Between the lines: Richard Peters

• What’s the longest or most unusual word you’ve used (in your texts) this week?

I’ve always had a penchant for unusual, low-frequency words, but corporate communications don’t always give me the chance to really work my word-hoard. Only today, I opted for the somewhat run-of-the-mill “constant” over the decidedly more poetic “steadfast” to render the German word “konsequent” for one of our customers, mindful of the fact that the target audience in this case was non-native English.

• Of all the languages you don’t speak, which one would you most like to learn and why?

I speak quite a few languages already, but (ignoring the ones I have just a smattering of) they’re all Indo-European. It’s about time I tried my hand at something from further afield – ideally with a new alphabet for me to learn, too, to up the challenge. I find Arabic calligraphy beautiful: perhaps I’d start there.

• What are you reading right now?

I’d like to say that I – of course! – set aside time in my hectic daily schedule to sit at the feet of the literary greats. Way back when I was backpacking around the world, I got to grips with the likes of Dickens and Tolstoy. These days I rarely find a moment to curl up on the sofa with a good book. When I can, I enjoy SF; the untimely death in 2013 of Scottish writer Iain M. Banks saddened me greatly.

• Beer or wine?

Yes please, I’m parched! (Sorry, I thought you were offering me a drink…)

• Beach holiday or city break?

Whilst I enjoy spending a bit of time at the beach, I’m more of a city break kind of guy, not least because that gives me a wider variety of things to photograph.

• Chocolate or vanilla?

Some people say plain vanilla is boring. I find that if you get the right one it can blow your mind!