Hi! My name is Keiran Wragg, a German-to-English translator currently based in Hampshire in the UK. Welcome to Flying Serpent Translations!
I currently use this space to publish a BLOG on translation.
The important bits:
- I have a Masters in Translation Studies and a Bachelors in Germanic Studies.
- I have been translating on and off since 2014, although I finished my professional qualifications in 2024.
- I am trained primarily in “promotional translation”, so marketing, tourism, retail and business communications (B2U and B2B)
- I dabble in the domains of technology and environment as well.
- And I have a penchant for literary translation and accessible subtitling (SDH)
I’m currently NOT working freelance projects and am thinking of turning my attention to primarily literary translation. (Know of a good German book? Let me know!)
To see what kind of projects I’ve worked on before, feel free to have a gander at my PORTFOLIO.
Curious?
More About My Qualifications
- I have a Master of Arts in Translation Studies from the University of Birmingham (even going so far as to receive a distinction!).
- I also have a Bachelor of Arts in Germanic Studies from the University of Sheffield.
On their own, these two degrees both ensure my language ability and qualify me as a professional translator (under the conditions set out in ISO:17100:2015). However, my almost 9 years in academics entailed more than some pieces of paper can convey (no matter how shiny and important they are).
Topics I covered in BA Germanic Studies: history, politics, gender studies, sociolinguistics, pedagogy, literature, environment, luxury, language Topics I covered in MA Translation Studies: business translation, MT technology, technical translation, academic translation, audiovisual translation, literary translation |
An Overview of My Experience
Although I only became qualified in 2024, I have been translating officially and unofficially since I was 17, so about 10 years now. My first jobs were for an antiques’ salesman alongside a mix of proof-reading and translating webpages and documents for the local authority of a small town in Hessen, which included tourism, sports, waste management and a mayoral speech.
Although most of the last two hands of years were spent in education—learning about language and culture before becoming qualified—dotted in amongst this training were periods of work and travel:
- I spent a year studying pedagogy and travelling in Japan, even spending 6 weeks cycling the Shikoku 88 Temple Buddhist Pilgrimage and 2 weeks backpacking around the entirety of Kyushu.
- Beside the usual customer service and hospitality related roles, I also spent a year as an English teaching assistant in a Gymnasium (joint secondary school and 6th form college) in Trier in Germany, near the border of Luxembourg (where I backpacked for two weeks).
| Some domains I’ve worked in previously: jewellery, antiques, pottery, art, environmental initiatives, mayoral speeches, criminal and sport journalism, horror and fantasy literature, tourism web-media, video game press-releases, food and wine blogs, 1940’s journal articles & newspaper adverts, SDH for cartoons |
What Technology Do I Use?
Being a translator requires at least some technological proficiency—even if that is just a laptop and basic internet connection. That being said, there are many useful tools to help us in our trade or that are vital to create, edit and access particular file types, especially for audiovisual or website translation.
My main CAT tool is Trados Studio 2024, for which I have a perpetual freelance license, although I am also familiar with Phrase (previously Memsource).
I’ve also created this website myself, only using free tools and creating my own graphics from scratch, while writing my own CSS styling when the basic editor and theme tools didn’t suffice. I’m no PHP wizard yet but this proves the point that no translator “just” translates.
File types I can handle: .ass, .css, .csv, .docx, .html, .pptx, .srt, .sdlxliff, .tbx, .txt, .xdt, .xlsx, .xml Tools that I use: Microsoft 365 Suite, Google Drive Suite, Trados Studio 2024 (freelance), Subtitle Edit, Aegisub, Handbrake, Krita, WordPress w/ Elementor Free |
What Are My Professional Goals?
“Continuous Professional Development” or “CPD” is vital for any translator. Our profession is constantly changing, both in response to new technological advances as well as the usual shifts in and between the cultures we work with.
Currently, I am working full time, with plans to expand my qualification in future in order to specialise, as general translation is in a real rough place right now and is not financially viable.
My options are as follows:
- Doubling down on academics and attempting a PHD, although I’m not sure what research topic I would take on.
- Taking a conversion course into law (which would be a postgraduate equivalent).
- Completing a second Masters degree, quite possibly an MSc in environmental management, conservation, or green technologies.
- Focussing solely on literary translation and pairing that with another career, possibly one not related to languages and translation.
Regardless of how my goals have changed over these last few years, I still wish to:
- Polish my Japanese up to N1 level (on the Japanese Language Proficiency Test scale).
- Learn French to a confident level.
- Revisit web-design to improve the accessibility and SEO of my website.
| Summary of CPD goals: Find a specialistion, Japanese, French, SEO |
What About Outside of Work?
Outside of work, I have various hobbies and interests. I am an avid video-gamer; I also love to cook and bake, and I dabble with writing story ideas and short stories on the side. I read manga in Japanese, too, and study a little bit of (socio)linguistics when I can.
Because I do plenty of reading throughout my normal workday, I spend a lot of free moments listening to audiobooks. My favourite genre is LitRPG fantasy/sci-fi (imagine a fantasy book, but the main character has to navigate a progression system and magical physics like you might see in a video-game or table-top role-playing-game).
If I were to offer any recommendations, it would be:
- Dungeon Crawler Carl, series by Matt Dinniman
- Noobtown, series by Ryan Rimmel
- The Wraith’s Haunt, series by Hugo Huesca
When I desperately need to get out of the house, I like riding my motorbike to biker cafes, hiking in the woods with my headphones in, or keeping up with some of my old martial arts training in the back-garden where I have a punching bag and calisthenics bars. (I run away though when someone suggests I actually garden in the garden…)
| To summarise: gaming, writing, cooking, motorbiking, hiking, martial arts, not gardening |
