Chris Durban is a freelance translator (French to English) based in Paris, where she specializes in publication-level texts for demanding clients—the shareholders, customers, and partners of a range of French corporations and institutions. For years she wrote a client education column called “The Onionskin” that ran in ITI Bulletin (UK) and ATA’s The Chronicle (US), and she is coauthor of the Fire Ant & Worker Bee advice column in Translation Journal. In 2010 she published an updated and revised compilation of FA&WB columns in book form: The Prosperous Translator.
Chris regularly gives lectures/workshops on specialization and working with direct clients, and has published many articles. Most emphasize the benefits that accrue to translators and clients alike when linguists take a proactive approach. For examples, see www.jostrans.org/issue01/art_durban.pdf and http://www.bokorlang.com/journal/23roundtablea.htm.
Chris is also the author of Translation, Getting it Right, a 30 page guide for translation buyers published in the US by ATA, and currently available in eleven languages. Over 120,000 paper copies have been distributed worldwide. She is coauthor, with Alan Melby, of Translation — Buying a non-commodity, currently available in English and French. Every two years, she serves as coorganizer of Société française des traducteurs (SFT)’s Université d’été de la traduction financière, a three-day event especially for financial translators.
Chris is a member of ATA and SFT, and a fellow of ITI (UK). A past president of SFT, she was awarded the ATA’s Gode Medal in 2001.
