Translations are here – with Lucie helping!

Lucie Moore, intern at Taylor’s Art English last summer, will be resuming her post and providing assistance in translation, copywriting and research. Her first day back in the office, Lucie told me how her work with TAE led her to discovering what she currently feels has the potential to become her life’s work: translation. Compelled by this, I decided to give Lucie some space to relay a bit more about her interesting trajectory – which also highlights some key values of TAE’s business proposition.

Lucie Moore, a native of Santa Fe, New Mexico, is a senior student in comparative literature at the American University of Paris, where she will be completing her final semester this fall. She writes:

“I entered into comparative literature student because of a love for the written word that I have always had. One of my most prized possessions growing up was a collection of historical fiction diaries (the other, I’ll admit, was a pet ferret called Merlin). One summer there was a massive wildfire that broke out near a nuclear testing facility an hour away from our home in New Mexico, so my mother, not wanting to take any chances, decided to take us to California to stay with relatives. Whereas my sister pragmatically packed a suitcase full of clothes, I brought my books, my ferret – but no clothes.

Many friends often said I had a penchant for writing – but I stopped believing this once I passed the age of 12. However, I did become a comparative literature partly in thanks to this support, and took an opportunity to study abroad in Rennes, France, for a year. After that, French became something I was interested in developing into a skill set.
Entering university, I was still unsure as to how I myself might translate into the career world. Even once having an area of study affixed to my identity, I didn’t know! It’s one thing to have a skill, it’s another knowing where and how to use it. I applied to intern at Taylor’s Art English because the idea of working in proximity to art had always appealed. Perhaps art could be where my literary training would find a home.

Well, at TAE, my writing skills found a true home. Timing was perfect, because it was a period when TAE received many translation requests, including some very urgent ones. I discovered a new interest and an effective playfield for my talents. Although I was undertaking a semester of advanced French study at the Université Marseille-Aix at the time, I surprisingly found myself taking more interest, and greater pleasure, in working on the French to English translations for art fairs, galleries, and auction houses from TAE than in my own class assignments. (My personal justification was that, at the end of the day, I was improving my French one way or another).
After my internship at TAE ended last December, I registered for all of the translation-related courses that I could for my spring semester at AUP. I suddenly had an idea for my senior thesis that had for so long loomed oppressively on the horizon: I would translate a novella, and in the process, write a critical essay pertaining to translation theory. This all thanks to my internship at TAE. Being willing to try something different strikes me as a good approach generally.
It is a pleasure to again contribute to TAE’s services this summer. And it will be an honor to actively engage in offering all of TAE’s clients excellent translation services alongside the promise of more creative and innovative ways of learning English with art and for art!”

Translations happening in TAE’s home office