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Summer is fully bilingual (English and Arabic); she studied and lived in Syria, Ireland and the UK.  Her research interest is on Taboo and interpreting in which she hopes to obtain a PhD degree. Summer was invited by Damascus University’s Higher Institute of Interpreting and Translation where she gave a talk on note-taking.  Summer is currently in the final stages of compiling a glossary on legal terms for DPSI students (Arabic-English) which she hopes to publish by the end of the year. Other interests include culture and its significance to interpreting, translation and language acquisition. Summer has given many talks on cultural issues related to the Middle East.

The slots reserved for SDL are:

• Saturday, 1400-1500
• Sunday, 1030-1130

Spaces at the presentation will be available on a first-come, first-served basis, but don’t worry if you don’t get in – SDL  is also exhibiting at the conference and the SDL Trados guys will be more than happy to take you through the software on their stand.

Information about SDL

www.translationzone.com

The slots reserved for Kilgray are:

• Saturday, 1030-1130
• Sunday, 1200-1300

Spaces at the presentation will be available on a first-come, first-served basis, but don’t worry if you don’t get in – Kilgray is also exhibiting at the conference and the MemoQ guys will be more than happy to take you through the software on their stand.

Information about Kilgray

Kilgray Translation Technologies
H-5700 Gyula Béke sugárút 72. II/8.
Hungary

Postal address:
H-1255 Budapest, P.O.B.: 7
Hungary

Email: info@kilgray.com
www.kilgray.com

So don’t hesitate any longer – remember the conference fee can be recouped in just a couple of medium-sized translation jobs, and you could well meet that new customer at the conference! You can book your place by clicking the Bookings link in the menu on the left.

Photo credit: Jane Ostler

Nicholas Ostler is an author of books on language history: Empires of the Word – a language history of the world (2005), Ad Infinitum – a biography of Latin (2007), and most recently The Last Lingua Franca – English until the return of Babel. He is also Chairman of the charity, Foundation for Endangered Languages, a post he has held for the last fifteen years.

Nicholas grew up in Kent, where he attended Tonbridge School. He graduated with firsts in Classics and then Philosophy and Economics at Balliol College, Oxford, before taking a Ph.D. in Linguistics at Massachusetts Institute of Technology. His thesis, supervised by Paul Kiparsky, was A Theory of Noun Case and Verb Diathesis, applied to Classical Sanskrit.

After teaching English and Linguistics in Japanese universities (Toyama, Kanazawa, Meiji Gakuin) for three years, he returned to the UK. There he worked as a software and management consultant during the 1980s, founding his own consulting company Linguacubun in 1991. His focus was on knowledge-based systems, and speech and language technologies, and he co-ordinated and monitored various projects in this field on behalf of the UK’s Department of Trade and Industry, and the European Union’s directorate for Information Technology. He was the UK government’s monitor of the EU joint project in machine translation, EUROTRA, for its last four years, and later also served on the advisory board of the British National Corpus project.

In 1995 he founded the charity, Foundation for Endangered Languages (www.ogmios.org), which has since held fourteen conferences all over the world, and given away approximately £50,000 in grants. For ten years he edited its newsletter Ogmios, named for the Celtic god of eloquence. This year’s conference (in September 2011) will be held in Quito, Ecuador.

He has been a research fellow at the universities of Lancaster, Bath and (currently) London (at the School of Oriental and African Studies). He is writing descriptive grammars of the extinct language Chibcha, and its descendant U’wa, both spoken in Colombia, South America.

He lives in Bath with his wife Jane Dunn, the literary biographer, two whippets and four cats. His children (a daughter and five steps) are long grown up and gone. You can contact him at nicholas@ostler.net.

Taking the title “English: the Last Lingua Franca?” for his speech, Nicholas will talk around the themes of his latest book, ”The Last Lingua Franca – English until the Return to Babel”. Nicholas is a popular and entertaining speaker and his insight into the development of the English language will be of great interest to translators and interpreters working into and out of English.

More information about Nicholas can be found in his biography on the conference website, while reviews of his book can be found at:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2010/dec/04/last-lingua-franca-ostler-review

http://news.scotsman.com/features/Book-review-The-last-Lingua.6634109.jp

http://www.tnr.com/book/review/tongues-twisted

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703609204575641060780481050.html

We apologise for any confusion and inconvenience this may have caused.

