Newsbriefs: May 3, 2022
ATA Certification Exam Launches On-Demand Option!
As of May 2, ATA members can take the certification exam on demand from the convenience of their home or office at the time of their choosing!Technical Requirements
Before registering for the exam, you should review the technical requirements needed to take the online exam and the list of approved resources for the exams. Review the restrictions and requirements now.
How On-Demand Registration Works
After you register through the ATA website, you will receive an email from ATA confirming the registration. You will receive a second email 3-5 business days later from ExamRoom (the exam host) with instructions on how to schedule the exam date and time. You must take the exam within 30 days of registering. Ready to schedule?
In-Person Exam Sittings Are Still Available
Exam sittings are available in person from April to October. Additional exam sittings will be posted as they are confirmed. Click to check the in-person schedule now.
How to Prepare for the ATA Certification Exam
The ATA certification exam is rigorous and demanding. So, what can you do to prepare and—more importantly—pass the test? Find out in the on-demand 60-minute webinar The Ins and Outs of the ATA Certification Exam! This webinar is free to both ATA members and non-members. Be sure to check out the question-and-answer handout as well.
Get Even More Help from Fellow Exam-Takers
Check out ATA’s website for a great series of articles on taking the exam. You find everything from Practical Tips for Taking the ATA Certification Exam Online and Common Errors Found in the English>Spanish Certification Exam to Am I Ready to Take the Exam? and 12 Extra-Linguistic Skills You Need to Master before Taking ATA’s Certification Exam
And Don’t Forget the Practice Test
The number one tip offered by the exam graders is to take the practice test. It’s an excellent and affordable way to measure your readiness for the ATA Certification Exam. Click to learn how to get the most from your practice test and frequently asked questions.
Industry News
Colorado Court Interpreters Won’t Walk Out over Pay—for Now
The Denver Post (05/01/22) Bradbury, Shelly
A group of Colorado courtroom interpreters who considered walking off this week in protest of their pay rates will not do so after meeting with court officials.
The freelance interpreters had planned a two-day walkout for Monday and Tuesday after they unsuccessfully sought a pay increase from both the Colorado Judicial Department and Denver County Court this spring.
But after their meeting with State Court Administrator Steve Vasconcellos and Denver County Court Administrator Kristin Wood, the interpreters said they had postponed the walkout in order to negotiate in “good faith.”
The interpreters could still walk off the job in the future if the process goes poorly. The group is seeking a boost in the hourly pay rate for courtroom interpreters from between $45 and $55 per hour to between $60 and $90 per hour, among other concessions.
A survey of interpreters across the state continues to show 80% support for a walkout among 78 responses. According to the Colorado Judicial Department, there are about 340 in-state certified interpreters in Colorado.
“We expect this will be the first in a series of meetings that will be necessary to formulate a mutually beneficial strategy moving forward,” said Rob McCallum, a spokesperson for the Colorado Judicial Department. “The interpreter community works hard every day to help Coloradans with limited English language proficiency, and our relationship is very important. We appreciate the interpreters forgoing their planned walkout so those in need of their help will receive it and we may continue our open dialogue.”
New Brunswick Legislature to Begin Translating 15-Year Debate Backlog into Both Official Languages
Global News (04/29/22) Brown, Silas
The Legislative Assembly of the Province of New Brunswick, Canada, has set aside $245,000 to ensure that the official records of all past and future sessions are translated into both official languages. This ends a 15-year period where debates were unavailable in both French and English.
The funding will be used to create new translator positions, which will not only help the Legislative Assembly office keep up with translating and publishing debates as they happen, but also begin to chip away at translating 15 years’ worth of transcripts where the translations were not completed.
“What we’re working towards is to have the translations done for each session that we’re moving through. If we find that we’re capable of doing that, then we would move towards translating the backlog,” said Legislative Assembly Speaker Bill Oliver.
The funding will also mean that documents submitted by the public to the legislature’s various committees are translated into both official languages before being distributed to members of the Legislative Assembly.
Legislative Assembly Member Kevin Arseneau has been pushing the Assembly to ensure it meets its linguistic obligations since he was first elected in 2018. He says the change will allow all members to better perform their legislative duties and represent their constituents.
“For the legislators themselves, it’s being able to research the archives, to understand how decisions were made, and where the debate is at today,” Arseneau said. “We need to go and look at what was said in 2006 about this issue, or what was said in 2010 about this issue,” he said. “It’s fundamental to the parliamentary process.”
Lawmakers Adopt Resolution Apologizing for Ban on Hawaiian Language in Schools
Hawaii News Now (04/26/22) Gutierrez, Ben
The Hawaii State Legislature has adopted a resolution that apologizes to native Hawaiians for a law that suppressed the use of the Hawaiian language in schools for over a century.
