Working With Languages | Multilingual Careers across Industries from Translator and Language Teacher to Linguist and Other Job Types

Working With Languages | Multilingual Careers across Industries from Translator and Language Teacher to Linguist and Other Job Types

By Sonia Kampshoff | MorePerfect.DigitalBusinessEntrepreneurshipEducationCareersLanguage Learning
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Working With Languages | Multilingual Careers across Industries from Translator and Language Teacher to Linguist and Other Job Types episodes

  • Lawyer-Linguist: Working Between Two Legal Systems with Nicole Fenwick

    What does a lawyer-linguist do? I talk to Nicole Fenwick, a French-to-English legal translator trained in both English and French law, about working between two legal systems.

    Nicole grew up in Scarborough, on the Yorkshire coast. She went on to study English and French law at the University of Leicester, on a course of only eight students. She spent a year at the law school in Strasbourg alongside an internship at the European Parliament. After that she trained and worked as a solicitor in Sheffield. There she realised the part of the job she loved most was doing all the firm’s French translation work.

    Not long after the Brexit referendum, she took a master’s in translation at Durham University. She planned to become a lawyer-linguist at one of the EU institutions. While she waited on the application process, she started freelancing as a legal translator and found she could make a real living from it.

    Key Takeaways:
    • What it’s like to be trained to think like an English lawyer and a French lawyer at once
    • How her business has grown from contracts and T&Cs into cross-border estates, wills and probate
    • Working with Anglo-French lawyers in the UK and notaries in France
    • Why she keeps her legal knowledge current through STEP, the Society of Trust and Estate Practitioners
    • Adding Spanish as a working language from Barcelona, and the free Catalan lessons on offer there
    • The different routes into lawyer-linguist work, from law to languages and the other way round
    • Why she believes certified and legal translation is, to a large degree, AI-proof, and why clients who try AI often come back

    If you’ve ever wondered how to bring a love of languages together with a specialist profession, I think you’ll find Nicole’s story really inspiring.

    About Nicole Fenwick

    Nicole is a French-to-English lawyer-linguist and legal translator specialising in legal and certified translations. With legal qualifications in both English and French law, she brings a unique combination of legal expertise and linguistic precision to her work, with a particular focus on property transactions, cross-border estates and official legal documentation.

    • Website: coleytranslates.com
    • LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/frenchenglishlegaltranslatorandlawyerlinguist

    Career mentoring

    Thinking about a career with languages? I offer one-to-one career mentoring to help you find your path: workingwithlanguages.com/career-mentoring

    About Sonia Kampshoff

    Sonia is a translator turned multilingual digital marketer specialising in paid media, and now also a podcaster. Growing up bilingual, languages have been a constant in her life. In 2025 she launched a podcast where together with her guests she explores the huge variety of jobs and career opportunities open to people with language skills. She is available to speak on podcasts and stages about marketing, languages, work and podcasting.

    • LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/soniakampshoff
    • Website: workingwithlanguages.com

    If you enjoyed this episode please share it with someone who may like it too, and subscribe to the podcast.

    Listen to & follow the podcast

    Spotify: open.spotify.com/show/1boyxxr2sPFC14SIyu4pi0

    Apple Podcasts: podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/working-with-languages-multilingual-careers-across/id1833888492

    YouTube: youtube.com/@WorkingWithLanguages

    Instagram: instagram.com/workingwithlanguages

    Other links

    ✉️ Join my free newsletter

    ☕ Support my work, buy me a coffee

    Chapters

    00:00 Coming up

    00:23 Welcome to Working With Languages

    01:15 Nicole's favourite word: sobremesa

    03:41 Growing up in Scarborough

    04:19 Studying English and French law at Leicester

    06:46 A year in Strasbourg and the European Parliament

    07:49 From solicitor to translator

    08:53 A master's in translation at Durham

    09:48 Falling into freelance legal translation

    10:30 Cross-border estates, wills and probate

    13:40 Staying qualified: STEP, ITI and CIOL

    14:33 Life in Barcelona: Spanish and Catalan

    16:25 Routes into lawyer-linguist work

    19:57 Areas a lawyer-linguist can specialise in

    20:57 AI and legal translation

    24:11 Where to find Nicole

    24:37 Wrap-up

    26 min
  • Introducing Season 2

    Today we are launching season 2 of the Working With Languages podcast!

