On a warm Brussels evening, four intrepid souls—an Aussie, a Belgian, a Turk, and a Russo-Belgian—gathered for CBTI’s inaugural FR-EN translators comedy night. The turnout may have been modest, but the conversation and laughter flowed freely.
Held at The Black Sheep, the evening began with pre-show chatter between Francis Auquier (the coordinator of the CBTI English-French Network and also head of LinguaJuris – CBTI’s Sworn Translators & Interpreters Commission), Scott James (a freshly minted CBTI member), Serge (musician, translator-by-osmosis, of Russian heritage), and me—Başak, translator, interpreter, and recalcitrant organizer.
The comedy was… varied. A young Spaniard kicked off with jokes about his moustache and identity crisis. I smiled politely. Next came a more experienced Indian comedian with jabs about colonialism and the UK. Less moustache, more meat. Serge found him too tame. I laughed anyway, thanks to a €17 burger, €10 G&T, and Francis and Scott’s infectious laughter.
The space was perfect—good acoustics, friendly service, decent lighting. And once the show ended, we took the party outside.
That’s when the real value of the evening kicked in: networking. We swapped notes on the sworn translation path, Smart ASBL, where to get that pesky 40-hour legal training, and how CBTI can deepen ties with Belgian universities. I also shared my (hopefully) upcoming conference appearance in November at “Putting Translators on the Map” (UGent + KU Leuven).
Was it free? Nope. Surprise €22 tickets, €8 parking, and overpriced pub grub. But was it worth it? Absolutely. Laughter + colleagues + insider info = a damn good reason to come to our next event.