ATA-FIT Standards Symposium – Beyond Compliance: Shaping Trust, Quality, and AI Governance in T&I

Explore the current developments, challenges, and opportunities related to the standards shaping the future of the translation and interpreting professions.

Join us for the third international symposium, organized by ATA’s Standards Committee in collaboration with the International Standards Standing Committee of the International Federation of Translators (FIT). This webinar features opening remarks by ATA President Andy Benzo and FIT President Guillaume Deneufbourg, followed by an in-depth discussion of the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) and ASTM International standards.

About the Presenters

Andy Benzo (ATA President): Opening Remarks

Andy Benzo, CT, is an internationally recognized legal translator, lawyer, and speaker with more than 35 years of experience in English to/from Spanish translation. Originally from Argentina and based in California for more than 27 years, she has degrees in law and translation and has built a distinguished career in legal translation. She is the current president of ATA, where she has held numerous leadership positions and holds ATA certification (English-to-Spanish). She has taught legal and business translation, as well as simultaneous and consecutive interpreting, at the University of California San Diego Extension, and has presented workshops and keynote lectures at conferences around the world. Committed to advancing professional standards, she actively contributes to ASTM International committees and serves as a U.S. expert on International Organization for Standardization standards initiatives. As an international speaker, she advocates for a human-centered approach to communication and explores the evolving relationship among AI, ethics, language, and law.

Guillaume Deneufbourg (FIT President): Opening Remarks

Guillaume Deneufbourg is the current president of the International Federation of Translators, FIT, (2025-2028), the global federation representing translators, interpreters, and terminologists worldwide. As a freelance translator from English and Dutch into French and lecturer at the University of Mons (Belgium), he combines academic, professional, and institutional perspectives on the language professions. As FIT president, he is particularly committed to strengthening international cooperation, supporting professional associations, promoting high standards in translation and interpreting, and ensuring that language professionals remain visible and relevant in a rapidly changing world shaped by technology and AI. He regularly speaks at international conferences and professional events worldwide.

Aimee Benavides: ASTM International Standards for T&I Advocacy and Professionalization

Aimee Benavides is a federally certified court interpreter and has been a California court-certified interpreter since 2003. She served on the board of directors of the National Association of Judiciary Interpreters and Translators for five years, during which she served as chair for two years. As vice chair of the ASTM International Executive Committee, she has contributed to the revisions to the interpreting standard and is currently working on the development of additional revisions regarding remote interpreting. At the beginning of the pandemic, she began exploring Zoom and its remote interpreting functionality with colleagues in practice groups. Those practice groups evolved into a professional partnership now known as TEA Language Solutions. She has been a freelance interpreter since 2010, and her clients include focus group moderators, agricultural product manufacturers, and distributors, in addition to nonprofits and legal professionals.

Alan Melby: License to Label

Alan Melby, CT, became fascinated with translation in the mid-1960s while studying in France as a high school student. In 1978, after obtaining a PhD in computational linguistics, he experienced an intellectual crisis regarding the nature of language, concluding that unambiguous general language would be the ultimate prison, but domain-specific language can and should be unambiguous. In 1979, he shifted his focus toward the development and use of tools for human translators. In the 1980s, he became an ATA-certified French-to-English translator. In the 1990s, he developed an interest in the philosophy of language and wrote a book about human and machine translation (The Possibility of Language) with a philosopher, Terry Warner. Since the 2000s, he has focused on service to the translation profession, previously serving on the governing boards of ATA, then the International Federation of Translators (FIT), and currently (2025) as president of LTAC Global, a small nonprofit, and chair of the FIT Standards Committee. In 2014, he retired from full-time teaching and became an emeritus full professor attached to Brigham Young University in Provo, Utah.

Arle Lommel: The Role of Standards in Strengthening the Language Sector Globally

Arle Lommel is vice president of research at the independent market advisory firm CSA Research, where he focuses on language technology, the role of human talent, and the economic value of language. He has a BA in linguistics and an MA and PhD in ethnographic research. He was the former director of standards at the Localization Standards Industry Association and a senior consultant at the German Research Center for Artificial Intelligence in Berlin. He was instrumental in the development of key language industry standards – including TMX, TBX, SRX, and ITS 2.0 – and was the chief architect of Multidimensional Quality Metrics. He speaks English, Hungarian, and German, with a smattering of other languages. When not working, he is a vocal performer and plays a variety of musical instruments. He currently resides in Indiana.

