Liz Potter
Senior Editor
Like most people who write dictionaries for a living, I became a lexicographer by chance. After taking two degrees in Italian at Edinburgh University I spent a decade working in Italy and the UK as an ELT teacher and course organiser, and as a teacher and translator of Italian. I was looking for a change when a friend spotted a job ad for a bilingual lexicographer; I applied and got the job. Like most people I had never thought of lexicography as a possible career and had only the haziest idea of what lexicographers actually did, but I’ve been doing it ever since.
I worked full time for a couple of dictionary publishers before turning freelance in 1999. Since then, as well as writing and editing a wide range of monolingual and bilingual dictionaries, I have continued to work as a translator from Italian. For several years I wrote a weekly article on English language and usage that was published on the Internet. The most enjoyable aspect of that job was contact with the readers, both language learners and language experts, whose queries and comments were endlessly stimulating.
For Macmillan I have worked as a compiler and editor on both editions of MED, as well as the Essential and the Spanish Pocket dictionaries. I also wrote some of the study pages for the Essential and MED2, and wrote some of the practice exercises on the new MED2 CD-ROM. For MED Magazine I answer queries from readers and write occasional reviews of books on language.
When I have time to spare from work and family life (I have two children, one a student at university, one still at school), I am very keen on gardening. As well as a fair-sized garden at home I have an allotment where I grow many different kinds of fruit and vegetables. I also sing in a choir that is based at the university here in Birmingham. Twice a year we get to sing in the city’s magnificent Symphony Hall, which is always a thrill.