    Over the summer I reflected on the conversation had and developed the Working With Languages framework, splitting careers into two groups:

    • Languages as the main service: translators, language teachers and linguists
    • Languages as an additional skill: this could be any job or career type where languages are an enhancement, potentially leading to new opportunities and career advancements

    Combined with the framework and supported by my career from translator to multilingual digital marketer and now also podcast host, I am also launching a brand new career mentoring programme where I support people choose a career - or make a career change - around languages.

    Get ready for more inspiring conversations on working with languages!

    About Sonia Kampshoff

    Sonia is a translator turned multilingual digital marketer specialising in paid media, and now also a podcaster. Growing up bilingual, languages have been a constant in her life. In 2025 she launched a podcast where together with her guests she explores the huge variety of jobs and career opportunities open to people with language skills. She is available to speak on podcasts and stages about marketing, languages, work and podcasting.

    • LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/soniakampshoff/
    • Website: workingwithlanguages.com

    If you enjoyed this episode please share it with someone who may like it too, and subscribe to the podcast.

    Listen to & follow the podcast
    • Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/1boyxxr2sPFC14SIyu4pi0
    • Apple podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/working-with-languages-multilingual-careers-across/id1833888492
    • YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@WorkingWithLanguages
    • Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/workingwithlanguages

    Other links
    • ✉️ Join my free newsletter
    • ☕ Support my work, buy me a coffee

    3 min
  • From Interpreting to Language Learning Design - Dr Natalia Tilton

    'I dream of a world where no one is disadvantaged because of language differences or deficiencies. And you?'

    A bold, heart-warming statement Dr Natalia Tilton shares on her LinkedIn profile. Natalia, today's guest, is a learning design specialist who started her career in interpreting for international institutions before moving into community interpreting training (she explains what it is in her episode).

    Her PhD thesis focused on research around language learning anxiety - we all feel anxious speaking a learnt language we are not as good in as our own native language - and how that affects interpreters and immigrants alike.

    Currently her focus is on developing language learning curricula and programmes - some government-backed - for immigrants and refugees, helping them integrate more effectively into their new country and rebuilding their lives. She is also working on an app helping nurses coming to Germany learn medical German so they can pass their nursing test and be able to work there.

    About Dr Natalia Tilton

    Dr Natalia Tilton is an EdTech consultant, curriculum designer and inclusion educator. She leads programs for language access, multilingualism, and AI-supported language learning. She holds a PhD in Linguistics and Migration Studies and has worked with institutions including Babbel+, DAAD (German Academic Exchange Service), the Goethe-Institut and the University of Potsdam.

    Most recently, Natalia worked with Babbel+, developing AI-supported curricula with the German Federal Office for Migration and Refugees (BAMF) for adult migrant learners.

    Natalia is passionate about language access and has trained thousands of community interpreters across Germany since the 2015 refugee crisis.

    • LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/natalia-tilton-phd-7b403279

    Career mentoring

    Thinking about a career with languages? I offer one-to-one career mentoring to help you find your path: workingwithlanguages.com/career-mentoring

    About Sonia Kampshoff

    Sonia is a translator turned multilingual digital marketer specialising in paid media, and now also a podcaster. Growing up bilingual, languages have been a constant in her life. In 2025 she launched a podcast where together with her guests she explores the huge variety of jobs and career opportunities open to people with language skills. She is available to speak on podcasts and stages about marketing, languages, work and podcasting.

    • LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/soniakampshoff
    • Website: workingwithlanguages.com

    If you enjoyed this episode please share it with someone who may like it too, and subscribe to the podcast.

    Listen to & follow the podcast

    Spotify: open.spotify.com/show/1boyxxr2sPFC14SIyu4pi0

    Apple Podcasts: podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/working-with-languages-multilingual-careers-across/id1833888492

    YouTube: youtube.com/@WorkingWithLanguages

    Instagram: instagram.com/workingwithlanguages

    Other links

    ✉️ Join my free newsletter

    ☕ Support my work, buy me a coffee

    Chapters

    0:00 Introduction

    1:30 Favourite word

    3:06 Growing up multilingual

    6:40 A PhD on language learning anxiety

    8:43 What community interpreting is

    18:05 Designing courses for migrants and refugees

    24:26 Learning online or in a classroom?