Well if not, now is the perfect time for your business to treat you to a ticket to the next ITI Conference, taking place in Birmingham on 7 & 8 May 2011. CPD – or continuing professional development – is a key way of demonstrating to your clients that you are serious about the work you do for them. And there aren’t many more fun ways of doing CPD than attending a conference that is aimed directly at you!

So while you are busy sending the Christmas cards out to your clients, consider this – wouldn’t they rather have the peace of mind of knowing that you have invested wisely in your professional development?  Don’t forget, you might be able to deduct some or all of your conference fees from your income on your tax bill, as a legitimate business expense. So go ahead and have your business treat you to an extra special Christmas present!

Click to open our Bookings page.

Our 25th Anniversary Conference is sponsored by MFL Professional Partnerships, and by Kilgray.

The poster session may be based on work you have done in connection with your translation and/or interpreting course, dissertation or project or on an aspect of translation and/or interpreting work that particularly interests you.

The aim of the poster sessions is to enable practising translators and interpreters to learn about ongoing research and study as part of MA/MSc courses and to give grant recipients an opportunity to meet and network with practising and established translators and interpreters.

The conference is being held at the NEC Galleries, Birmingham, which offers good road, rail and air connections.

If you would like to present your poster, please send an e-mail to education@iti.org.uk with:

Your name, university, and university department

Year of study

Title of your poster session and a short outline of the content (max 300 words)

Your daytime telephone number, email and postal address

Final date for submissions: 15 February 2011

We will select a maximum of four dissertations. We would like to include both translation and interpreting topics.

If you are selected to take part, you will be required to:

• produce and set up a poster display illustrating your research (for tips, Google ‘poster session’ or see http://writing.colostate.edu/guides/speaking/poster/ )
• be available to discuss it with conference participants
• give an 8-minute presentation in a conference session organised for this purpose
• write a short article for ITI Bulletin.

You will receive £100 towards your travel, materials and expenses, and free registration for the conference day when you are presenting.

The platform presentation is scheduled for the pre-lunch session on Sunday, 8 May 2010.

More information on the 2011 Conference is available at:

http://www.iti-conference.org.uk/conference-2011/

ITI Education & Training Committee

This presentation will explore some of the less-used features of the major search engines to demonstrate some inventive ways to find translation- and language-related information on the Internet. We will be looking, for example, at how to search for something within a specific website or how to search the KudoZ glossaries on simultaneously for a particular term.

There is a wealth of research and several well-known publications on note-taking for conference interpreting.  Research in this field is almost as old as the discipline itself and the area of consecutive interpreting in the conference arena is extensively covered. As far as research or publications on note-taking for public service interpreters is concerned, however, there is very little available. Existing conference interpreter documentation does not, in its current form, deal with the topic areas relevant to public service interpreting or the techniques which may be applicable to public service interpreter note-taking.

Kirsty Heimerl-Moggan’s research analyses the underlying ideas and systems used in note-taking for conference interpreting and their applicability, once adapted, to public service interpreter needs. She will be reporting on her studies into adapted public service interpreter note-taking and considering student performance pre- and post the adapted-note-taking study. Her research focuses on public service interpreting students, conference interpreting students and those combining both careers paths.

Kirsty will be drawing on her observations and analysis of her conference and public service interpreting students over the last 12 years.

Jérôme Devaux is a Senior Tutor at the University of Salford and a Public Service Interpreter Trainer for Interp-Right Training Consultancy Ltd. He has worked as an interpreter at the highest level in both the conference and the public service fields, whilst continuing to teach aspiring interpreters in both areas. He is about to publish a book on interpreting exercises compiled with his co-presenter.

An essential skill for any interpreter is the retention of information. A great deal of emphasis in interpreter training is placed on memory skills enhancement and such skills are deemed the most appropriate in the interpretation of short interventions. Note-taking, however, can be a very useful additional skill especially when interventions are longer, require retention of specific details or are difficult to follow.

Although every interpreter’s note-taking is very individual, there are some underlying notions which help any interpreter develop their individual set of notes.

