 64 0.125
Keukenprinses Terminology 21.4.15 27.4.15 11 62 0.178
Geridderd als officier in de Orde
van Oranje-Nassau
Terminology 10.5.15 12.5.15 11 61 0.180
Sterven in schoonheid Terminology 27.4.15 27.4.15 4 53 0.075
Client seeking volunteer for
NLEN spiritual translations
Jobs 31.3.15 01.4.15 2 53 0.038
IR = Interaction ratio or replies per view
A quick perusal produces an interesting observation: the top post in terms of total views (and total replies),
“Why are Americans giving up their citizenship?”, immediately illustrates the power of Berger’s theory.
It has Social Currency because it makes people feel like insiders. We feel as though we’re being let in on a
secret. It Triggers people because a fair number of SENSE members have American citizenship. But it also

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arouses the interest of non-US citizens since UK citizens will want to know if it may affect them too. It’s
packed with Emotion. Hearing that Michael Dallas relinquished his US citizenship earlier this year as a direct
result of the FATCA ruling certainly woke a few people up. Nationality is a touchy issue (witness the scenes
around any major sporting event). It definitely has Practical Value as the thread contains useful information
for people in the same predicament. And we can read some very personal Stories of SENSE members
responding to the news, the actions they’ve taken and their dealings with banks and official instances.
Perhaps the only box it doesn’t tick is that strictly speaking it’s not Public, although its ramifications do
spread into the public domain.
TERMINOLOGY AND USAGE
The “Terminology and usage” category features most prominently (six times) and this is hardly surprising
since it is one of the most popular uses of the forum. And in terms of Berger’s theory, I would suspect that the
Social Currency aspect is the most relevant: Answering a query gives the writer the opportunity to
demonstrate their knowledge and willingness to help, as well as providing Practical Value. On a lighter note,
emotions can run high if a heated debate ensues involving conflicting opinions…
Table 2: For sale, rent, exchange
Of course, simply looking at views will not give us the whole picture. The idea of a forum is to generate
discussion, debate, interaction.And the interaction aspect often disappoints. Obviously, a post announcing a

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course or workshop including a link to the registration form will not result in any discussion (IR 0.046). But a
call for help will usually generate more interest as in the case of “Advice please on subtitling software for
beginners!” (IR 0.108).
One observation I have on the forum in general: it never ceases to amaze me how few views the items
in the “For sale, rent, exchange” category generate. Here’s the perfect place to reach a potentially interested
audience and yet with all the hundreds of forum subscribers we have, the number of views rarely climbs
above the 20 mark. And of course, these will rarely be unique views so the absolute reach is even poorer. If
we focus on actual replies (10 out of the top 17 – not all depicted here – got no response at all) the situation
is direr still, while the opportunity to exploit all six of Berger’s aspects is fully present.
The fact that only eight items have been posted this year also raises questions of whether other
channels (social media) are more suited to making maximum use of the knowledge and expertise of SENSE
members.
While you’re relaxing in your holiday location of choice and you have a few minutes to spare, perhaps
an interesting exercise would be to analyse a few other posts in terms of their contagiousness. I’m curious to
know what you come up with. ◄

eSense 38 | July 2015 | 24
REVIEW
Language professionals and the
Nationaal Vertaalcongres 2015
by Cecilia M. Willems
Every other year, translators travel to
Amersfoort from across the Netherlands for
the Nationaal Vertaalcongres. Teamwork’s
dynamic duo are members of SENSE. Marcel
Lemmens (left) and Tony Parr, always come up
with an informative programme. This year was
no exception.
By tradition, Teamwork divided the full-day conference
programme into two halves. The morning programme was
devoted to “Language in transition”: what are the latest trends
in Dutch usage and style, and are translators keeping up or
digging in our heels? As always, a series of interesting speakers
highlighted different aspects of the theme.
The first, Joop van der Horst, addressed the Europe-wide fear of deteriorating standards in language.
Our Renaissance forebears began to standardize spelling and grammar because they feared Tower of Babel-
style social breakdown. Today, written communication is being usurped by other media, making
standardization superfluous. Standards are indeed “declining” and the barriers between languages and
regional dialects are tumbling down. We are returning to a pre-Renaissance scenario when strictly delineated
languages did not exist, Van der Horst claims.
SIGNS OF A “PLAIN DUTCH” MOVEMENT?
Speaker 2 was Linda Seewald of ING’s corporate communications department. Anyone who’s been in the
Netherlands for 20 years or so will have seen some startling changes in the way Postbank/ING Bank

eSense 38 | July 2015 | 25
communicates with its customers. Seewald explained how the transformation from Postbank to ING and the
shift in corporate identity and mission also sparked a change in the organization’s style of communication.
The new tone of voice is clear and easy (simple words, short sentences), empathetic (personal, tells a story),
positive (upbeat, pro-active), and no-nonsense (plain-speaking, specific, to the point) – changes that took a
lot of brainstorming and rethinking (and that also met with some resistance).
Speaker 3, Janneke Boerman, is a lawyer who is passionate about what can be described as Plain
Dutch in legal documents. She is developing a set of standards for comprehensible legal documents using
visual elements, not only so that laymen can understand them, but also to remove ambiguities that even the
courts sometimes have trouble deciphering. Her argument is that lawyers desperately need feedback from
language experts about the readability and comprehensibility of their texts.
THEORY AND PRACTICE
After the lunch break – with well over 200 translators gulping their food down to leave their mouths free to
chatter – the conference reconvened for the afternoon programme and a new theme: “Professionalism and
the translation market”.
Conference photos: Regardz
Not one but two speakers kicked off the second session: Fedde van Santen, associate professor of applied
translation at ITV Hogeschool, and Gys-Walt van Egdom, instructor and researcher at Zuyd Hogeschool
(Vertaalacademie Maastricht) and Vrije Universiteit Brussel, who asked “What does translation studies have to
offer professional translators?” They listed some of the practical benefits of translation research: it helps
translators understand where the translation process goes wrong; it provides systems for evaluating
translation quality; it examines what the industry actually needs; and it develops practical strategies for
identifying and dealing with specific translation problems, so that translators make conscious choices.

