the scriever story
Posted by Anna Stevenson on September 07, 2022
Get to know scriever co-founders Anna and Janice, as they share their story from successful freelancers to providers of creative, multilingual publishing solutions.
Janice: It was something we’d been talking about for a long time! We’ve been friends and colleagues for years – we worked alongside each other in house, and then often collaborated as freelancers, but wanted to combine our skills and create something that was uniquely ‘us’. As linguists, we both feel passionate about foreign-language provision for non-English speakers – visitors to Scotland as well as customers buying Scottish brands – so that’s a big part of who we are and what we want to achieve with scriever.
Anna: Between us we’d built up a real breadth and depth of publishing experience, as well as a great range of trusted contacts that other people often came to us for. The translation, creative and publishing process can be daunting if you’re not familiar with it – with scriever, our aim is to support clients at every stage, helping them reach their audience wherever they are.
Anna: ‘Scriever’ is a Scots word meaning writer – or, more accurately, ‘scribbler’. We work with words, so it sums up what we do with a nod to our Scottish heritage.
Janice: Appropriately, one of the early projects we worked on at scriever was the Scots Dictionary for Schools app, for Dictionaries of the Scots Language (DSL), and we’ve since created a Scots-Polish version including notes in Polish about Scots culture. It was a lovely reminder of just how many fantastic Scots words there are, some in regular use and others less familiar.
Janice: For me the major challenge is self-promotion and really putting ourselves out there. It doesn’t come naturally to me to shout about our achievements, but I’ve quickly realised that most people are willing to talk and also offer advice.
Anna: Yes, the promotion side is definitely a learning curve! Also, we were setting up scriever alongside existing work commitments, so there were some long hours while we juggled everything.
Anna: I’m loving the variety of work – we’ve worked with clients from a range of sectors, so the content is very diverse. It’s great to find projects we’re passionate about or that have a real social purpose, such as health and wellbeing resources. I’m also interested in the technology side, offering creative solutions through apps, audio and digital publishing.
Janice: I love meeting new clients and building relationships with them. Finding out exactly what clients need, and providing a really personal service is incredibly rewarding. And the bonus is we get to meet lovely people, make genuine connections and help them share their story.
Janice: A favourite word in English is 'discombobulated'. All those syllables! In Italian, 'figurati' – useful in so many contexts and impossible to say without a shrug of the shoulder.
Anna: I like the English word 'petrichor' – the smell of rain when it hits dry ground. Another favourite is the Portuguese word 'saudade'. It's famously impossible to translate into English (there are whole websites devoted to this word) but it suggests a feeling of wistfulness or nostalgia.