First Impressions

Marianne joined Atlas on work placement earlier this year, and we asked her to share some of her first impressions of her time with us so far. Here’s what she came up with:

I started my work placement of four months with Atlas at the beginning of May. I had no idea what to expect, because before arriving I had no idea how a translation company works. As a student in foreign languages, I have already studied translation at university, so it’s a really positive experience to practice something new and experience other tasks within the industry.

My main challenge for the first month was to remember all the different tasks I had to do. It was quite hard at the beginning to learn to use software I was not familiar with and (being a non-native English speaker) the new vocabulary took time to learn. There are lots of words specific to a business environment that I had never come across at university or anywhere else before. But thanks to the small size of the company, it is easy to get an explanation when something is unclear.

I really enjoy the positive atmosphere at Atlas. The fact that many of the team members are from different countries, gives the company a multicultural feel. I’ve also noticed a few differences in the way of working between a British and a French agency. For example, drinking tea with milk!

I have a lot of things to learn in the next months, and I enjoy feeling more comfortable step by step with the tasks I am given, and how to deal with clients’ requests. I am looking forward to the remainder of my work placement!