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MYSTERY SHOPPER
Teamwork wouldn’t be Teamwork if Tony and Marcel didn’t come up with some eye-opening research
themselves, with results sure to surprise (if not shock) their audience. The next speaker was part of their
latest plot: Harry Heithuis, a marketing and communications specialist. Teamwork asked Harry to be their
“mystery shopper”, i.e. to find an agency for a translation. Unfamiliar with the translation market, he took a
critical look at how translation agencies market themselves on the web and elsewhere, and came away
dismayed. For example, there were countless sites claiming to translate for rock-bottom prices; the taglines
and slogans were unoriginal and obvious; websites featured unrelated Twitter messages and impersonal
stock photographs.
Harry next sent emails to 50 agencies asking for a quote to translate a 450-word marketing text into
French, English and German. In two days, he received nine responses and 42 quotations, citing prices ranging
from €72.50 to €300 for the lot. Of the 42, only 16 followed up on their quote (one after a seven-week delay);
26 did not bother. Harry Heithuis’s overall assessment was a definite thumbs-down.
MURMURS AND GASPS
But Teamwork did not stop there. Harry then asked five agencies (in different price ranges) to translate the
text he had sent them into English. It was, of course, a text with certain “problems”. Teamwork asked a panel
of experts – Chris Durban of The Prosperous Translator and Translation: Getting it Right fame, SENSE’s own
Mike Hannay, and Nick Tanner, owner of Nick Tanner Translation in the UK – to assess whether the translations
returned to Harry were “fit-for-purpose”. Their comments were scathing: the translations were too literal;
they had no coherence (“a collection of loose sentences”); and the translators had not used punctuation or
informal elements such as contractions to make the copy more appealing. Four of the five translations
contained real errors (typos, incorrect punctuation), and all struggled with style, collocations, register, and
generally substandard use of language. The panel judged three of the translations useless, and even the two
best – interestingly, the most expensive ones (EUR 98 and EUR 70) – barely passed muster.
There were murmurs and gasps from the audience throughout Harry’s and Tony’s presentations, and
not only about the poor quality of the translations. Many of the attendees responded with consternation
when Harry criticized agencies for competing on price. “I want a good translation, not a cheap one,” he said.
That was an unrealistic view of the market, several people responded. He had obviously touched a nerve, and
Tony Parr went a step further. “If we want to be treated like professionals, then we have to act like
professionals” – and not just pretend to.
Tony compared the claims of the five agencies in question (on their websites) with their actual
performance and found an enormous credibility gap. None had asked for a pre-translation briefing, none had
asked questions during the assignment, and none had asked for an assessment afterwards. The result: “A sad
set of translations”, in the panellists’ view.

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WELL-PAYING CLIENTS ARE OUT THERE... BUT YOU HAVE TO WORK AT IT
The next-to-last speaker of the day was SENSE’s own Ashley
Cowles, who talked about the care and feeding of direct, well-
paying clients – clients like Harry Heithuis. Ashley’s advice echoed
many of Harry’s own comments: be personal and show why you’re
distinctive; think about what clients want, not what you have to
offer; follow up on contacts; do your homework; talk quality, not
quantity; ask questions; know your own strengths and weaknesses;
invest in your skills; and ask for feedback. Ashley stressed that she
wasn’t providing a checklist or rules that guarantee success. Every
translator had to figure out what worked best for him or her.
EMBRACE THE CLICHÉS
The closing “event” of the conference was an entertaining
presentation by Erwin van der Linden of Bobotaal fame. Bobotaal is
Dutch “management-speak” – the sort of meaningless, inflated language beloved of local government and
deliberately meant to obfuscate and impress. Erwin gave numerous shining examples (my personal favourite:
“De uitlijning van de uitvoering geeft een kwaliteitsimpuls”) and advised translators to embrace their clients’
clichés and mixed metaphors, and to keep asking clients what they really mean to say. Good advice for any
translation assignment! ◄

eSense 38 | July 2015 | 28
TALES FROM THE TRENCHES
From artist to editor
by Louise Vines
SENSE newcomer Louise Vines translates
into, edits and teaches English from her
two homes, in Aix-en-Provence and
Amsterdam. She joined SENSE because her
translation and editing contacts are all in
the Netherlands. Here she tells us about
the transition she made from art to
editing
I loved dancing. When I was 15, Stella Mann, the director of the ballet school I went to said she had nothing
more to teach me. I had the choice of giving up ballet or auditioning for the Rambert School of Ballet in
London. I applied for an audition – more or less as a delaying tactic. To my surprise, Rambert offered me a
place so I had to make my first career decision. But my mother was against a career in ballet, saying all
dancers had terrible feet and health problems and I let the ballet drop. Three years later, I was considering
whether to apply for art school or go to university to do English. I went to Camberwell School of Art, studying
painting, and moved on to post-graduate painting at the Royal Academy of Art.
ART
In the 1970s, both Margret Thatcher and the British mural movement were getting up steam. My fellow art
students were intent on making art for art’s sake. I was more interested in the world outside. Recession was
gaining momentum. Outside the studio walls strikes broke out and the National Front had increasing support.
After attending an anti-racist rally close to Camberwell, I painted a large picture depicting opposition to the

