Chris Durban

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 coauthored 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 as The Prosperous Translator. In 2014 she contributed to 101 Things a Translator Needs to Know, published by WLF.

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 here and here.

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 fifteen languages. Over 200,000 paper copies have been distributed worldwide. She is coauthor of Translation — Buying a non-commodity, currently available in English, French and German. 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.