Get a head start on learning! Arrive early to attend the Preconference Seminars that take place Wednesday, October 24. These three-hour educational opportunities were specifically chosen to provide the in-depth and insightful training you need and are provided by experts in their field. Attendees must preregister. See the Conference Registration Form.
This symbol indicates which sessions are included
in the ATA eConference.
SEM-A Beyond the Basics of Freelancing Corinne McKay
(Wednesday, 9:00am-12:00pm; Intermediate; Presented in: English)
Now that you have launched your freelance business, are you thriving or just surviving? The speaker will discuss practical strategies for increasing your income, client base, and job satisfaction. After completing a survey of pitfalls and best practices for freelancing, you will learn how to increase your earning power with agencies and your visibility and name recognition so that direct clients find you when they need a translator. Topics will also include how to improve the quality of your translation and expand your range of services beyond translation.
SEM-B Why We Are Management Accountants, Like It or Not Jonathan T. Hine
(Wednesday, 9:00am-12:00pm; All Levels; Presented in: English)
Management accounting is not what a CPA does (that is financial accounting). Using the example of a freelancer or project coordinator, we will examine how management accounting helps us make decisions about subcontracting, set up ad hoc projects without becoming a translation company, reduce overhead, make time to translate/interpret, buy technology and tools, choose continuing education courses, and even take a vacation. Examples will focus on career-changers and part-timers contemplating full-time freelancing. (Disclaimer: This seminar is not a substitute for professional advice, but you should be able to ask better questions and find the right professional.)
SEM-C Managing, Importing, and Exporting Bilingual Glossaries with UniLex Fabio M. Said
(Wednesday, 9:00am-12:00pm; All Levels; Presented in: English)
Translators and interpreters know how vital terminology management is to their work. This hands-on seminar will show you how to use UniLex, a professional (and free) terminology management tool, to keep all of your existing and future bilingual glossaries in a single application. UniLex has a clean user interface and powerful search capabilities, allowing files to be exported easily from, and importable to, computer-assisted translation (CAT) tools. Whether you use several CAT tools on a regular basis or none at all, this seminar will provide useful information.
SEM-D Tips and Exercises to Improve Your Sight Translation Skills for Legal Interpreting Georganne Weller
(Wednesday, 9:00am-12:00pm; All Levels; Presented in: English)
Sight translation implies turning written language into oral language immediately. It is a very difficult skill to develop, yet one that is commonplace in legal interpreting and highly useful in conference interpreting. This seminar will cover theoretical considerations such as the differences between written and oral language, how to skim different types of texts for meaning and key words, how to prepare in advance, and how to mark up a document. Practical exercises with English as the source language will make up 70% of the seminar.
SEM-E Rewriting for Clarity and Style Grant Hamilton
(Wednesday, 9:00am-12:00pm; All Levels; Presented in: English)
This will be a hands-on workshop for French>English translators seeking new ways to enhance the flow and readability of their writing. We will work together on three texts-one per hour-to identify problem areas in the original translations and suggest compelling solutions. Each text is from a different field (marketing, tourism, and government), but the solutions we explore together will come in handy in virtually any specialty.
SEM-F English-Spanish Criminal Procedure Law Terminology: Latin-American Reforms Sandro Tomasi
(Wednesday, 9:00am-12:00pm; Advanced; Presented in: English and Spanish)
Terms such as probable cause, lineup, indictment, and trial are all part of criminal procedure laws. While most of the terms have remained the same for the past 10 years in English, some of their Spanish counterparts have not due to the rapidly changing criminal procedure laws in Latin America. This session will provide a list of criminal-procedure terms in English and present their functional equivalents in Spanish, for both inquisitorial and adversarial systems. Potential translation pitfalls will also be discussed.
SEM-G Translating Financial Analysis (Spanish>English) Marian S. Greenfield
(Wednesday, 9:00am-12:00pm; Intermediate; Presented in: English and Spanish)
Participants will translate key terms found in financial analyses. The focus will be on terminology and phrasing in current use. There will also be a discussion of American English financial jargon and the financial analyst's fondness for sports analogies. Participants are encouraged to bring examples of such analogies and financial analysis jargon they have encountered in either English or Spanish.