eSense 38 | July 2015 | 29
National Front. A local gallery hung my painting and then removed it from the window, afraid of a racist
attack. I was rather pleased to have created a “worrying” picture. Soon after I discovered the burgeoning of
murals around London. Travelling through the city, I searched out public mural paintings. At home I studied
Mexican mural art.
My interest grew and in the final year at the Royal Academy, I completed my first mural design. Two
weeks after graduation, I was employed to set up the Brass Tacks Mural Group – a local government initiative
to reduce unemployment.
We painted murals inside and outside public buildings in the
London borough of Lambeth. Neighbourhood groups, a theatre
and a hospital commissioned the murals. We discussed the
wishes and needs of each group and presented designs
before beginning work on the painting. I developed a method
of collaborative design in which we painted coloured sheets
of paper, after which each artist cut out images to put into
the design. The paper and scissors imposed a style. One mural
in Brixton was burnt down two weeks after completion. Local
anarchists considered another mural elitist and scrawled it
with graffiti. We discussed the issues on the street and
immediately repaired the painting. After that, the mural
remained intact until Woolworths rebuilt the wall. I loved the
contact with people, which ranged from warm support to aggression. It was never boring. A year later, the
woman in our group established an independent public art group, London Wall, and we continued to produce
nine murals in paint and mosaic in public places until I moved to the Netherlands in 1992. Simultaneously, I
taught part time on the Art in Community BA at Roehampton Institute.
MOVING TO AMSTERDAM...
Love brought me to Amsterdam and I stayed because I loved it. Shortly after arriving in the city, my Dutch
lessons were repeatedly focussed on shopping for food at the market, and several of the students went into
catering. I started making organic cakes while a fellow student made savoury Indian snacks for the
Amsterdam health food shops. Carrot cake and samosas were hot favourites. After six months a band of mice
moved into the kitchen and my pocket was picked on the way home from collecting the weekly earnings.
That was enough for me to call it a day.
The next job was teaching Art at the International School in Amsterdam. My twin children were born
the following summer and I stayed at home to look after them for the first few years. Later I completed some
murals in Amsterdam, working for private clients for the first time, as well as public art projects.

eSense 38 | July 2015 | 30
...AND BECOMING A LANGUAGE PROFESSIONAL
I started editing by reading my husband’s translations. Gradually my Dutch
improved beyond shopping for and selling food so I was able to take on
translating too. In 2001, I took the CELTA course to become an English teacher for
adults. I recovered from wrongly spelling ”grammar” on the first day to pass my
certificate and begin teaching. I became a freelance English teacher starting at
the Koninklijk Instituut voor de Tropen (KIT, the Royal Tropical Institute, ed.) and
going on to teach business English throughout the Netherlands. The Dutch Police
also became a client and I began examining and role-playing at police
academies. From time to time, I took on translation as well.
As the Dutch economy declined, I found myself travelling from Groningen
to Breda to teach at all hours. This was both exhausting and disruptive at home. My marriage had ended and
the children sometimes had to get up alone and look after themselves until I returned late in the evening.
When a teaching job came up at the Hogeschool van Amsterdam (HVA), I applied. In 2009 I joined the English
staff on the Management, Economie en Recht (MER) course. It was strange working in the same building day
after day. I had enjoyed the variety of freelance work. Of course, it was good to receive a regular wage and
also to work with colleagues. Once I accepted my stationary situation, it was a pleasure to follow students
from their first year through to graduation. One of my favourite tasks was teaching the International Business
Consultancy to fourth year students. During this period, I continued to undertake occasional translation and
editing as a diversion from daily teaching.
JOYS OF THE ELECTRONIC AGE
Three years ago I got talking to the only French man at a
party in a small village in the Netherlands. We accidentally
fell in love and last summer I left the HVA to spend more
time with him in Provence. Now I divide my time between
Aix-en-Provence and Amsterdam.
The joys of the electronic age allow me to translate
and edit wherever I am while I continue to teach English in
both countries. If the student and I are far away from each
other, I give Skype lessons. Where possible, we have face-
to-face lessons.
Recently, I joined SENSE because my translation and
editing contacts are all in the Netherlands. I understand there are other “floating” members situated in
France. I’d love to hear from you and welcome contact with all colleagues. ◄

eSense 38 | July 2015 | 31
GUEST BLOG
Editing on a tropical vacation
by Arlene Prunkl
This first guest blog comes to us courtesy of Canadian freelance
editor Arlene Prunkl. Arlene believed that as soon as she found
a perfect tropical beach, she’d be in editing bliss. But when her
dream came true, it was not all she’d imagined it would be...
ONE HAPPY EDITOR
Arlene Prunkl is a member of the
Editors’ Association of Canada and
on Facebook, the Editors’ Association
of Earth. Besides polishing book
manuscripts she blogs on her own,
well-known website: Penultimate
Editorial Services.
For a dozen years, one of my biggest career dreams has been to edit books on a beach beneath sunny
tropical skies, palm trees and palapas, maybe swinging in a hammock. Well, this winter I had the opportunity
to do just that. In mid-January, my husband and I left Canada’s harsh climate for a six-week tropical getaway
to southern Mexico. Our trip began with a one-month condo rental in the rustic beach town of Puerto
Escondido. For the remaining two weeks, we were in nearby Huatulco, a more upscale, developed resort town.
IMPEDIMENTS TO PRODUCTIVE WORK
After spending a day or two getting our bearings in Puerto (as the locals call it), I tried to settle into a part-
time editing routine: morning walk, editing for a few hours, afternoons off for pool and beach, dinner, and

