Franceschi Estelle

Estelle Franceschi is an experienced lawyer-linguist and a former student at ISIT and at the Jean Monnet law faculty in Sceaux. After 28 years combining law and languages (German and English), she decided to take a new path.
Certified by ISIT in New Translation Technologies in 2020, Estelle now works as a freelancer in both:

• Legal translation (German and English into French)
• Teaching legal translation in her working languages for master’s courses at ISIT and for first-year law students starting in September 2020.

Before ISIT?

Languages and interculturality have always led me through my experiences in life.

My studies were mainly centered around languages:

• I started my studies at ISIT in partnership with the Jean Monnet law faculty in Sceaux as part of my DEUG (university general studies diploma) Erasmus exchange program (with German and English as my working languages).
• I then chose to pursue a double curriculum by obtaining a French-German law degree at Paris II Assas in 1993.
• Finally, I defended a dissertation about the right to know your origins (in French and German comparative civil law and private international comparative law) in September 1996 for my DEA (Certificate of Further Education) in private international law and international business law, received in 1996 at Paris I Panthéon Sorbonne.

My professional life was heavily influenced by languages:

• I worked 15 years as a legal expert in international affairs and as a data security officer for leaders in the pharmaceutical industry (Astrazeneca, Pfizer, Nestlé Skin Health), in biotechnologies (LFB) and in telecommunications (Ericson).
• My never-ending journey to gain experience as a “cultural mediator” led me to take the legal lead on projects including international, commercial, industrial, and R&D in multicultural situations.
  e.g.: the creation of Joint-venture in Asia, and a data protection compliance program for a pharmaceuticals group and its 11 subsidiaries.

Managing these projects involved working on many translations from German or English into French or the other way around depending on my employers.

Why did you choose an executive education at ISIT?

My goal to become a legal translator was one that has been important to me ever since I started my higher education and that was strengthened by a skills assessment in 2015. I finally reached that goal in 2018 after an in-depth analysis of the specialized translation market, and of my transferable knowledge, know-how, and skills as a legal translator and after following courses leading to a qualification in this field.

This realization quickly led me to choose the one-year executive education in new translation technologies at ISIT. The school met my needs, which were to acquire:
– technical skills,
– translator certification,
– know-how  needed  to create an independent business activity for my desired career change

The benefits of that executive education ?

• ISIT is the only school to offer an executive education program in one year instead of two, providing a recognized certification and covering the use of the tools and methodology for specialized translation, a necessary skill when changing careers to gain quick access to the employment market;
• I greatly enjoyed the versatility and the intercultural dimension that I had already appreciated during the 2019/2020 school year. In 8 months, you acquire knowledge about a range of tools and CAT methods which apply to various fields, such as: legal, financial, marketing, web, scientific, and audiovisual. Moreover, the intercultural dimension is essential to help you write the dissertation (MTAT) which must be on a current intercultural issue linked to its professional background; 
• The multiple speakers are experienced professionals who provide both know-how and professional expertise.
• Finally, it provides a tangible experience in a company environment in the form of a three-month internship. In my case, it enabled me to acquire new translation skills with Studio 2019, and to improve my understanding of the relationship between a freelance translator and an agency. As a result I was able to set myself up as a freelance translator.

And today ?

Estelle Franceschi has been working as a freelance legal translator (German-French) for the European Court of Justice since 2022.