November/December 2004 Chronicle
Focus: Training and Pedagogy

Message from the Executive Director

ATA Professional Development Seminar: The Business of Translation and Interpreting
By Caitilin Walsh
Why would an experienced freelance translator want to attend a seminar on a subject that she already knows well? The answers might surprise you—but hopefully not!

Putting the “Professional” in Professional Translation
By Keiran J. Dunne
An overview of quality expectations in today's marketplace in terms of delivery of services, specialization, technical expertise, and due diligence.

SWOT Analysis: An Effective Method for Students' Self-assessment
By Silvana G. Chaves
The same SWOT analysis that is carried out by corporations can be applied to interpretation students as an inner pathway to self-assessment.

The Instrumental Method Applied to the Learning of Portuguese for Translation
By Marco A. Fiola and Alice Tavares Mascarenhas
Instructors at the University of Quebec in Outaouais explain the success of a project for learning Portuguese through reading that is based on the Instrumental Method.

Starting a Conference Interpreting Course on a Shoestring
By John B. Jensen
Starting a university course sequence in conference interpreting within an established program directed primarily toward legal interpreting, mostly consecutive, requires some innovation and adjustment.

A 10-year Retrospective on a Distance Revision Course: Most Frequent Translation Problems (Part I)
By Leandro Wolfson, Translated by Alicia Marshall
Since 1995, the Distance Translation Revision Workshop for English-to-Spanish translators has been implemented with great success. The following describes how the workshop came about and summarizes some of the most frequent translation difficulties encountered by participants through the years.

The Société Française des Traducteurs Holds Second Summer Seminar for Financial Translators
By Alan Dages
A seminar providing a good mix of technical material along with current topics and trends in financial translation.

¡Gringo!
By Tony Beckwith
Why is it that people who can remain perfectly calm while their pedigree is being impugned can totally lose their grip when called a gringo?

Not Every Contract is Necessarily a Contratto
By Marica Pariante Angelides
An analysis of the translation of the English term “contract” into Italian.