    31:00 An app for nurses learning medical German

    34:13 The ethics of AI in language learning

    42:50 Final thoughts

    46 min
  • Software Product Manager with English, French and Italian - Hélène Sanchez

    How does a software product manager use English, French and Italian at work? And what skills are involved, if not required, to thrive in this career? Today's guest Hélène Sanchez tells us about how she went from Italy to working for the BBC where she discovered her passion for tech. She grew into a strong career as a product manager and discovered how her language skills are an asset when her employer, a British company, merged with a French one, bringing her to forge relationships and nurture communication across languages and cultures.

    About Hélène Sanchez

    Hélène is a product manager with experience launching and scaling products across media, developer tooling, B2B SaaS, crafting and supporting cross-functional collaboration across geographies. She’s recently working in the field of AI Governance, developing a product that shows users the value of adopting AI tools. Her career mantra is: Be fast at learning, fast at failing. Love your users, like your product. Empathy is the best strategy. Hélène is half-French, half-Italian, and has been living in the UK for the past 12 years. She is interested in enology, and doing her WSET education.

    • LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/helene-sanchez
    • Instagram: instagram.com/helycoccy

    Career mentoring

    Thinking about a career with languages? I offer one-to-one career mentoring to help you find your path: workingwithlanguages.com/career-mentoring

    About Sonia Kampshoff

    Sonia is a translator turned multilingual digital marketer specialising in paid media, and now also a podcaster. Growing up bilingual, languages have been a constant in her life. In 2025 she launched a podcast where together with her guests she explores the huge variety of jobs and career opportunities open to people with language skills. She is available to speak on podcasts and stages about marketing, languages, work and podcasting.

    • LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/soniakampshoff
    • Website: workingwithlanguages.com

    If you enjoyed this episode please share it with someone who may like it too, and subscribe to the podcast.

    Listen to & follow the podcast
    • Spotify: open.spotify.com/show/1boyxxr2sPFC14SIyu4pi0
    • Apple Podcasts: podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/working-with-languages-multilingual-careers-across/id1833888492
    • YouTube: youtube.com/@WorkingWithLanguages
    • Instagram: instagram.com/workingwithlanguages

    Other links
    • ✉️ Join my free newsletter
    • ☕ Support my work, buy me a coffee

    Chapters

    0:00 Introduction

    1:34 Favourite phrase

    4:17 Growing up in Italy

    7:09 Moving to London and the BBC

    12:54 What a product manager does

    18:24 Using French at a British–French company

    21:16 How languages helped her career

    22:21 Final thoughts

    26 min
  • A Career in Tech as a Multilingual Customer Success Manager - Wendy Rendón

    What is it like to work in tech as a multilingual customer success manager? Wendy Rendón shares how she went from working in events in Barcelona, Spain to a career in tech working in customer success in tech in Helsinki, Finland. She also shares what makes a good customer success manager and why the role of CSM can be different in different businesses and industries.

    Key Takeaways:
    • While living and studying in Barcelona she observed the vibrant events scene there and realised she wanted to focus her job and career in this industry.
    • Wendy decided to progress her career in events moving into a career in tech, so she moved to Finland, a vibrant and international tech hub.
    • She believes that successful people in this role are empathetic, proactive, have good communication skills and are good at project management as they sit between the in-house tech team and the end clients.
    • While her working language is English, she regularly uses her Spanish and Catalan to better communicate with her clients.

    About Wendy

    Wendy's journey has taken her from the vibrant hustle of Bogota's city jungle to the cosmopolitan charm of Barcelona, and finally to the green, innovative urbanity of Helsinki. Throughout her career, spanning diverse industries, she gained a wealth of experience and developed a versatile skill set that has shaped her as a professional working with languages.

    LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/wendyvrr

    Career mentoring

    Thinking about a career with languages? I offer one-to-one career mentoring to help you find your path: workingwithlanguages.com/career-mentoring

    About Sonia Kampshoff

    Sonia is a translator turned multilingual digital marketer specialising in paid media, and now also a podcaster. Growing up bilingual, languages have been a constant in her life. In 2025 she launched a podcast where together with her guests she explores the huge variety of jobs and career opportunities open to people with language skills. She is available to speak on podcasts and stages about marketing, languages, work and podcasting.

    • LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/soniakampshoff
    • Website: workingwithlanguages.com

    If you enjoyed this episode please share it with someone who may like it too, and subscribe to the podcast.

    Listen to & follow the podcast
    • Spotify: open.spotify.com/show/1boyxxr2sPFC14SIyu4pi0
    • Apple Podcasts: podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/working-with-languages-multilingual-careers-across/id1833888492
    • YouTube: youtube.com/@WorkingWithLanguages
    • Instagram: instagram.com/workingwithlanguages

    Other links
    • ✉️ Join my free newsletter
    • ☕ Support my work, buy me a coffee

    Chapters

    0:00 Introduction

    1:36 Favourite phrase

    3:09 From Colombia to Barcelona

    5:27 Studying in Catalan

    10:02 Why Finland is a tech hub

    12:36 Learning Finnish

    14:10 Finnish work culture

    17:33 What a customer success manager does

    24:58 How she uses AI

    27:21 Final thoughts

    35 min
  • Building a Career in Finance Across Three Languages - Urmi Hossain

    Can you build a career in finance in three languages? Today I sit down with Urmi Hossain who grew up in Italy to Bengali parents, studied in England for a year, then moved to Montreal at 19 where she embarked in a career in finance.

    We talk about the very practical challenge of arriving in Montreal knowing French from school, only to discover that Quebecois is really quite different.

    She explains how she deliberately worked to master it, not just for everyday life but to be able to do a job interview and eventually have a career in finance, working with languages in a predominantly French-speaking environment. Because while people in Montreal are very open to both English and French in an everyday life environment, she knew early on that professionally she needed to be fluent in Quebecois.

    Key Takeaways:
    • Moving abroad with an open mind: Urmi embraced learning Quebecois and a different way to grow professionally, with lifelong learning, continuous professional development (CPD) and job hopping as a way to advance her career - a very different approach than in Italy.
    • Reaching out for help and support: from engaging a friend to practice speaking French to finding mentors along the way, she is at ease asking for support from people.
    • Opening up conversations: with her podcast Stories Beyond Borders she share stories of people like her who grew up multilingual, multicultural and moved countries at various points in their lives. And in her YouTube channel she also gives advice on learning languages, passing finance exams and more.

    About Urmi Hossain

    Urmi Hossain is a self-published author, speaker, podcast host and finance professional based in Canada. She holds the CFA (Chartered Financial Analyst) and CAIA (Chartered Alternative Investment Analyst) designations and works in the financial services industry, while using her platform to advocate for women’s empowerment, identity, and self-leadership.

    Urmi is the host of Stories Beyond Borders, a podcast that amplifies diverse voices and stories on identity, migration, language, and what “home” truly means. Her work centers on helping individuals - especially women - embrace their lived experiences as strengths rather than limitations.

    • LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/urmihossain
    • YouTube: youtube.com/@urmihossain
    • Instagram: instagram.com/storiesbeyondborderspodcast

    Career mentoring

    Thinking about a career with languages? I offer one-to-one career mentoring to help you find your path: workingwithlanguages.com/career-mentoring

    About Sonia Kampshoff

    Sonia is a translator turned multilingual digital marketer specialising in paid media, and now also a podcaster. Growing up bilingual, languages have been a constant in her life. In 2025 she launched a podcast where together with her guests she explores the huge variety of jobs and career opportunities open to people with language skills. She is available to speak on podcasts and stages about marketing, languages, work and podcasting.

    • LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/soniakampshoff
    • Website: workingwithlanguages.com

    If you enjoyed this episode please share it with someone who may like it too, and subscribe to the podcast.