Giovanna Carriero-Contreras: Interpreting Standards: Advancing Quality, Professionalism, and Best Practices

Giovanna Carriero-Contreras is a leader in the language services industry with over 30 years of experience in interpreting and translation. She is the founder of Cesco Linguistic Services and T360nBeyond, as well as a visionary in the field, shaping industry standards through her work with ASTM International, the International Organization for Standardization (ISO), ATA, the Association of Language Companies, and the American Association of Interpreters and Translators in Education (AAITE), where she serves as chair-elect. She played a pivotal role in co-authoring The Community Interpreter and Medical Interpreter textbooks and training programs, in developing AAITE’s National Code of Ethics, and in leading key projects in ISO interpreting standards, including as editor of the latest publication of ISO 13611:2024 Interpreting services — Community interpreting — Requirements and recommendations, and the review as a co-project leader of ISO 18841:2018 Interpreting services — General requirements and recommendations. A recipient of the 2020 Bill Daniels Ethical Leader of the Year award, she is dedicated to advancing professional ethics, training, and language access initiatives, in alignment with ongoing efforts to address the evolving impact of AI technologies and legislative changes.

Ingemar Strandvik: Why Are Specifications Important?

Ingemar Strandvik worked for 15 years as a quality manager for the European Commission’s Directorate-General for Translation, where he formerly worked as a translator. For the past 10 years, he has also been active in standardization work for the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) and ASTM International, acting as co-project leader for ISO 11669. Prior to joining the European Commission, he worked in translation training, lexicography, and as a Swedish state-authorized legal translator and court interpreter. He is currently a board member of the Multidimensional Quality Metrics Council, Transius International Advisory Board, Swedish Association for Terminology, and Tranquality. He has published on various aspects of translation quality and institutional translation. He has BA degrees in Spanish philology, translation, and interpreting, and a master’s degree in European Union law.

Romina Marazzato Sparano: From the Inside Out: The ISO 24495 Series and Its Implications for Translation Quality

Romina Marazzato Sparano, CT, is a plain language strategist, researcher, and standards expert whose work bridges language quality, organizational communication, and international standards development. She is an ATA-certified translator (English to/from Spanish) and current ATA Board member. She is the founder of Plain Language International Inc., a firm serving private-sector clients like DreamWorks, Intuit, and Medtronic, as well as government agencies like NIH, California DDS, and city governments. She is also a PhD candidate at the University at Buffalo, where her dissertation examines plain language and comprehension in the age of AI. A member of the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) Technical Committee 37 and ASTM International’s Committee F43, she is a contributor to the ISO 24495 international plain language standards series. She has presented at events for ATA, PLAIN, AMWA, ACES, CTPCBA, and RedACTE, as well as for government agencies, including the European Commission, U.S. Access Board, and California Departments. She founded the AI in Writing Summit, serving over 6,000 writing professionals globally.

Organizers

On Behalf of ATA Standards Committee

Gabriela Escarrá (ATA Standards Committee Chair)

Gabriela Escarrá is a sworn translator, professor of English language and literature, and copy editor specializing in marketing and corporate communication. She is the administrator of ATA’s Spanish Language Division and chair of ATA’s Standards Committee. She is also a member of the International Federation of Translators (FIT) LatAm Standards Committee and the ASTM International Membership Secretary of the F43 Executive Committee. She works with several major international brands, localizing and developing their Spanish-language campaigns. She teaches standards at the Universidad Católica Argentina and is an international speaker and co-author of two books.

On Behalf of FIT Standards Standing Committee

Adriana Zúñiga Hernández (FIT Standards Standing Committee Chair)

Adriana Zúñiga Hernández is a Costa Rican conference interpreter and official translator and interpreter with more than 25 years of professional experience in translation and interpreting across the legal, medical, scientific, and technical sectors. She currently serves as chair of the International Federation of Translators (FIT) Standards Standing Committee, where she leads international initiatives related to professional standards and best practices in translation, interpreting, and terminology. She is also chair of the FIT Working Group on AI Ethics and a member of the FIT Latin America Standards Commission. In Costa Rica, she founded and has chaired since 2020 the INTE CTN 67 Technical Committee on Translation and Interpreting Services, responsible for the national adoption of international ISO standards for language services. A former president of the Costa Rican Association of Professional Translators and Interpreters, she has been actively involved in advancing professionalization, ethics, and quality standards within the language industry at both regional and international levels. She received the FIT Albin Tybulewicz Award for Professional Solidarity in Translation and Interpreting in 2022.