eSense 38 | July 2015 | 32
then a few more hours of work later in the evening. But it didn’t take long for that schedule to begin
crumbling.
1. Internet problems
Cement and cinder-block walls are the main methods of construction in Mexico. These provide a cheap,
effective way to build a home and keep it cool, since many homes lack air conditioning and only use fans.
(Wood construction rapidly deteriorates in the salt air and humidity.) But thick walls coupled with low
bandwidth are often the biggest impediment to attaining stable, reliable wireless internet.
At first I thought that poor internet connection was only in Puerto Escondido. But even in Huatulco,
the connection is slow and the signal is annoyingly intermittent, forcing one to move outdoors, into a shady
spot. Finally I can begin working, but unless there’s a power outlet or a very long extension cord handy, I have
only about an hour and a half until my battery runs out. To make things more difficult, even in the shade my
image reflects back at me in the computer screen, interfering with the text and causing me to squint.
This brings me to . . .
2. Computer problems
I knew bringing a seven-pound laptop would be a nuisance, but without buying something new, I didn’t have
much choice. Sure enough, the monster has turned out to be too cumbersome. When I posted the hammock
photo on Facebook (above), I was teased about the size of my laptop. I’ll be downsizing to a tablet for the
next trip, providing fewer laughs but more productivity.
Two other problems have been screen visibility, as noted above, and dust and sand in the keyboard.
When editing outdoors, even in the shade, a matte screen is essential. At home I have one, but on this trip we
brought the older computer with a glossy screen. On my next trip, my new tablet will have an anti-glare cover
for the screen and a dust cover for the keyboard. And a good eight hours of battery life, not one and a half.
3. The heat
The heat in southern Mexico is much more debilitating than I’d imagined. As I get older I have increasing
trouble functioning well in anything much above about 32° Celsius (89.6° F). While here in Puerto and
Huatulco the temperature is consistently around 30°, the humidity makes it feel eight or ten degrees hotter.
This constant humidity/high temperature combination is a real drag on energy, and it’s not something I’d
counted on.
4. Distractions
Besides the usual holiday distractions—shopping, exploring, dining, the beach, snorkelling, and excursions—
there were a few I hadn’t anticipated that interfered with my work productivity.

eSense 38 | July 2015 | 33
TWO VERY HAPPY IGUANAS
Iguanas. During our month in Puerto, three or four
iguanas reigned over the condo’s pool and the
landscaped grounds.
Each afternoon they’d appear like
clockwork and begin, er, copulating. Day after day,
I couldn’t stop my fascination with the iguanas in
general and this activity in particular. Who can
concentrate with a sex show going on in front of
them?
Socializing. Going out to the pool patio isn’t
usually a solitary endeavour. Other vacationers are
out here. Nobody else is thinking of work and
everybody wants to socialize. It’s all too easy to
get caught up in a conversation with some interesting person or other.
Sunset watching. It’s a regular activity down here, which zaps another half hour or more from your work day,
especially if you join all the other sunset watchers for a margarita at Puerto’s Sunset Bar. Everyone is looking
for the elusive green blip.
5. Hazards
Do not edit under palm trees. The other day, a huge coconut fell out of a palm tree from a great distance,
landing just three feet in front of me as I strolled along a sidewalk. Yikes! A seriously close brush with
disaster. I came home, did some research and learned that death by coconut is a real hazard in the tropics.
People are warned never to sit or fall asleep under a palm tree. So much for editing there.
Iguanas fall out of palm trees regularly. They scuttle up to
the top then lose their grip and plummet; my husband
witnessed this twice. Other things fall out of trees too, like
unripe almonds. One dropped on my hubby’s head. All in all, for
health and safety reasons, sitting under shady trees is best
avoided.
At the beach, wasps alight on the straw of your margarita.
They find the nectar so sweet that they proceed to crawl down
the straw, getting stuck therein. Unaware, you blissfully take a

eSense 38 | July 2015 | 34
sip of your drink, and . . . This almost happened to me. Needless to say, if a hard-working editor were to
swallow a wasp, her work for the next few hours would surely be impeded.
And don’t forget scorpions. The other morning, one of these little friends turned up in our kitchen sink,
and my reaction is best left to your imagination. Not the best way to begin the work day, suffice to say.
6. Self-discipline
This is perhaps the least expected and the most difficult thing to deal with. I am a disciplined editor. I began
the trip obsessed in my usual way with checking my e-mail and getting in a few productive hours of work a
day, despite the lure of splendid beaches, views, luxurious pool, iguanas, etc.
But gradually I found it increasingly difficult to apply myself to work, even though I’d set time aside
for it. Routine is important for work, and it’s hard to establish one in just a few weeks.
On the whole, trying to fit in beach time, pool time, exploration time, shopping, dining, socializing and
Facebook with three or four hours of work daily is very difficult. And that heat only increases lethargy and
lack of concentration.
Of course, these are hardly the worst problems an editor, writer, or anyone else could have while
trying to work on vacation. But I’ve learned that my fantasy of a professional life editing beneath a palapa on
a tropical beach just isn’t realistic, and I’ll plan my future trips to the tropics accordingly, with even more
disciplined time in a cool room or under a covered patio and with those fascinating, fornicating iguanas and
palm trees a safe distance away. ◄