    Listen to & follow the podcast
    • Spotify: open.spotify.com/show/1boyxxr2sPFC14SIyu4pi0
    • Apple Podcasts: podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/working-with-languages-multilingual-careers-across/id1833888492
    • YouTube: youtube.com/@WorkingWithLanguages
    • Instagram: instagram.com/workingwithlanguages

    Other links
    • ✉️ Join my free newsletter
    • ☕ Support my work, buy me a coffee

    Chapters

    0:00 Introduction

    1:29 Favourite phrase

    3:41 School in Italy and a year in England

    6:40 Moving to Canada at 19

    8:31 Quebec French

    12:12 Studying finance in English and French

    13:25 Working in finance in Montreal

    17:27 Mentors at work

    19:04 Using languages in finance

    21:30 Her podcast and YouTube channel

    26:28 Final thoughts

    29 min
  • Financial Translator and Freelancer Project Management Software Co-Founder - Martina Abagnale

    How do you become a financial translator, and then co-found a software start-up? In this episode I talk to Martina Abagnale, a financial translator and co-founder of the business-management software tool Lemon Twist for freelancers like her.

    She speaks candidly about why she launched a second business, how she combines it with her main revenue-generating work as a translator, and how translation work differs from being a co-founder (and product manager, marketer and overall face of the Lemon Twist brand).

    Key Takeaways

    🍋 Finding her own niche in translation: after a while she realised she wanted to become a financial translator and started actively marketing her services to banks, financial institutions and venture capitalists in need of multilingual reports and documents

    🍋 Solving her own problem: after years of complaining about the same irritating admin stuff she convinced her husband to create a business management tool

    About Martina:

    Martina Abagnale is an Italian financial translator. Active since 2019, she has also worked as a trainer, industry speaker and event organizer, sharing her passion and knowledge about finance, translation and anything in between.

    About Lemon Twist:

    Lemon Twist is a management software created by freelance translator Martina Abagnale and software developer Julio Greff. What began in 2020 as a personal quest for a fast and intuitive way to organize her translation work, turned into a fully fledged company in May 2024. Our mantra is: Every click counts. We’re building a system that saves you time on boring tasks and puts a smile on your face with its clean, playful design.

    • E-mail: [email protected]
    • Website: lemontwist.ing
    • LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/italian-financial-translator
    • Newsletter: stats.sender.net/forms/aAD9A1/view
    • Discount code: LT15 (15% off for new subscriptions)

    Career mentoring

    Thinking about a career with languages? I offer one-to-one career mentoring to help you find your path: workingwithlanguages.com/career-mentoring

    About Sonia Kampshoff

    Sonia is a translator turned multilingual digital marketer specialising in paid media, and now also a podcaster. Growing up bilingual, languages have been a constant in her life. In 2025 she launched a podcast where together with her guests she explores the huge variety of jobs and career opportunities open to people with language skills. She is available to speak on podcasts and stages about marketing, languages, work and podcasting.

    • LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/soniakampshoff
    • Website: workingwithlanguages.com

    If you enjoyed this episode please share it with someone who may like it too, and subscribe to the podcast.

    Listen to & follow the podcast
    • Spotify: open.spotify.com/show/1boyxxr2sPFC14SIyu4pi0
    • Apple Podcasts: podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/working-with-languages-multilingual-careers-across/id1833888492
    • YouTube: youtube.com/@WorkingWithLanguages
    • Instagram: instagram.com/workingwithlanguages

    Other links
    • ✉️ Join my free newsletter
    • ☕ Support my work, buy me a coffee

    Chapters

    0:00 Introduction

    1:22 Favourite word

    3:27 School exchange and au pair years

    5:07 Studying languages at university

    8:24 Specialising in financial translation

    13:56 Building Lemon Twist, software for freelancers

    18:07 New features and the client score

    24:30 Balancing translation and a start-up

    26:49 How she uses AI

    31 min
  • English Learning for Curious Minds, a better way to learn English, with Alastair Budge

    Is there a better way to learn English? Alastair Budge, creator of Leonardo English and the podcast English Learning for Curious Minds, shares what learning French, Italian and Chinese taught him, and how he built his business.

    Alastair created a fantastic resource for people coming back to learn English - skipping the heavy grammar lessons, he digs deep into British issues and conversation topics that people may find themselves talking about at work or in social settings. He also developed tools to help people refine their written English.

    Key Takeaways
    • Learning French, Italian and Chinese: at university Alastair studied first French and Italian then Chinese, with a view of preparing for an international career
    • Living in different European countries: he first moved to Malta where he launched his podcast English learning for curious minds. After that he moved to Sweden, taking is work and business with him and developing it into a thriving community of language learners.
    • 'I never thought I would be working with languages': that's the thing about languages - they are an asset, and you never know where they will take you!

