ATA News and Activities

Broadcast Announcement

ATA News Update: Message from the President

ATA Offers Support for Aid to Translators and Interpreters in Iraq and Afghanistan

The Board of Directors of the American Translators Association approved a motion to express public support for protecting and aiding threatened translators and interpreters in Iraq and Afghanistan. Specifically, ATA supports raising the number of U.S. visas earmarked each year for Iraqi and Afghan translators and interpreters.

At its recent meeting, the ATA Board discussed the plight of translators and interpreters in Iraq and Afghanistan and pending legislation to aid them through increased visas. Regardless of the training the Iraqi and Afghan linguists have, they deserve to be protected. They are being targeted precisely because they are translators and interpreters.

We see this as a basic humanitarian issue. This is promoting the profession at its most fundamental: translators and interpreters should not be hunted down and killed for doing their job.

I would like to thank my colleagues on the Board and the ATA Public Relations Committee leadership for their guidance and support on this issue.

ATA-Certified Translator Designation Announced

Back in March 2006, I wrote in the President's column that, as part of ATA's efforts to enhance member benefits, the Board and the Certification Committee were working on a professional designation for ATA-certified translators, along the lines of CPA for accountants (Certified Public Accountant) or the CAE designation that appears after ATA Executive Director Walter Bacak's name (Certified Association Executive). After much discussion among the Certification Committee and the Board, with input from the membership, and following legal review, in October 2006 I let you know that we had settled on the designation Certified Translator, or CT. We then invited additional comments from the membership before making the designation official, which it now is.

As I mentioned back in October, the idea is that ATA-certified translators can use the designation after their names, for instance, on their business cards. For all other uses they must still specify the language combination. For example, on my business card I could use: "Marian S. Greenfield, CT," with a line farther down on the card: "ATA-certified Spanish into English."

The Board has approved the policy for designation usage, so we look forward to seeing CT and Certified Translator on business cards, résumés, etc. To learn more about using the CT designation, click on ATA-Certified Translator Designation Policy.

Happy Anniversary to the American Foundation for Translation and Interpretation

Congratulations to the American Foundation for Translation and Interpretation (AFTI) on its 10th Anniversary. AFTI, which is ATA's 501(c)(3) foundation, was established to help the translation and interpretation professions preserve their past history, to assist in their present work, and to stimulate future research through grants. To learn more about AFTI, click on the American Foundation for Translation and Interpretation.

ATA 48th Annual Conference

The ATA 48th Annual Conference is set for San Francisco, California, October 31-November 3, 2007. Please be sure to check out the ATA conference web pages for the latest information. The Preliminary Program and Registration Form will be mailed with the July Chronicle.

Online Services Directories

The Directory of Translation and Interpreting Services and the Directory of Language Services Companies offer you great visibility to potential customers. Be sure that they can contact you by keeping your profile current. To make an update to your listed information, click on Add/Update Your Directory Listing.

Thank you for being an ATA member.

Warm Regards,

Marian S. Greenfield, CT
ATA President