eSense 38 | July 2015 | 35
OUT OF OFFICE
Lizzie Kean & the Keanmachine
by Anne Hodgkinson
A member of SENSE since last
year, Lizzie Kean is a musician,
theatre maker and translator/
writer based in Eindhoven.
Although one might think that,
as it is for many people, music
is a sideline to her day job
translating, the picture is more
complicated.
eSense caught up with
her and got to know her a bit
better.
The “Keanmachine” on a mean machine: Lizzie takes a Pilates break.
First of all, where are you from, what brought you to the Netherlands, and how long have
you lived here?
I was born in Edinburgh, Scotland. I didn’t come to the Netherlands straight from Scotland though. I worked in
repertory theatre throughout the UK, and was based in the south of England for about ten years.
It was while I was touring in the Netherlands with an English theatre group that I met people from a theatre
group called Proloog based in Eindhoven. My official job title in those years was “theatre composer”,
something that didn’t really exist in the Netherlands.
My predecessor at Proloog was a Frenchman. When he decided, just a few months later, to return to
Paris, Proloog phoned me at my home in England. Initially it was to be for just one year, but after one year, I

eSense 38 | July 2015 | 36
didn’t feel that I knew as much as I wanted to about the country and the language, so here I am still! Some
32 years later!
Is Eindhoven a good location for you in relation to work?
Eindhoven was probably not the best location for my work in the years between Proloog and now, since I
travelled an awful lot playing theatres and concerts, and to be honest, the venues were more often in the
north or west of the Netherlands than they were nearer to home. Plus there’s that age-old dilemma of
shouldn’t you be in Amsterdam, the heart of all things cultural and therefore source of all work? The dilemma
being that everyone in my field of work at that time was in Amsterdam so there wasn’t really that much work
going around anyway.
Nowadays, I travel less frequently, and of course as a translator, as long as there’s Wi-Fi you can work
anywhere. And it has to be said that contrary to popular opinion, Eindhoven has a huge amount to offer in
terms of culture and design.
Your cv looks like a healthy mixture (and some overlap) of language and music. Do you feel you
are a translator who also does music, a musician who translates on the side, a writer who does
various other things to make a living, or is some other description more accurate?
I love the fact that I can actually work with the things I love best: words and music. It’s difficult to say how I
see myself: writer, musician, translator. More an opportunist maybe! I seem to have chosen careers in which
it’s quite difficult to make a decent living. So every time I saw a chance to add another string to my bow, I
did. I think I’m really lucky to enjoy all my work as much as I do. I am aware that there are advantages to be
gained from specializing in one thing, but I could never do it. Even now, as a translator, I find it impossible to
specialize. I love the variety of texts that appear on my screen. It’s almost always interesting to learn a little
about the subject you’re translating. I see myself as someone who has to work long hours for not very much
money but thankfully enjoys everything she does.
Is life generally a healthy balance or do you find yourself rushing from a day giving a
workshop to the computer so you can make a deadline (or vice versa)?
Life is generally a healthy balance, but there are crazy moments when I get up at 5 o’clock in the morning to
meet a translation deadline before dashing off to give a workshop or teach drama. However, with age has
come a much-improved ability to prioritize, so I’ve become better at knowing when to tackle which work.
Is there, or can you organize, any regular rhythm to your work, like a translating week
followed by a music week (or two), or do you just take it as it comes?
An average week is a mixture of teaching, training, workshops, writing music and translating. I do sometimes
dash, but not so often. Performances (there are fewer these days) are mostly in the weekends. One small

eSense 38 | July 2015 | 37
regret is that writing songs, short stories, practising my tap-dancing all seem to come at the bottom of the
priorities list, after anything that actually earns money more directly!
How do you go about planning workshops, say, for a company?
As far as company workshops are concerned, my strength is that I immerse myself in the company for this
kind of day. I write texts, song lyrics, little sketches, sometimes whole mini-musicals all based on the
company, and the situation, and using jargon and expressions that the employees use too.
Since this kind of workshop day often has the function of being the teaspoonful of jam in which the
pill is disguised, one of the biggest obstacles is overcoming the natural resistance shown by the participants.
They see me initially as representing management, with whom they may be genuinely displeased.
Have you ever had a really great one or a really bad one?
A lovely example was another day I organized for logistics managers of Praxis, as the last activity in a course
on selling techniques. Basically, they'd had to learn that if a client bought a plank of wood, they should ask
whether he also needed screws! I was a bit apprehensive, since a workshop involving theatre, dance, singing
etc. seemed like it might be a bit too far outside their comfort zone. I decided to base all the workshops on
articles from the Praxis stores. They had a workshop on juggling, using hammers, screwdrivers, paintbrushes
etc., a dance workshop using the shopping trolleys, a percussion workshop using packs of nails and screws
and so on. The great thing was that they just went for it! They all got totally involved, so it was a brilliant day.
A disastrous example was a day for the staff of the Social Security offices in Osdorp, in Amsterdam.
They were in the middle of moving locations, which was in turn being used to camouflage a reorganization,
and they'd been kept in the dark for months about what to expect. They were surly and at times passive-
aggressive, and when the bar opened (and stayed open) from about 11 o'clock in the morning, they hit the
booze (free) as a way of getting back I suppose.
Has “the crisis” affected you?
I think it’s fair to say that every crisis has affected me, not just the major financial crises, but also the more
specific ones. For example, as a theatre composer, I had built up a solid career in the UK, but here in the
Netherlands, after a couple of years, theatre companies no longer paid to have music composed specially,
they just used existing music. So I started setting up projects, and performing, and writing songs. When it
became more difficult to get paid decently for performances, I started supplying corporate teambuilding and
training days, using the music and theatre skills I had.
When the first financial crisis (1998?) forced businesses to re-think their spending on that kind of
thing, I started working in arts education, again applying a lot of what I’d previously learnt, and at the same
time learning a lot of new things. Basically, I just move from crisis to crisis! ◄
To find out more about Lizzie, go to http://www.lizziekean.nl