House Concurrent Resolution 130, written in both English and ‘Olelo Hawai’i, apologizes for what was seen as an effort to erase the native language—an effort that nearly succeeded.
Act 57 of the Laws of the Republic of Hawaii in 1896 stated, “The English language shall be the medium and basis of instruction in all public and private schools.” Act 57 didn’t explicitly state that the Hawaiian language was banned, but students faced consequences for speaking it.
“The law basically promoted the English language as the medium of education and teaching, but it effectively banned the use of ‘Olelo Hawai’i in public, and it also had implications for private use as well,” said State Representative Patrick Branco, who introduced the resolution.
“My grandfather got punished for speaking Hawaiian at school,” Branco said. “And when he came home to a Hawaiian-speaking household and spoke English, he also got punished there.”
The education-based nonprofit ‘Aha Punana Leo, which is dedicated to revitalizing the Hawaiian language, pushed for the apology and hopes the resolution leads to more action in support of ‘Olelo Hawai’i.
“The bigger picture is really making everyone understand that speaking the Hawaiian language has real value,” said Ka’iulani Laeha, chief executive officer of ‘Aha Punana Leo. “I think as a community and as a society, we need to figure out ways to value that—how do we highlight that the language is something special, that it’s something unique to the point where everybody wants to learn it and everybody is speaking it.”
“I think there’s still a lot of work we have to do out in the community in terms of our Hawaiian history, our Hawaiian language, and our Hawaiian culture,” Branco said.
Dialect Hunt Project Aims to Update Prized English-Language Archive
The Guardian (04/28/22) Brown, Mark
Researchers from the University of Leeds have embarked on a heritage project to help explore and preserve England’s dialects.
The university plans to use its prized archive of English life and language compiled during the 1950s and 1960s, when fieldworkers interviewed people over the age of 65 in more than 300 mostly rural communities. The results, which include many photographs and audio clips, amount to a rich snapshot of how people in England lived and talked. It remains the most famous and complete survey of dialects in England.
For the current project, the university said it was making this extensive library of English dialects accessible to the public through the launch of “The Great Big Dialect Hunt” website. An interactive audio sound map of England will allow visitors to hear how people talked in different areas when the original survey was conducted. Visitors will be invited to add to the archive by recording audio clips of words tied to their own dialect. The university said researchers would be searching for “new phrases and expressions to bring the archive into the 21st century and preserve today’s language for future generations.”
Fiona Douglas, a professor in the university’s School of English who is leading the project, stressed it would not be trying to repeat the scale of the original survey. Douglas said the new project could best be described as a “mini-survey” and was not confined to older voices. “We would like everybody to participate in our survey. It doesn’t matter where you’re from or how long you’ve lived there, or whether you think you’ve got a dialect or not.”
The university is partnering with five museums across England where people can go to add dialects to the site. The project is funded by the National Lottery Heritage Fund, which gave £530,500 to digitize the notebooks, photographs, word maps, and audio recordings from the original fieldwork.
“We would like to share what we’ve got, but we’re also interested in the dialects people have now because they are not something preserved,” Douglas said. “It’s not just something from the past.”
Douglas added that one of the goals of the project was to show that dialects continue to thrive and evolve. “A lot of it is about that sense of connectedness, a sense of belonging, a sense of rootedness, and even in our 24/7 global digitally overgrown world I think that really matters.”
ATA News
ATA Membership Diversity Award Announced
The American Foundation for Translation and Interpretation (AFTI) is pleased to announce a limited number of fully-paid ATA memberships to individuals joining ATA for the first time who are Black, Indigenous, or people of color. This is an annual award funded by a generous gift from ATA member Lucy Gunderson, CT.A limited number of awards will be available each year. Applications will be accepted until all awards are made.
Award recipients will be selected based on answers to the essay questions on the application form. The selection committee will give preference to students and newcomers to the translation and interpreting profession, including people changing careers. The award will be distributed across as many language pairs as possible in any given year. At least one award per year must go to a U.S. citizen by birth.
Learn more!
You’ll find all the details and the application form on the AFTI website. Be sure to share with your family, friends, and colleagues through your social media networks! #atadiversityaward
Inside Specialization: Legal Translation
This is not another lawyer-turned-translator story, which just goes to show that there’s more than one way to become a legal translator! In this episode of Inside Specialization, lawyer-linguist Paula Arturo tells ATA member Daniel Sebesta about the role passion plays in the decision to become a legal translator and why how much you’re willing to learn is key to becoming one of the best. You’ll also discover why “follow the money” is the secret to choosing a subspecialty, how you can compete against machine translation, and a surprising skill you’ll need to climb this career ladder.Listen now to Episode 73 of The ATA Podcast!