    About Alastair Budge & Leonardo English

    Alastair Budge is the founder of Leonardo English and the host of English Learning for Curious Minds, a podcast for intermediate-advanced English learners.

    • Leonardo English: leonardoenglish.com
    • English Learning for Curious Minds: leonardoenglish.com/podcasts
    • FixMyEnglish: fixmyenglish.ai
    • Leonardo English membership: use the code WWL10 for a lifetime 10% discount. Sign up here: leonardoenglish.com/subscribe

    Career mentoring

    Thinking about a career with languages? I offer one-to-one career mentoring to help you find your path: workingwithlanguages.com/career-mentoring

    About Sonia Kampshoff

    Sonia is a translator turned multilingual digital marketer specialising in paid media, and now also a podcaster. Growing up bilingual, languages have been a constant in her life. In 2025 she launched a podcast where together with her guests she explores the huge variety of jobs and career opportunities open to people with language skills. She is available to speak on podcasts and stages about marketing, languages, work and podcasting.

    • LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/soniakampshoff
    • Website: workingwithlanguages.com

    If you enjoyed this episode please share it with someone who may like it too, and subscribe to the podcast.

    Listen to & follow the podcast
    • Spotify: open.spotify.com/show/1boyxxr2sPFC14SIyu4pi0
    • Apple Podcasts: podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/working-with-languages-multilingual-careers-across/id1833888492
    • YouTube: youtube.com/@WorkingWithLanguages
    • Instagram: instagram.com/workingwithlanguages

    Other links
    • ✉️ Join my free newsletter
    • ☕ Support my work, buy me a coffee

    Chapters

    0:00 Introduction

    1:25 Favourite word

    4:24 Background and languages

    6:20 Studying French, Italian and Chinese

    13:56 Why he started English Learning for Curious Minds

    27:44 Tools that explain your mistakes

    32:20 Finding podcast topics

    37:26 Plans for Leonardo English

    40:16 Surprises in building the business

    45:49 Working with a team

    47:49 Final thoughts

    51 min
  • Sports Translator and YouTuber Adrian Probst of Freelanceverse

    How does a sports translator use YouTube to win clients? Adrian Probst has 10 years' experience as a translator and YouTuber, specialising in sports translation and working also on the multilingual communication at the Winter Olympics and World Cup events. His YouTube channels is his only source of inbound leads and has 38,000 subscribers.

    Key Takeaways
    • He translates into German as well as Swiss German: when clients request a translation into Swiss German, he checks whether they mean German for a Swiss audience or actual Swiss German.
    • Specialisation: initially he specialised in technical translations but realised that those with a more specialised degree have a competitive advantage. In the meantime he specialised in sports translations, a niche that is close to him and were this imbalance is felt less.
    • YouTube and Freelanceverse: born as a marketing tool for his business, it has made it known and recognisable in the industry and now at times he get recommended by people he doesn't know, but they know him from his channel.

    About Adrian Probst and Freelanceverse

    Adrian is a professional Translator and YouTuber in the sports industry working from English and French into (Swiss) German. He regularly works with ecommerce businesses as well as translating some of coverage for the Olympics, Winter Olympics and World Cup.

    Six years ago he launched his YouTube channel Freelanceverse which has become a powerful source of inbound leads for him.

    • Website: adrianprobst.com
    • YouTube channel: youtube.com/c/Freelanceverse/videos
    • LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/adrianprobst-freelanceverse

    Career mentoring

    Thinking about a career with languages? I offer one-to-one career mentoring to help you find your path: workingwithlanguages.com/career-mentoring

    About Sonia Kampshoff

    Sonia is a translator turned multilingual digital marketer specialising in paid media, and now also a podcaster. Growing up bilingual, languages have been a constant in her life. In 2025 she launched a podcast where together with her guests she explores the huge variety of jobs and career opportunities open to people with language skills. She is available to speak on podcasts and stages about marketing, languages, work and podcasting.

    • LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/soniakampshoff
    • Website: workingwithlanguages.com

    If you enjoyed this episode please share it with someone who may like it too, and subscribe to the podcast.