SEM-H Working the Room Chris Durban
(Wednesday, 2:00pm-5:00pm; All Levels; Presented in: English)
This seminar will focus on identifying, preparing for, and attending events for the express purpose of linking up with direct clients. Using concrete examples and case studies, the speaker will address common questions from translators contemplating a shift to working with direct clients. How do I start? Okay, I've got my good outfit on and am at the event, so what do I say/do now? Once I'm engaged in conversation, how do I shift over into commercial mode? The aim is to equip all participants to build or add to a portfolio of direct clients over the next 6-12 months.
SEM-I Negotiation Skills for Translators: The Win-Win Process Ray Reyes
(Wednesday, 2:00pm-5:00pm; Intermediate; Presented in: English)
When many people think of negotiation, they think of bitter arguments in smoke-filled rooms, from which one group emerges victorious and the other comes out defeated. Or they call to mind situations where a slick salesman gets what he wants at the expense of the buyer. This session will teach participants the basics of negotiation, including how to prepare to negotiate, ways to respond to negotiation challenges, how to create win-win solutions, and how to create sustainable agreements.
SEM-J Terminology Management for Translation Environments Barbara Inge Karsch and Sue Ellen Wright
(Wednesday, 2:00pm-5:00pm; All Levels; Presented in: English)
The speakers will discuss best practices for translation-oriented terminology management, emphasizing pragmatic solutions for working translators designed to ensure long-term viability of terminological data. Topics will include fundamental principles, basic data fields for term entries, strategies for establishing target equivalents, and the avoidance of future problems and data loss. The speakers' goal is to engage freelancers, language services providers, and translation clients in the terminology management process for the mutual benefit of all parties. Payback for best practices includes increased translation efficiency and accuracy, better source-language documents, reduced quality assurance costs, and overall improvement in translation workflow and quality.
SEM-K Simultaneous Interpreting: Mission (NOT!) Impossible for Medical and Community Interpreters Katharine Allen
(Wednesday, 2:00pm-5:00pm; All Levels; Presented in: English)
A recent study found that simultaneous is the most frequently used mode of interpreting in the U.S., yet effective simultaneous training is almost nonexistent for medical and community interpreters. This seminar will provide beginning and practicing interpreters a clear road map to develop concrete simultaneous skills. The correct sequence for learning simultaneous interpreting through hands-on exercises and practice, along with suggested protocols for when and where to use this mode in medical and community settings, will be provided. The importance of delivery, assignment preparation, and reflective practice will be emphasized.
SEM-L Risk Management: New Challenges in the Translation Industry Eugenio Virguti
(Wednesday, 2:00pm-5:00pm; Advanced; Presented in: English)
Risk management is turning out to be an entirely new challenge in the translation industry. Capital allocation, financial risks, credit risk management, ratings, defaults, credit default swaps, and many other issues and their implications will be analyzed during this seminar. A detailed description of financial risk and credit risk hedging strategies will also be provided, together with terminology, glossaries, and websites where risk management terms can be found.
SEM-M Advanced Spanish>English Legal Translation Workshop Thomas L. West III
(Wednesday, 2:00pm-5:00pm; Advanced; Presented in: English)
This seminar will focus on corporate law and how the terminology varies from one Spanish-speaking jurisdiction to another. Participants will also discuss some of the terminology used in the jurisdiction of England and Wales, but the main focus will be U.S. corporate law and derecho de sociedades. The translation of estatutos and other documents in the life of a corporation will also be addressed.
Highly specialized medical translators need counseling on guidelines, terminology, and legislation, as well as tricks and an overall perspective of the scope of each document. The speaker will provide a detailed breakdown of protocols and discuss a state-of-the-art approach regarding Spanish medical translation on both sides of the ocean. The seminar will include multiple references to literature, classical music, and global culture. It will begin with a reflection on poetics.
Arrive early to attend the Preconference Seminars that take place Wednesday, October 24. These three-hour educational opportunities were specifically chosen to provide the in-depth and insightful training you need and are provided by experts in their field.