Oregon’s Translation Advisory Council
In 2021, the Oregon legislature voted and passed a state law requiring the Secretary of State to produce translated versions of voters’ pamphlets and create a Translation Advisory Council. The Secretary will consult with the Council to validate translations to ensure they are culturally appropriate for those who depend on them for voting. The Council may also assist in the development of a multilingual elections glossary, review of webpages, or check of public service announcement copy, among other duties.The Secretary of State is asking interested ATA members to apply to serve on the Council. Applications are being accepted until 5:00 PM (PDT) June 1, 2022 from individuals who live in Oregon, are eligible to vote, have experience in one of the communities served by translations (at-large members), and especially those with translator experience (translator members) in one of these 12 languages:
- Arabic
- Chinese
- French
- German
- Japanese
- Korean
- Mien
- Russian
- Spanish
- Tagalog
- Thai
- Vietnamese
Nominate Now! ATA Advocacy, Impact, and Innovation Awards
ATA has acknowledged outstanding service and professional distinction in the translation and interpreting fields since 1964, when it awarded its first Alexander Gode Medal. By recognizing colleagues who, through their daily work, volunteer activities, and careers, exemplify the qualities that define excellence in our industry, the Association salutes their achievements and honors their substantial impact on our community.Learn more about all of ATA’s Honors and Awards. Click to listen to Episode 56 of The ATA Podcast.
ATA is now accepting nominations for the following awards:
- Advocacy Award
The ATA Advocacy Award recognizes a person or entity that has demonstrated outstanding advocacy for the language professions in general, for the importance of professional translators and interpreters, and/or for the greater societal understanding of the value of professional translators and interpreters. The award is bestowed in even-numbered years. Learn more! - Impact Award
The ATA Impact Award recognizes a person or entity that has demonstrated outstanding leadership having an impact with ATA through work on a specific project or initiative. This award differs from ATA Honorary Membership in that it is presented for a specific project or initiative, rather than for lifetime achievement. The award is bestowed in even-numbered years. Learn more! - Innovation Award
The ATA Innovation Award recognizes a person or entity that has worked in a particularly innovative way to benefit ATA and/or the language professions. The award is bestowed in even-numbered years. Learn more!
Check out ATA’s Honors and Awards Program online or email honors_awards@atanet.org.
Catch All the ATA Webinars in May
Working without PainPresenter: Eva Stabenow
Date: May 5, 2022
Time: 12:00 noon U.S. ET
Duration: 60 minutes
Language: English
Level: All
CE Point(s): 1 ATA-approved
Not just another workout guru telling you how to exercise! Only another translator can truly understand how to break the cycle of tension, tightness, and pain that comes with some translation and interpreting work. So, join translator and “corrective” Pilates instructor Eva Stabenow to learn the gentle movements that can prevent, relieve, and even heal your shoulder, neck, and back pain.
Register now! ATA Member $45 | Non-Member $60
Query Sheet Management for Project Managers and Translators
Presenter: Marina Ilari
Date: May 11, 2022
Time: 12:00 noon U.S. ET
Duration: 45 minutes
Language: English
Level: All
CE Point(s): None
A successful translation project often begins with good communication between the client, project manager, and translators. One method of keeping everyone on the same page is the use of a query sheet. Join us for another Back to Business Basics webinar with tips to try and pitfalls to avoid when centralizing communication with query sheet management.
Register now! Free to ATA members. Click here to sign up.
Contract Translation Problems (English-Spanish)
Presenter: Javier F. Becerra
Date: May 12, 2022
Time: 12:00 noon U.S. ET
Duration: 2 hours
Language: Spanish
Level: Advanced
CE Point(s): 2 ATA-approved
Cross-border contracts are not only increasing in number but also growing in complexity. Attend this webinar to examine the differences in contract language and drafting styles between English and Spanish, including contract templates, cross-border transactions, highly negotiated agreements, and termination and settlement agreements.
Register now! ATA Member $90 | Non-Member $120
ATA TEKTalks: Is Smartcat the Right Tool for You?
Presenter: Jean-Luc Saillard
Date: May 17, 2022
Time: 12:00 noon U.S. ET
Duration: 45 minutes
Language: English
Level: All
CE Point(s): None
Smartcat is a powerful, intuitive, scalable, and cloud-based translation and localization platform that combines CAT, TMS, and other translation technologies. But is it the right tool for you? Attend our second quarterly ATA TEKTalks webinar for an interview with Smartcat’s Head of Customer Success Jean-Luc Saillard.
Register now! ATA Member Free | Non-Member $25
Successful Advocacy for Translators and Interpreters
Presenters: Eve Bodeux, Lucy Gunderson, Bill Rivers, Cristina Helmerichs
Date: May 25, 2022
Time: 12:00 noon U.S. ET
Duration: 60 minutes
Language: English
Level: All
CE Point(s): None
In today’s political and legislative landscape, it is crucial for translators and interpreters to make themselves heard. Laws are being adopted and decisions are being made on local, state, national and international levels that affect how translators and interpreters earn their livelihood in a very real way. Join us for a quick tutorial in how to make advocacy work.
