#WeCare – That’s what I took away from Languages & The Media in Budapest last week. We care about our work, our craft, and, most importantly, about each other. Academics, broadcasters, content owners, LSPs, practitioners, researchers, and tech providers (in alphabetical order), we have so much more in common than what divides us.

Not saying everyone does, but those who took the trouble to attend this event clearly care. Sometimes, we get so caught up in our daily hustle and our own bubbles that we lose sight of the bigger picture. And that picture includes all of us, united by a shared vision: to bring entertainment to global audiences and make a sustainable living from it.

It’s not a zero-sum game. Collaboration doesn’t mean sacrificing our interests; it means finding ethical, innovative ways to grow together.

And this is the spirit I felt prevailed in the end, despite the initial friction, during the panel I had the honor of chairing on #ModernWorkflows. It felt like we made an important step in listening to one another. Pawel Aleksandrowicz’s humorous presentation certainly helped lighten the mood, but most importantly he proved how well-crafted subtitles can make a show even more popular with target language audiences.

The event was inspiring on so many levels, professionally and academically, but it was also a celebration. I got to reconnect with amazing women who I admire immensely. Belén Agulló García, Nefeli Antonopoulou, Lindsay Bywood, Yota Georgakopoulou, Anna Matamala, Tamara McDonough, Ana Gabriela G Meade, Tina Shortland, Gabriela Scandura, Silvia Surian, Agnieszka Szarkowska, Giselle Spiteri Miggiani, Änne Troester (in alphabetical order), your talent, empathy, and compassion are simply remarkable. I don't know how you do it, but you elevate this industry in ways that are genuinely contagious. If the conference attendees took even a fraction of that energy home, they returned much richer for it. I know I certainly did.

Highlights for me included:
🌟 The Jan Ivarsson Award presented to Elena Di Giovanni for her unwavering passion and dedication to media accessibility.
🌟 The warm and vibrant ESIST - European Association for Studies in Screen Translation networking event, where our group tackled the taboo of #PivotSubtitling: Should practitioners embrace such projects, or leave them to those fluent in the source language?
🌟 The signing of the Memorandum of Understanding between ESIST and SUBTLE – the Subtitlers'​ Association, a proud moment that marks the beginning of a meaningful collaboration - details to be shared soon!
Thank you Sharon Black, David Orrego-Carmona, Carol O'Sullivan, Serenella Massidda, Emília Perez, Sara Ramos Pinto, you are such an awesome team to work with!

I’ll admit, I thought I’d miss the Radisson Blue and its aquarium, but the venue in Budapest was a clear upgrade, spacious, comfortable, and the service was exceptional. Jorge Díaz-Cintas, good luck topping that at the Senate House in 2026!