Emese Antal Cuth’s (Mesh) passion for languages has always been present throughout her professional life. As Hungarian is not a high-demand language, Mesh has a variety of jobs. She is an interpreter and translator, a university tutor and works with software localisation. She really enjoys the variety and doesn’t get bored!
Mesh moved to Australia in 2011, and for the past seven years she has been working as a Translation & Localisation Specialist at the automotive SaaS (software as a service) company Infomedia. As part of her job, she coordinates the localisation of automotive software applications (as well as training and marketing materials) into more than 40 languages.
This year she decided to switch to part-time work at Infomedia to dedicate more time to her other passions: academic work and interpreting.
Since February 2021, Mesh has been doing sessional work for Macquarie University: she is mainly involved in the Translation & Interpreting program’s Translation Technology unit, and she also lectures in a unit called Cultural and Literary Translation/Transcreation.
In late 2021, Mesh saw an ad on LinkedIn promoting the NSW Interpreter Scholarship Program and she couldn’t resist signing up. She had done some interpreting work back in Hungary but never had the chance to seriously pursue this path. “I’m so glad I jumped at the opportunity – it is so fulfilling to be able to help the Hungarian community!”
Mesh got NAATI-certified as a Hungarian-English interpreter in September 2022, and since then she has been able to engage in a variety of assignments. “I just had my very first court interpreting assignment, and it was a great experience. I mainly do medical assignments, but I’m also working to expand my knowledge and experience in the legal field. I love memorising medical and legal terms, seeing and hearing them in context, maintaining and expanding my glossaries, and constantly educating myself through various trainings. I love being able to help my community.
Doing interpreting work is something I’ve always yearned for, even without knowing it. I recently interpreted for an elderly lady at an aged care facility. To be the link that made it possible for a frail, elderly lady to communicate her thoughts and feelings was an amazing experience. At another time, I had to sight translate an elderly woman’s last will to make sure she clearly understood everything before signing the document. It was deeply moving. With assignments like this, there is always a deep sense of fulfillment. I’m so grateful I can work in this profession.
I’m hoping I’ll keep getting more assignments in the future. I want to be a very good, solid, reliable, trusted interpreter for the Hungarian community in Sydney – and, via remote work, hopefully in wider Australia as well.”
We asked Mesh about this year’s topic for International Translations Day: Translation unveils the many faces of humanity.
“Thanks to translated materials we can have our eyes opened to human stories, knowledge and cultures that, without a knowledge of the source language, would have always remained hidden from us. And interpreting – especially community interpreting – unveils the many faces of humanity by giving people the chance to have their voice heard in a country whose official language they’re not proficient in,” Mesh added.
Mesh’s journey with languages
An ethnic Hungarian, Mesh was born in Slovakia and spent her primary school years there, becoming fluent in Slovak. In her teenage years, she moved to Canada with her family. It was in Canada that she donned the nickname “Mesh” after a high school friend started calling her by this name.
Always an avid reader, she fell in love with English and American literature, and the beauty and power of language. She even started translating one of her favorite American novels into Hungarian as a teenager.
In the year 2000 she moved to Budapest, Hungary. Her first job there was teaching English to adult professionals. While she was working towards her master’s degree in English Language and Literature at ELTE University, she was tested for and received the opportunity to start working as a literary translator. After graduating she had a variety of jobs, ranging from being an in-house medical translator to working as a translations project manager at a translation agency in Budapest. Besides Hungarian, Slovak and English, at various points in her life she also studied German, French, Finnish, Danish and even classical Tibetan.
