April 2002 Chronicle
Focus: Public Awareness

Message from the President
Message from the President-elect
Message from the Executive Director    

International Certification Study: Austria
By Jiri Stejskal

The Right to an Interpreter—Who Decides? An Australian Perspective
By Penny Patterson

The capacity of judges (who are extensively trained in legal matters, but not usually in linguistic ones) to make informed decisions about language proficiency is highly questionable, and exposes a serious weakness in the Australian legal system.

A New ATA Affiliate: The Upper Midwest Translators and Interpreters Association
By Laurence H. Bogoslaw and Deb Kramasz

ATA’s newest affiliate group has the combined mission of promoting the quality, professionalism, and prestige of the translating and interpreting industry in the upper

Midwest region, and of providing networking, training, and development opportunities for local language professionals.

Incorporation versus Sole Proprietorship
By Howard Dias

Incorporation versus sole proprietor—do the tax savings outweigh the additional costs?

Time for Translation Providers to Come Out of the Shadows
By Chris Durban

The intrepid monolingual buyer of translations faces a challenge that is arguably even more difficult than the one faced by a consumer seeking high-quality healthcare. The reason? Translation buyers are often simply unable to judge what is delivered.

The Professional Image of Translators and Interpreters
By Rut Simcovich

Do translators and interpreters have a professional image? What image do we have of ourselves? There are some indicators that we don’t have much of a professional image and that the little we have is not too good.

Back to Basics in Professional Preparation
By Carol J. Patrie

Working interpreters and student interpreters can benefit from awareness and development of intralingual skills within their working languages, but especially within their first language. This article describes and reviews relevant intralingual skills and cognitive processing skills.

An Introduction to German Patent Translation
By Nicholas Hartmann

Basic principles and procedures for translating German patents into English, including information about suggested working methods and the attitudes and qualifications that patent translators must bring to their work.

Overview of the Los Angeles Area Hospital Project and Training Strategies
By Alexander Rainof

The state of medical translation and interpretation in the U.S. has recently resulted in a great deal of concern. A discussion of some of the issues raised by physicians in medical journals (JAMA, JAMWA), by the Office of Civil Rights of the Health and Human

Services Department, by the press (LA Times, etc.), and by translators and interpreters throughout the country.