Membership
Welcome to the American Translators Association
ATA, founded in 1959, is the largest professional association of translators and interpreters in the U.S. with more than10,000 members in 980 countries. ATA's primary goals include fostering and supporting the professional development of translators and interpreters and promoting the translation and interpreting professions.
Benefits of Membership
- Subscription to the Association's professional journal, The ATA Chronicle;
- Job opportunities through The Chronicle advertisements, the Annual Conference The Chronicle advertisements, the Job Marketplace, and on online Job Bank;
- Listing in the Translation Services Directories , ATA's online searchable database of translating & interpreting professionals;
- Membership in OAS Staff Federal Credit Union featuring a wide range of banking and financial services;
- Targeted networking opportunities through ATA events and division listservs;
- Discounted professional liability insurance customized for the translation and interpreting professions;
- Overnight letter and express delivery services discounts through UPS;
- Special ATA member-rate on Dun and Bradstreet collections and receivables management services;
- Access to the Members Only online ATA Membership Directory;
- No-fee ATA MasterCard with the ATA logo, pending approval of credit;
- Discounted payment processing services; and
- Monthly e-newsletter ATA Newsbriefs with translation and interpreting news from around the world;
- Membership in any or all of ATA's 15 language- and specialty-specific divisions;
- Opportunity to participate in the ATA certification program;
- ATA News and Notes email announcements and professional news;
- Commitment to promoting the profession and satisfaction of doing your part.
ATA membership is open to anyone with an interest in translation and interpreting as a profession or as a scholarly pursuit. All individual applicants are first accepted as Associate or Student members before gaining eligibility for Active or Corresponding membership.
Membership Opportunities
Annual Conference
ATA holds an Annual Conference in a major city or popular resort area every fall. This event is a showcase for panel discussions, workshops, and scholarly papers, and features lively presentations, exhibits, a job exchange, certification testing, and ample opportunity to build professional contacts.
Certification
ATA has established a certification program to verify that individual translators meet professional standards. Written examinations lead to certification in a specific language pair and direction (from or into English).
Committees
The list of committees attests to the breadth of activities in which members may become involved.
Divisions
ATA offers its members the opportunity to share common professional interests through membership in ATA divisions. Each division publishes an electronic newsletter, offers seminars at the Annual Conference, and provides a network of translators and interpreters with common interests. You must be an ATA member to join a division.
Honors and Awards
To acknowledge outstanding achievements in the profession and to encourage students of translation and interpreting, ATA presents several annual and biennial awards.
- Alexander Gode Medal is awarded periodically for distinguished service to the translation and interpreting professions.
- Ungar German Translation Award is awarded biennially (in odd-numbered years) for an outstanding published translation from German into English.
- Lewis Galantière Prize is awarded biennially (in even-numbered years) for an outstanding published literary translation from a language other than German into English.
- Student Translation Award is awarded annually for a worthy student translation project.
Local Organizations
ATA chapters, affiliates, and local groups serve translators and interpreters in specific geographic areas. They provide information, networking opportunities, and support services to members on the local level, and act as liaisons with the national association.
Affiliations
ATA is the U.S. affiliate of the Fédération Internationale des Traducteurs (FIT) and participates in its many programs and committee activities. The International FIT Congress, open to all members of FIT affiliates, is held every three years. ATA is represented on the Joint National Committee for Languages (JNCL), a coalition of organizations interested in promoting languages and international studies through support of appropriate legislation. ATA is actively involved with the ASTM Translation User Standards Project . The purpose of this project is to formulate standards to help the users of translation services.
Publications
ATA publishes The ATA Chronicle, a journal of practical education and information for professional translators and interpreters, eleven times a year. A subscription to the Chronicle is a benefit of membership. Other ATA publications include Park’s Guide to Translator and Interpreter Training Programs in North America, Translating and Interpreting in the Federal Government, Getting It Right: A Guide to Translation Services, and an annual monograph in the ATA Series. Members receive discounts on all ATA publications.
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