It was instant attraction: the concept, the passion for language, the name! And they had a position open that seemed to describe me to a tee. Fast-forward a few months, and here I am. At Supertext headquarters in Züri-West, piles of paper already accumulating around me, surrounded by colleagues even lovelier than their portraits on the Supertext website give away.
A long story short
As a rule of thumb, all expats have a long personal story to tell. So let me briefly share mine. I was born to Japanese parents, spent my early childhood in the sunny state of California, had a few testing years in Japan before surviving adolescence in Hertfordshire, England. I studied in London before making a move to Berlin, where I was based for almost 9 years. 6 months ago, our family relocated to Zürich and quickly fell in love with this country. We’ve swapped bohemian cafés and cheap rent for long walks and lakeside picnics: not a bad deal at all. Do I miss the Berliner Schnauze? A little. Would I give up the feuerstelle where we barbecue pretty much every weekend? Definitely not. So we’re here to stay.
Grüezi, hello and yoroshiku
As language manager, I’ll be handling the English projects. Maybe Japanese projects as well, in the future. I’ve already had the pleasure of getting to know some of the copywriters, translators and editors and I look forward to meeting more. The past two weeks have flown by and I’m sure some information has failed to stick. But I’ve had great support from the team as I learn the ropes.
Different strokes
Just as I’d hoped, the Supertext team is a good mix of Swiss and international folk. So on a lunch break, I can learn about the Swiss obsession with the “Föhn” (a holy wind, as I understood it) as well as the different concepts of “queueing” in different cultures. I’m looking forward to further discussions about eating habits (the concept of “warm” and “cold” food still defies me) and rubbish collection (the Japanese are even more obsessive than the Germans). And of course, about our common passion: language. Any contributions are welcome!
Cover picture: Photo via Supertext