eSense 38 | July 2015 | 38
BOOK REVIEW
Bonus content – That Witch!
by Helene Reid
The bonus content in this pdf* comes from the pen of Helene Reid. Responding
to our call for ideas in the online issue, Helene wondered, “Why is there no regular
column in eSense with book reviews?” We replied, “Why don’t you write us one?”
And so she did: this bewitching review of an “utterly hilarious” style guide.
Between You & Me
Confessions of a Comma Queen
Mary Norris
W.W. Norton & Company, New York, London
ISBN 978-0-393-24018-4
Remember how thrilled we were when Lynne Truss’s Eats, Shoots &
Leaves, The Zero Tolerance Approach to Punctuation came out in 2003? It
was a hype among editors and translators, writers and linguists,
grammarians and teachers of English. Now there is an American parallel,
written by a copy editor of The New Yorker. And it is as interesting,
entertaining and un-put-downable as its British predecessor.
At The New Yorker they don’t do things by halves. They have
proofreaders, fact checkers, editors, and copy editors. Mary Norris
quotes an instance where she changed flower into flour (though this was before the days of speech
recognition programs) and got thanked by all of the people who had missed it before her.
The title is not altogether original: in the introduction Mary Norris refers to a book she was reading
called My Grammar and I ... Or should that be me? by Caroline Taggart and J.A. Wines. At least, that is how she
quotes the title but when it was printed by the Sunday Times in 2008 the title was My Grammar and I (Or
should that be me?) with the second half in brackets. Just the kind of thing Mary Norris will have been
worrying about for hours before deciding to drop the brackets. Maybe she was going by the American edition,
the one without the brackets. Because let there be no doubt about it: Between You & Me is an American ►
*Bonus content means material that is new for SENSErs who have already read the online (member’s only) version of eSense 38.
For the sake of completion, following the publication of this pdf, the new content will also be added to the online version.

eSense 38 | July 2015 | 39
book about the American way of spelling and printing. I usually shy away from American style guides because
if you’re not careful you will find yourself writing Mr. and theater before long. Not only that: it is a book
about how things are done atThe New Yorker where they write coöperative without being apologetic about it.
But Mary Norris makes it clear that her book is descriptive, not prescriptive. The New Yorker is quite happy to
write a sentence with lots of commas, for instance: “Before Atwater died, of brain cancer, in 1991, he
expressed regret ...”. The rationale behind it being that without the commas the sentence would suggest that
Atwater died multiple times and of multiple causes. Oh, you have to be so careful with your commas.
Between You & Me covers a wider ground than either of its forerunners. It deals with dangling
participles, gender-neutral language and when to use whom. (In the subtitling world the rule is: if you find
yourself having to use the word whom, re-phrase your sentence.) I wonder if Americans are more sensitive to
the he/she problem and its attendant her/his predicament. She quotes “A person who can’t help their birth”
from Thackeray’s Vanity Fair but you can see she’s not happy with it. In fact she says: “I hate to say it, but the
colloquial use of ‘their’ when you mean ‘his or her’ is just wrong. It may solve the general problem, and that
there is no doubt that ‘their’ has taken over in
the spoken language, but it does so at the
expense of number.”
I particularly liked the chapter about the
use of that or which, but allow me to insert an
anecdote of my own. Many years ago, when I
was teaching French and German in a Girls
Grammar School in York, one of my occasional
duties was to preside over school dinner and
say grace before the girls could start eating.
Fortunately, it was only a one-liner: “For what
we are about to receive, may the Lord make us
truly thankful, Amen.” The first time I had to do
this, I was very nervous although I had practised
my line all night. And when it came to the
crunch I heard myself say: “For that which we
are about to receive...” I never lived it down. “Did you hear? Miss said that which!” the girls would titter as I
passed them. But it does explain why I laughed out loud when, reading Norris’s book on the train, I turned the
page to chapter 2 and saw that it was called: That Witch!
Mary Norris points out errors that we as SENSE members do not make, but our clients certainly do. Did
I learn from it? In some ways not. I have never had trouble with The car that ... or The car, which ... and the
orthography rules she gives are US ones. But it did make me aware once more of the unbridgeable gap
between UK and US English: who would have thought that Johnson was the American word for willie, and that
the brand name Johnson & Johnson was totally hilarious for Mary Norris? ◄