    Listen to & follow the podcast
    • Spotify: open.spotify.com/show/1boyxxr2sPFC14SIyu4pi0
    • Apple Podcasts: podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/working-with-languages-multilingual-careers-across/id1833888492
    • YouTube: youtube.com/@WorkingWithLanguages
    • Instagram: instagram.com/workingwithlanguages

    Other links
    • ✉️ Join my free newsletter
    • ☕ Support my work, buy me a coffee

    Chapters

    0:00 Introduction

    1:12 Favourite word in Swiss German

    3:12 Growing up in Switzerland

    7:25 Translating into Swiss German

    9:14 From agency work to freelancing

    12:53 Finding clients

    20:36 Growing a YouTube channel for translators

    27:04 Why YouTube?

    29:07 Translating winter sports

    33:14 Behind the scenes at the Winter Olympics

    36:57 Where to find Adrian

    39 min
  • Inside DeepL & the Future of Language AI with Elena Carpanese and her Career in Localization

    What does AI mean for translation careers? Today I chat with Elena Carpanese, a Localization Manager at DeepL, about her multilingual background, her career in localization and the language technology industry, and the future of language AI. Originally from Italy, Elena studied English, German, and Spanish in the UK and joined DeepL as one of its early employees, working on both translation quality evaluation and content localization.

    Elena's work involves leading a team of in-house linguists, managing localization across 13 languages, and consulting product teams to ensure the company's products reflect linguistic accuracy and provide an intuitive user experience across different markets. She also tells us how DeepL collaborate with a wide network of external linguists to maintain translation quality across all its languages supported (over 100).

    Lastly she talks about agentic AI and its potential impact on language workflows, including early experiments her team has run and how these tools can reduce repetitive tasks across industries like legal, healthcare and manufacturing.

    Key Takeaways
    • Localization at DeepL is both linguistic and strategic: Elena and her team use language AI to localize everything from UI to marketing copy but also advise product teams on terminology, user journeys, and language-specific UX decisions.
    • DeepL supports over 100 languages with a focus on customer needs and data quality. They release new languages based on market demand and whether high-quality data exists to train reliable models
    • Agentic AI is opening new possibilities beyond translation such as auditing localized interfaces automatically, gathering terminology from large datasets, and automating repetitive tasks in industries like legal, manufacturing, and tech

    About Elena Carpanese

    Elena is a professional localisation manager at the language AI-pioneer DeepL, having worked there for 5 years in both the Cologne and London offices.

    • Elena on LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/elena-carpanese-b70574112
    • DeepL's website: www.deepl.com

    Career mentoring

    Thinking about a career with languages? I offer one-to-one career mentoring to help you find your path: workingwithlanguages.com/career-mentoring

    About Sonia Kampshoff

    Sonia is a translator turned multilingual digital marketer specialising in paid media, and now also a podcaster. Growing up bilingual, languages have been a constant in her life. In 2025 she launched a podcast where together with her guests she explores the huge variety of jobs and career opportunities open to people with language skills. She is available to speak on podcasts and stages about marketing, languages, work and podcasting.

    • LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/soniakampshoff
    • Website: workingwithlanguages.com

    If you enjoyed this episode please share it with someone who may like it too, and subscribe to the podcast.

    Listen to & follow the podcast
    • Spotify: open.spotify.com/show/1boyxxr2sPFC14SIyu4pi0
    • Apple Podcasts: podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/working-with-languages-multilingual-careers-across/id1833888492
    • YouTube: youtube.com/@WorkingWithLanguages
    • Instagram: instagram.com/workingwithlanguages

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    Chapters

    0:00 Introduction

    1:30 Favourite word

    3:50 From Italy to studying in the UK

    8:06 Joining DeepL

    9:18 What DeepL does

    13:46 DeepL's tools and clients

    18:37 Inside the company

    24:12 How DeepL adds new languages

    25:45 DeepL's AI agent

    31:50 Plans for 2026

    35 min

About Working With Languages | Multilingual Careers across Industries from Translator and Language Teacher to Linguist and Other Job Types

From the publisher's feed

On Working with Languages together with my guests I explore how we can use our language skills for career development, career advancement and even a career change from translator and language teacher to working in finance, sales, customer success and more.