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Poll: Where are you investing most of your professional development time this year?
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This forum topic is for the discussion of the poll question "Where are you investing most of your professional development time this year?".

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Maria Teresa Borges de Almeida
Maria Teresa Borges de Almeida  Identity Verified
Portugal
Local time: 22:28
Member (2007)
English to Portuguese
+ ...
N/A 12:10

As I’ve had less work than usual, I’ve been spending my free time on things that interest me rather than on professional development, although it’s all interconnected. So, I have been reading a lot: a small book by Leïla Slimani called «Le parfum des fleurs la nuit»; an interesting book by Siri Hustvedt called «A Summer without men»; a very hard book to get through on homeostasis by Antonio Damasio titled «The Strange Order of Things»; I’m now in the middle of «Ghost Stories» by... See more
As I’ve had less work than usual, I’ve been spending my free time on things that interest me rather than on professional development, although it’s all interconnected. So, I have been reading a lot: a small book by Leïla Slimani called «Le parfum des fleurs la nuit»; an interesting book by Siri Hustvedt called «A Summer without men»; a very hard book to get through on homeostasis by Antonio Damasio titled «The Strange Order of Things»; I’m now in the middle of «Ghost Stories» by Siri Hustvedt and after that I’ll start reading a trilogy also by Leïla Slimani «Le Pays des autres», «Regardez nous danser» and «J’emporterai le feu».

I’ve also been binge-watching TV series and taking notes on topics that interest me: «Lost Treasures of Ancient Greece», «Mysteries of Ancient Medicine», «Drain the Oceans», «Secrets of the Elephants» and «Ocean with David Attenborough» on National Geographic…

That’s all!


[Edited at 2026-07-28 12:21 GMT] ▲ Collapse


Edith van der Have
Peter Simon
 
Edith van der Have
Edith van der Have
Netherlands
Local time: 23:28
Member (2016)
English to Dutch
+ ...
New hobby 14:08

Maria Teresa Borges de Almeida wrote:

As I’ve had less work than usual, I’ve been spending my free time on things that interest me rather than on professional development, although it’s all interconnected. So, I have been reading a lot: a small book by Leïla Slimani called «Le parfum des fleurs la nuit»; an interesting book by Siri Hustvedt called «A Summer without men»; a very hard book to get through on homeostasis by Antonio Damasio titled «The Strange Order of Things»; I’m now in the middle of «Ghost Stories» by Siri Hustvedt and after that I’ll start reading a trilogy also by Leïla Slimani «Le Pays des autres», «Regardez nous danser» and «J’emporterai le feu».

I’ve also been binge-watching TV series and taking notes on topics that interest me: «Lost Treasures of Ancient Greece», «Mysteries of Ancient Medicine», «Drain the Oceans», «Secrets of the Elephants» and «Ocean with David Attenborough» on National Geographic…

That’s all!


[Edited at 2026-07-28 12:21 GMT]

Same here! I've discovered playing piano - learning from scratch since last winter - and my work has become an afterthought

 
Maria Teresa Borges de Almeida
Maria Teresa Borges de Almeida  Identity Verified
Portugal
Local time: 22:28
Member (2007)
English to Portuguese
+ ...
@Edith 14:56

I should have said also that I have been watching some piano players on Mezzo: the master musicians - Martha Argerich and Maria João Pires, both child prodigies - and the young Khatia Buniatishvili, also a child prodigy.

Huge congratulations to you – taking up the piano at a certain age is no easy feat. One of my daughters is doing the same. My mum was a pianist (she used to accompany ballet classes); when she died, she left the piano to my daughter in the hope that she would st... See more
I should have said also that I have been watching some piano players on Mezzo: the master musicians - Martha Argerich and Maria João Pires, both child prodigies - and the young Khatia Buniatishvili, also a child prodigy.

Huge congratulations to you – taking up the piano at a certain age is no easy feat. One of my daughters is doing the same. My mum was a pianist (she used to accompany ballet classes); when she died, she left the piano to my daughter in the hope that she would start learning… ▲ Collapse
 
Lieven Malaise
Lieven Malaise  Identity Verified
Belgium
Local time: 23:28
Member (2020)
French to Dutch
+ ...
NA 18:43

21 years ago I started my freelancing business armed with a secondary school Greek-Latin degree, a higher education translation degree, 3 language pairs and 5 year inhouse experience as a translator. Since then my professional development has consisted of work, work and then some more work. I have never felt the need to follow any courses.
 
Luis M. Sosa
Luis M. Sosa  Identity Verified
Ecuador
Local time: 16:28
English to Spanish
+ ...
NA 21:09

In a rather scattered way, I have been visiting the websites of large multinationals, and have seen –without much wonder- how poor localization is all over the place. This is evident in the English to Spanish pair. Have no idea of what is happening in other markets/language pairs, but have a gut feeling that it might well be the same.
 


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Poll: Where are you investing most of your professional development time this year?






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