eSense 38 | July 2015 | 40
THE SENSE COLLECTION
Pet peeves & pleasures
by Ragini Werner
For this issue's collection we invited SENSE members
to show us their pet peeves, or if they preferred,
their pet pleasures. And here is the result: six
peeves, one sheerest delight & three real
corkers. Enjoy!
PEEVES
Over the years I find I’ve become
kinder about writers’ mistakes,
although no less rigorous in letting the red ink flow. The thing that annoys me
most, however, is the sloppiness of the dangling participle. There’s just no
excuse for it, whatever language you’re writing in.
Alison Gibbs, Editor & Sworn Translator, D-E and G-E
Image: Christa Allan
Clients who know better. “Let maar niet op de rommel” was the
original phrase. My Dutch client, whose secretary (also Dutch) had
spent three months in London and was therefore considered an
expert, insisted that it should be “Don't bother the mess.” And that's
how it went to print in the end…
Corinne McCarthy, Translator and Subtitler D-E & E-D, Language
Trainer, English
Image: Sue Fitzmaurice

eSense 38 | July 2015 | 41
My pet peeve isn't actually a grammatical fault (after all, I like being paid to
correct those) – it's half-baked thinking. Being sent a sloppy, muddled text
that no amount of editing can whip into shape. There are excuses for bad
grammar; there are no excuses for bad thinking....
Dr Vivien Collingwood, Editor, Writer & Translator, D-E
Image: Krissy Venosdale
Honestly, I can't understand how people mistake “your” and
“you’re”. The internet is rife with grammatical errors and I think
this is possibly one of the most common ones. Text shorthand
has, thankfully, made a distinction between the two: “yr” and
“ur” so maybe modern technology has its benefits after all....
Debbie van Baalen-Trevor, Editor & Translator, D-E
The Edam advertising campaign has a lot to answer for: “Less fat, less
calories.” Yes, using less instead of fewer gets my goat every time and
I come across it surprisingly often while checking other translators'
work. On the subject of quantities, the amount of + plural bugs me.
Moira Bluer, Editor & Translator, F-E & D-E
Image: Mustard
Is my pet peeve too petty? Perhaps I became a language professional
because I have so little tolerance for punctuation errors.
Diane Schaap, Translator & Editor, D-E & G-E
Image: Observer.com

eSense 38 | July 2015 | 42
SHEEREST DELIGHT
Most peeves are short-lived so here is something more enduring. My Sheerest
Delight is reader feedback on my writings. A Certain She said to me after a
very fruitless day of diplomatic impasses: “I couldn’t sleep. So I read your
book end to end, and slept so well.”
Paul Osborn, Copywriter, Editor, Journalist, Translator & Subtitler
Quotable quote: Daniele Varè
REAL CORKERS: “INBOX JOYS – VARIATIONS ON A THEME”
Inbox Joy No.1
“Can you just polish it a bit
before it goes to the printer's?”
Inbox Joy No.2
“Here are the background
documents you asked for.”
Inbox Joy No. 3
“We’ve amended the
original version that
the client wrote.
Should be fine now.”
Series written and drawn by Cathy Scott, Concept Creator, Copywriter & eSense Cartoonist◄

eSense 38 | July 2015 | 43
Hi Society
by Ragini Werner
Welcome to Hi Society! As the title of our new column suggests, here we present a round-up of
news for, from and about the members of the Society. Anything goes (well, nearly) since the
range of topics is wide open: from serious business to silly socials, from personal milestones to
collective achievements. If you want to see your news in Hi Society or have a good idea for a
news item, we want to hear it. Mail us at eSense today!
SUMMER SOCIAL IN RHIJNAUWEN
This year's summer event, organized by social Programme Secretary Curtis Barrett, began with a scrumptious high tea at
Theehuis Rhijnauwen and that was followed by a short walk in brilliant sunshine to Fort Rhijnauwen for a guided tour of the fort
and surrounding area. By all accounts, everyone had a great time. Mariska Bosman took this photo, featuring (l-r): Vanessa Goad,
Jenny Zonneveld, Christine Davies and Anne Hodgkinson. Behind: Sylvia van Roosmalen, Enid Tomkinson, Ellen Postuma (guest
of Frans Kooymans) and Jacques van den Wollenberg (guest of Lee Ann Weeks). Members, click here for a full review of the
event by Francis Cox with photos by Claire Jordan, Eline Tuijn and Jackie Senior. NB: you’ll need to log in first to read it. ◄

eSense 38 | July 2015 | 44
A PERFECTIT WORKSHOP
Coordinator Maartje Gorte is very pleased to announce the first SENSE event to follow the summer
break. “Daniel Heuman of Intelligent Editing is coming to the Netherlands just for us, to teach a
workshop on his brilliant consistency-checking software, PerfectIt.” This half-day workshop is
geared to all experience levels. “In the main session,” Maartje explains, “Daniel will guide us through
all we need to know about using PerfectIt and about editing and sharing style sheets. This session
gets new users to a high level quickly, but still offers plenty of new tips, tricks and approaches for
advanced users.
“In the optional super-advanced session,” Maartje adds, “Daniel
will dive into fine-tuning PerfectIt style sheets and help you squeeze
every possible benefit out of using PerfectIt. Daniel says that this
session is not for the faint of heart: you do need previous experience
with PerfectIt to keep up. The advanced session builds upon the main one, so you can only register
for it as an add-on.” Both sessions feature hands-on exercises, so bring your laptop with PerfectIt if
you can. If you intend to buy PerfectIt, or have already but not installed it yet, Daniel will be
available before the workshop to offer installation help. Maartje concludes, “If you’re interested in
coming, do keep an eye on our Events page. If you’d like more background, check out the article
on PerfectIt in the April 2015 issue of eSense.”
PerfectIt: from Zero to Hero
Date: Friday 11 September 2015. Location: Park Plaza Hotel, Utrecht. Costs: Main session only: €35 for members;
€45 for non-members. Main session + super-advanced: €45 for members; €55 for non-members. ◄
IN CAHOOTS WITH SENSE ED
SENSE Ed, the Special Interest Group (SIG) for educators, at their June meeting with (l-r): Marijke van Hoeve, Loekie Andriesse,
Ruth de Wijs, Michael Crosland and Iris Maher (convener). Iris says, “The highlight of the afternoon was playing an online
classroom game named Kahoot, after a demonstration by David Barick. There’s no photo of David in action because we were all
too busy competing for points. Kahoot is a great way to engage kids in class and can be used for pretty much any subject. I've
already tried it with teenagers and it was a great success, and I'm also planning to use it with adults next school year.” ◄

