{"id":2197,"date":"2026-01-16T13:00:44","date_gmt":"2026-01-16T13:00:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/iti-frenchnetwork.co.uk\/?p=2197"},"modified":"2026-01-16T13:00:44","modified_gmt":"2026-01-16T13:00:44","slug":"ruth-simpson","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/iti-frenchnetwork.co.uk\/?p=2197","title":{"rendered":"Ruth Simpson"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/p>\n

Ruth Simpson<\/a> is a French to English translator specialising in wine, cosmetics and personal development.<\/em><\/p>\n

Who are you? Please introduce yourself
\n<\/strong>Hi, I\u2019m Ruth Simpson, a British translator based in Chablis. I help French brands create fluent, natural English, mostly in wine, beauty, and personal development. When I\u2019m not at my desk, you\u2019ll find me wandering through the vineyards or making music with my jazz band. I\u2019m also right in the middle of creating a training organisation to teach specialised English to wine professionals (www.winewords.fr). Since I\u2019m based in France and need to get special certification to access training funds, I\u2019m experiencing the delights of the French administrative system.<\/p>\n

Do you translate, interpret, or both? What are your areas of specialism?
\n<\/strong>I translate. I did train as an interpreter as well as a translator, and I\u2019ve done a spot of interpreting here and there, but I prefer to leave that to the specialists. My areas of expertise are wine, beauty and personal development. I spent several years in Paris working at L\u2019Or\u00e9al\u2019s Luxury Division and teaching English to employees there, so a specialisation in cosmetics was a natural decision when I set up as a translator in 2008. Wine came later. My husband\u2019s family have been making wine here in Chablis since the early nineteenth century, so it\u2019s all around me. In 2010 I decided to take my burgeoning interest in the subject more seriously, and eventually worked through all four levels of the Wine & Spirit Education Trust\u2019s programmes, finishing up with their notoriously challenging Diploma in 2013. I\u2019ve also trained other translators in wine and spirits, which has been enormously satisfying.<\/p>\n

Why did you decide to get into translation or interpreting?
\n<\/strong>I loved teaching adults in Paris, but when my life\u2019s path wound its way to rural Chablis, I decided that an online profession was the way to go. This was in 2008 before we all became skilled Zoomers. Having a flexible schedule was a godsend with my young children and hard-working husband. Before my exodus from the French capital, I trained as a translator and interpreter for a year with the University of London Institute in Paris in preparation for my career move. I started out slowly, but soon built up my business. I love the variety it brings, but most of all I love the translation community and people I get to know at annual events.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/strong>What\u2019s your favourite type of project?
\n<\/strong>I enjoy projects that mix knowledge with creativity. Tasting notes can be informative yet utterly engaging, product descriptions for the luxury industry can really capture a brand\u2019s personality, and personal development texts can provide motivation on a dreary Monday morning. I particularly enjoy long-term collaborations where I can get to grips with a brand\u2019s true voice.<\/p>\n

What do you do outside of translation or interpreting?
\n<\/strong>Music is my first love. I sing jazz in a seven-piece band, play the ukulele and violin, and I\u2019m a huge musical theatre geek. I get to combine music with translation when I direct the choir at the Mediterranean Editors and Translators annual conference. I try to keep fit by hiking in the vineyards at the weekends, but inevitably I end up going home to cook a meal in my beloved Thermomix and all my effort goes out of the window.<\/p>\n

My two children also keep me very busy, especially now my son is at lyc\u00e9e in a nearby town. I\u2019ve just taken on the role of President of the parent\u2019s association at my daughter\u2019s coll\u00e8ge, which is going to keep me extra busy over the next four years!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Ruth Simpson is a French to English translator specialising in wine, cosmetics and personal development. Who are you? Please introduce […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":715,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"default","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"default","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"set","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2197","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-meet-our-members"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/iti-frenchnetwork.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2197","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/iti-frenchnetwork.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/iti-frenchnetwork.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/iti-frenchnetwork.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/iti-frenchnetwork.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2197"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/iti-frenchnetwork.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2197\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2199,"href":"https:\/\/iti-frenchnetwork.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2197\/revisions\/2199"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/iti-frenchnetwork.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/715"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/iti-frenchnetwork.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2197"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/iti-frenchnetwork.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2197"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/iti-frenchnetwork.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2197"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}