Register now! Free to ATA members and non-members. Click here to sign up.
If you have already registered for any of these webinars, check your inbox for no-reply@zoom.us to find your invitation to join. Email zoom@atanet.org if you cannot find it.
Do You Have a Poll Question for Newsbriefs Readers?
Every issue of Newsbriefs includes a poll for readers to weigh in on. If you haven’t noticed it, look for it now in the upper corner of the right sidebar. It’s a fun way to put a few stats into how widespread certain business methods are in practice.We’d like to offer ATA members the chance to get in on the poll-taking with questions of their own!
Submissions must be business-related, multiple-choice questions with up to five possible short answers. The poll-taker can only choose one answer, but it’s fine if one option is “all of the above.” We do reserve the right to edit.
So, if you’ve got a poll question you’d like to have answered, send it to mary@atanet.org. We look forward to finding out what you want to know!
In the March/April Issue of The ATA Chronicle
Summary of the ATA Compensation SurveyTo address the need for a comprehensive picture of the market for translation and interpreting services, ATA recently conducted a compensation survey. The ATA Compensation Survey serves to provide professional practitioners and others with an overview of the income and pay rate data of translators, interpreters, and company owners working in the U.S. (Ted Wozniak)
Becoming a Mentor: Giving Back and Leveling Up
Mentoring someone isn’t just about sharing wisdom, passing along expertise, or supporting the development of (future) colleagues. Mentoring is also expected to benefit the mentor. Whether you’re working with a student, a new professional, or a colleague, the interactions you have as a mentor will lead you to reflect more critically and deeply on your professional practice. (Rachel E. Herring, Doug Bowen-Bailey)
Dynamic Duos: How Interpreters and Speech-Language Pathologists Collaborate to Serve Children with Disabilities
Interpreting and speech-language pathology are professions centered in language and communication. So, what happens when these worlds meet? Learn how speech-language pathologists and interpreters in Minnesota have collaborated with the Minnesota Department of Education to develop dynamic training workshops to help language professionals serve linguistically diverse school districts. (Elizabeth Watkins)
Literary Translation: Finding Focus in Its Fuzzy Borders
What makes literary translation challenging is also what makes it interesting. A good translation should respect and reflect the author’s style and vocabulary, but this doesn’t mean that every single word or phrase you choose has to perfectly resemble the author in style and effect. Let’s explore some of the frequent challenges faced by literary translators, such as making the voice of a character sound authentic and translating names and places with intentional meanings or symbolism. (Petra C. Rieker)
Interpreting in Rural Communities
Language access services that provide community interpreting remain concentrated in urban centers. As such, rural communities must rely upon remote access, a model that fails to account for the cultural specificity of rural life and livelihood. How are interpreters in rural communities adapting to meet the increased need for language access? (Thomas Genova, Tammy Berberi)
Access to The ATA Chronicle’s searchable archives is available online! And don’t forget to check out the latest issue of the Chronicle Online.
| News summaries © copyright 2022 Smithbucklin |
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May 3, 2022
How did your business do in the first quarter of 2022 compared to the fourth quarter of 2021?
Previous Poll Results
April is National Volunteer month! Have you ever done any volunteer translation/interpreting work?
31% = Yes, fairly often57% = Yes, from time to time
11% = No, but I would like to
0% = No, and I don’t plan to
In This Issue
Cert Exam On DemandDiversity Award
ATA Podcast
Oregon Advisory Council
ATA Awards
May Webinars
Submit Poll Questions
The ATA Chronicle
ATA Workshop
Become a Voice TalentMay 19, 2022
11:30 a.m.- 2:30 p.m. ET
SOLD OUT
ATA Webinars
Working without PainMay 5 @ 12:00 noon ET
Registration open
Contract Translation Problems
May 12 @ 12:00 noon ET
Registration open
ATA TEKTalks: Smartcat
May 17 @ 12:00 noon ET
Registration open
Successful Advocacy for Translators and Interpreters
May 25 @ 12:00 noon ET
Registration open
Back to Business Basics
Query Sheet ManagementMay 11 @ 12 noon ET
Free to members!
Registration open
Calendar of Events
ATA Advocacy, Impact, and Innovation Awards: Nominations OpenMay 1-31, 2022
Learn more!
FIT World Congress
Jun 1-3, 2022
Varadero, Cuba
Learn more!
School Outreach Contest Deadline
Jul 22, 2022
Learn more!
Student Translation Award Submissions Deadline
Jul 31, 2022
Learn more!
ATA Board of Directors Meeting
Aug 6-7, 2022
To be determined
Learn more!
International Translation Day
Sep 30, 2022
See last year’s celebration!
ATA63 Annual Conference
Oct 12-15, 2022
Los Angeles, California
Learn more!