eSense 38 | July 2015 | 45
GIVE ’EM NUGGETS!
Ed Hull was delighted to show Alison Edwards his new book at the inaugural
meeting of UniSIG (see: cover story). “Scientific papers don’t have to be difficult
and tedious to read,” says Ed, who teaches university students how to write for
international publication. “A nugget of gold has value and is easy to pick up. A
well-written paper has value and is easy to read. Giving nuggets to readers is a
core concept of my writing courses, and my new book, of course.”
Health-Related Scientific Articles In the 21st Century by Ed Hull, Professional
English. €25 for single copies incl. VAT and mailing costs. Quantity prices are lower.
Buy yours here. ◄
ATTENTIVE IN UTRECHT
Nope, Utrecht SIG convener Anne Hodgkinson (left) is not saying, “That word was THIS long!”, just asking for some good advice at
their June meeting. “I have no idea what I was talking about at that point,” says Anne, “probably an exasperating project, which
sounds likely anyway.” Anne’s attentive colleagues are (l-r): Wil van Maarschalkerweerd, Kirsten van Hasselt, Eileen Stevens and
Helene Reid. Out of sight on the other side of the table were Maartje Gortje, Curtis Barrett, Malcolm Jones (guest), Jenny
Zonneveld and Heddwen van Gestel. ◄
EASTERN, WEST, SIG BEST
Eastern SIG relaxing at their end-of-year dinner at Bistro Bonne Femme in Zwolle, with (l-r): Claire Koers, Sally Hill, Caroline
Gallagher, Kumar Jamdagni (convener), and Daphne Visser-Lees.
Absent: Jonathan Ellis. Kumar says, “The topics we discussed over
dinner included state of business (varied from desperately looking for
work to too much to handle), prediabetes, the SENSE jubilee, and how
we all met our Dutch partners. There's not a lot more to tell really,
other than 'a good time was had by all'.” ◄

eSense 38 | July 2015 | 46
SO FAR, SO ...CIAL
Eight siglets of the Far North camped out in the Casa NEEDSer kitchen instead of holding their
annual picnic outdoors as planned due to inclement weather. Enjoying the great abundance
of goodies are (l-r) Erin Goedhart, Pierke Bosschieter (one
of the few indexers in SENSE; do say hello if you make
indexes too) and Marianne Orchard, who was about to
leave the far north to move down to the wicked west and
brought along dozens of near pristine novels that she
didn’t want to take with her. So, before tucking into the feast, the siglets held a book fair in
the good old, timeless SENSE tradition. Here are Tori Kelly (l) and Kate McIntyre, sharing a
Hemingway moment. Not shown or not there: Ann Scholten, Diane Black, Jackie Senior; JoAnn
van Seventer, Ragini Werner (convener) and Robert Olsen. ◄
WELCOME MILESTONES
We are delighted to welcome the Here we celebrate members’ business anniversaries.
following new members to SENSE: For the period June–Sept 2015 we congratulate:
Caroline Gallagher, Zwolle 02 Eline Tuijn Moon Colt August 2013
Lorraine Copland, Zoetermeer 03 Ashley Cowles Translation and Copywriting July 2012
Kimberly Auker, Trieste 05 Maartje Gorte Play Your Words Right August 2010
Einar Engvig, Beijing 10 Percy Balemans PB Translations September 2005
Serena Lyon, Gorinchem 11 Ragini Werner NEEDSer August 2004
Vikas Sonak, The Hague 15 Helene Reid Subtext Translations August 2000
Claire Bacon, Heidelberg 16 Christy de Back Taalprofessionals June 1999
Christopher Chambers, Amsterdam 23 Lee Ann Weeks Scientific Editing Service June 1992 ◄
Paul Richards, London ◄
eSense 38 | July 2015
Grateful thanks to all the hard-working people who helped make this issue a success!
Guest contributors: Arlene Prunkl, Freek Walleert, and Rogier Willems (website)
SENSE contributors: Jenny Zonneveld, Camilla Brokking, Joy Burrough, Alison Edwards, Martine Croll, Kumar Jamdagni,
Louise Vines, Lizzie Kean, Alison Gibbs, Corinne McCarthy, Vivien Collingwood, Debbie van Baalen-Trevor, Moira Bluer,
Diane Schaap, Paul Osborn, Cathy Scott, Maartje Gorte, Iris Maher and Ed Hull
Submissions to eSense are always welcome. If you have an idea for an interesting item or, better still, would like to write
something or contribute in any other way, feel free to get in touch. We don’t bite (hard). 
eSense team: Cecilia Willems, Anne Hodgkinson and Sally Hill
Editor: Ragini Werner at eSense@sense-online.nl ◄
© SENSE July 2015. Unless otherwise credited, all photographs appearing in eSense are public domain images or have been used with
the consent of the relevant photographer or author. The author of any work appearing in eSense retains the copyright in that work.

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