ITI Scottish Network invites you to its autumn workshop:
Translating botany: not all a bed of roses?
with LYNDA HEPBURN
To be held at
The Quaker Meeting House, Edinburgh
on Saturday, 11 October 2025
Programme
9:30 Registration/foregather (tea/coffee available)
10:00 Workshop (part 1)
11:15 Refreshment break
11:45 Workshop (part 2)
1:00 End of workshop
1:30 Networking lunch at Ciao Roma
Venue & Lunch
The workshop will take place at the Quaker Meeting House, 7 Victoria Terrace, above Victoria St, Edinburgh EH1 2JL. The venue is about 10 mins walk from Waverley Station. For lunch, we will be going to the nearby Ciao Roma Italian restaurant (64 South Bridge, EH1 1LS). Both venues offer wheelchair accessible toilets.
Topic
Translating botany may seem like a niche specialism, but think how often gardening, agriculture, forestry, plant research, conservation and similar topics crop up and require us to know how to deal with some aspect of botanical nomenclature, morphology or ecology! What is more, the issues involved in botanical translation can also be applied to many other areas of science, from astronomy to zoology. This talk is therefore not for the botanical specialist but for anyone interested in methods to cope with the many fields in which authors write about plants.
The first session will present some of the common challenges of botanical translation, illustrated by examples from the speaker’s own translations of such diverse texts as a field guide to Mediterranean flowers, a book on healing plants and a tropical plant lexicon. Examples from the German originals will be glossed for non-German speakers. Participants will have the chance to discover and solve some
illustrative examples via interactive polls.
The second session will be a translation exercise in small language-specific groups, followed by a plenary to share the translation challenges and how these were solved. There will be one text out of English and foreign language texts for those translating into English. The subject matter will of course be botanical but not highly technical.
By the end we will be better able to meet the common challenges of botanical translation giving
participants creative strategies to apply in their own field, be this scientific or not.
Speaker
Lynda Hepburn originally trained in ecological sciences, working as a field botanist for nature
conservation in the Scottish Highlands for around 20 years, before embarking on a second career as a
translator. While translating a varied range of mainly science and technology, she is always delighted
when a botanical translation project comes along.
Cost
Workshop:
ITI Scottish Network members: free
Non-ITI members: £25
ITI members (but not ScotNet): £10
Students: free
Please choose the relevant ticket when registering on Eventbrite.
Lunch:
Participants will be able to pay for their meal individually at the restaurant.
Please choose the relevant ticket when registering on Eventbrite to indicate that you would like to join for lunch.
Registration
To register for the ITI ScotNet Spring Workshop 2025, please click on the following Eventbrite link:
Please register by Friday 26 September 2025 at the latest.
General information
If you can offer or would like a lift or overnight accommodation, please post a message on the ScotNet e-group or let Norma know by emailing Norma@tclweb.co.uk.
5 x £30 grants are available for ScotNet members living outside the central belt who wish to attend this event. Please email Victoria Dalrymple at treasurer@itiscotland.org.uk to apply for a grant.
To find out more about joining the network, please contact ScotNet Membership Secretary Alicja Tokarska at membership@itiscotland.org.uk.
