François Manceaux

As an English language enthusiast, François found at ISIT what he was looking for after graduating from high school : a high level of multilingualism and a solid pluridisciplinary education. After working at the UN headquarters in New York for three years and passing the UN recruitment exam for the organization’s language staff, he joined the UN office in Geneva as a permanent in-house translator in 2021. 

Before ISIT?

After seven years of secondary education near Paris, I graduated from high school in 2005, with an economics and social sciences baccalaureat, specializing in English.  

Why ISIT?

In my last year of high school, a career counselor advised that I applied to take a Bachelor’s degree in applied languages, which seemed to match my profile. 

Before jumping In head first, I asked my English teacher for her opinion. Since she knew my passion for the language, she encouraged me to pursue a much more demanding education at a translation school about which she had heard a lot of great things: ISIT. I took her advice, and have never regretted it! 

What are the strengths of ISIT, according to your experience?

• Thanks to its high-quality language and translation classes, taught by competent professionals, its highly enriching general education (law, international geopolitics, economics, marketing and communication classes, and much more), and the personalized guidance and tutelage provided to the students, I believe ISIT was a perfect match with my expectations.
• Its excellent reputation, in particular in the field of translation, enabled me to find valuable internships, including one at the headquarters of the Franco-German TV channel Arte. 

What was your journey after graduating from ISIT?

• After graduating from ISIT with an Intercultural Communications and Translation master’s degree, I was a freelance translator for three years.
• I then became a technical translation teacher (from English to French) for third-year students at ISIT, while still completing translation missions for various clients.
  Among these clients, I started working for the New York United Nations’ French Translation Department in New York as of 2015.
• In September 2016, I signed an 11-month temporary contract with the UN Headquarters. I then worked in New York for three years, over the course of which I passed the UN’s translation exam. I then worked for three months at the UN Office in Geneva in 2020, before becoming a permanent in-house translator in September 2021.

Do you have any advice for the ISIT students/alumni ?

• No matter the path they choose, I advise all ISIT students to spend as much time as they can abroad.
• But they should do so without overlooking advanced training in their French, which will set them apart on the market at least as much as their other languages.
• To achieve this, I strongly advise them to read as much as they can (both literature and quality print press), to stay up to date with international news, and to cultivate their curiosity, both during their studies and over the course of their career.