During this session the presenters will give an introduction to these skills and participants will then have the opportunity to start developing their own set of symbols on specific topics on the basis of the information provided.

After a year working in the German offices of the English Law Firm Travers Smith, he started working as a legal translator, and qualified as a Business Translator at the Berlin Chamber of Industry and Commerce (IHK Wirtschaftsübersetzer), and is a full member of the German professional translators’ association, the BDÜ http://www.bdue.de/. He also studied for and obtained a Diploma in Arbitration from University College Dublin, and is a full member of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators http://www.ciarb.org/.

Alongside his translation work, he worked as a freelance advocate and appeared in County Courts across England and Wales, predominantly in London and the East Anglia area, and also qualified as a mediator.

Since 2008 he has been involved in organising and teaching an MA in Legal Translation at City University, London http://www.city.ac.uk/translation/staff/richard-delaney.html.

As an experienced translator and lecturer, and with his legal background, his first and foremost aim is to ensure the absolute accuracy of any given translation, while aiming to also provide an idiomatic rendering where possible.

Publications and conferences:

• A translator’s liability; published in the ITI Bulletin, May-June 2009
• Specialising in legal translation – City University’s MA in Legal Translation as a case study; paper given at the conference “Interpreting the Future” in Berlin, 11 -13 September 2009, published in Tagungsband – Übersetzen in die Zukunft, edited by W. Baur, S. Kalina, F. Mayer, J. Witzel, Berlin, 2009, ISBN 9783938430248
• The Translator’s Copyright; paper given at the The Translator as Writer- 2009 Portsmouth Translation Conference, 7 November 2009, published in The Changing Face of Translation, Proceedings of the ninth annual Portsmouth Translation Conference held on 7 November 2009, edited by by Ian Kemble, Portsmouth, 2010, ISBN9781861376169
• Legal Translation in Theory & Practice; Fifth Conference on Legal Translation, Court Interpreting and Comparative Legi-Linguistics. Not yet published

Memberships:

Bundesverband der Dolmetscher und Übersetzer e.V.

The Bar of England and Wales

Lincoln’s Inn

The Chartered Institute of Arbitrators (MCIArb)

The Chartered Institute of Linguists (MCIL)

Council member of the ITI

This is both their greatest strength and their greatest weakness.

What implications does this realisation have, or should it have, for the way we approach our work? How can we counteract our human failings and exploit our human advantages to the full? This is not just a matter of: “We make mistakes, translation memory perpetuates them”. It extends far beyond core translating skills to include communication with clients, agencies, colleagues and others, the need for continuous upgrading in the sense of life-long learning, problems with organising and mobilising knowledge, and many other fields. It can even affect our attitude to our profession and its status: Do we hide behind our computers, phones and e-mail, or do we take a proactive stance in our dealings with the outside world?

Taking a fresh and wide-ranging look at what makes human translators their own worst enemy, this talk seeks to provide practical and pragmatic solutions to a number of familiar everyday problems by raising awareness of how the problems arise in the first place. This session is presented by Terry Oliver.

Sarah Griffin-Mason, Vice-Chair of the ITI Education and Training Committee will provide a low-down on some of the available post-MA translator training that can help you gain the competitive edge and compete professionally in a burgeoning market-place.

This session will discuss many types of valuable training available to language providers from sources including on-line translator forums, commercial providers, the ITI and other professional associations. The aim is to provide you with:

• an overview of the types of training available
• suggestions for complementary skills for portfolio working – teaching, revising, editing, writing
• suggestions on how to improve your writing, productivity and list of contacts.

There will be a short discussion session aimed mainly at freelancers seeking guidance in uncharted waters.

Typically, “emotional intelligence” is considered to involve emotional empathy, attention to -and discrimination of- one’s emotions; accurate recognition of others’ moods; response with appropriate emotions and behaviours in various life situations, especially to stress and difficult situations; and possession of good social skills and communication skills.

Arguably, competent translators and interpreters also need to possess these skills in order to mediate effectively between cultures, to understand a client’s needs and expectations, and to communicate someone’s message in a successful way. Being able to recognize what other people feel, and finding ways to handle and transfer these perspectives seems absolutely necessary for successful translation and interpreting performances in today’s globalized and competitive market.

