I left the United Kingdom for the shores of the Blue Danube the best part of a quarter of a century ago; during that time, I have learned to understand German (in its dazzling array of variants from High German to down-to-earth Viennese dialect), as well as the notoriously "impossible" and wonderfully intricate Hungarian language. Moreover, I must confess, I have learned more about my native English than I could ever have done by staying on British soil. I have worked as a local journalist, an English teacher, a bilingual secretary and since 2005, as a freelance translator, proofreader and interpreter.