In November 2019, Ina Maertens, founder of Maertens Legal Translations, participated in this year's edition of Translation and Interpreting Forum (TIFO 2019) organized by Palacký University Olomouc, where she presented a paper with the title Building Interpreter Specialization: Living Up to Client's Expectations.
She spoke about what makes a successful interpreter, and how success is derived from customers' expectations. She explained how ironic it is that experts rely on non-experts (i.e. interpreters) to help them communicate, and emphasized the importance of understanding professional jargon and using it appropriately. She argued that specialization is possible even in a such a small market as the Czech Republic, and shared some examples of techniques she herself uses to develop her specialization. She concluded that building a specialization is a continuous process and key to being a successful interpreter is having a curious mind.