So what place should be given to emotional intelligence in the translator’s/interpreter’s workplace, if any? And how can translator and interpreter professionals learn to behave in more emotionally intelligent ways in this competitive and increasingly technological industry, where face to face interactions are becoming a thing of the past?

This session will be interactive, enabling delegates to participate in the discussion and share experiences.  It is presented by Séverine Hubscher-Davidson.

Séverine is presenting a session entitled Emotional Intelligence in the Translator/Interpreter Workplace.

Using video conferencing technology to process bail applications directly from prison is now an everyday occurrence: and for defendants in the UK it is mandatory. Another initiative, the Virtual Court Pilot Project, will almost certainly mean that, in the very near future, most defendants will be “offered the opportunity” to “attend” a court hearing immediately after charge and be sentenced whilst still at the Police Station.

References to interpreters are completely absent from the promotional literature. One government document states that “a Virtual Court Hearing is just like any other first hearing that takes place at a magistrates’ court” and “the timeliness of the process and the resource savings offered by the technology improve the efficiency of the criminal justice system in working together to put on effective first hearings – without any loss of quality”.

So is it really true to say that video conferenced court hearings are just like any other or that there is no loss of quality? Those promoting the use of video conferencing technology in court have failed to take account of the fact that a large number of defendants coming before the courts have ways of communicating which differ from the norm, for example, sign language users and non-English speakers. Few, if any, researchers have looked at the differences between face-to-face interpreted court hearings and video conferenced ones.

Building upon a pilot study, and making use of Bhatia’s Move Structure to provide a micro-analysis of the linguistic styles of a typical prison video link hearing, I use a combination of audio recordings, ethnographic observation and interviews to show that this technology alters communication in ways which are not immediately apparent, even to the interpreter. There are also differences in procedure and other factors requiring adjustment by the interpreter and the court if non-English speaking defendants are not to be disadvantaged.

In the very near future, more and more court hearings (perhaps including trials) will be heard through video link. Interpreters must be equipped to cope with the demand that the technology places upon them. What is at stake is nothing less than justice for  limited-English speaking defendants.

This workshop is designed for aspiring and practising court interpreters. It will use anonymised transcripts of real hearings to demonstrate the differences between working with defendants face to face and remotely and will attempt to raise the awareness of participants of such issues as the role of the interpreter in the video link court, the need for assertiveness in setting out the parameters of the interpreter’s professional duty, the power relationships in the courtroom and how these affect the interpreter, and, last but not least, the interpreting techniques that are required for dealing with the new technology.

With an early-bird that expires at the end of February, there is plenty of time for delegates to choose the best moment to book. However, the VAT increase in January 2011 does mean that, effectively, those who book earliest will make the greatest savings, since after the New Year even the early-bird price will rise slightly in line with the VAT hike.

A booking form is available on the website, along with a provisional programme so that those who are only able to book for one day can choose which day they want to attend (though naturally, we would like you to book for both days if you can).

At just £248 for two days, the basic early-bird price for those booking between 4 January and 28 February 2011 represents excellent value for money. Equivalent conferences in other professions can cost double this, and we are confident that the sessions and networking opportunities on offer at the ITI conference will give you the chance to earn back your conference fee very quickly. As usual, ITI member prices are also granted to members of FIT organisations and the ATC. Note that prices do not include accommodation.

If you are in any doubt as to the usefulness of attending an ITI conference, read Matthew Young’s article about how his decision to attend the 2009 conference in London brought him a major new customer.

Table: Pricing for the ITI Conference 2011.

The NEC is well known as a venue for major rock concerts and exhibitions, but it also has excellent facilities for smaller events. ITI has secured the exclusive use of the NEC Galleries conference suite, which is located on the first floor, above the public areas of the Atrium section of the exhibition centre.

Exclusive use means that we are able to stage multiple parallel sessions, and offer exhibitors and delegates a large area in which to network and do business.

For more details on the NEC Galleries, see the NEC website and the other links on this conference website.

The life of the professional translator has changed so much in the last few years that it would be almost unrecognizable for a translator who would wake up from a coma. Gone are the days of working alone at home or at the back of the garden, hunched over a typewriter or a word processor. The Internet is here to stay and be part of our lives. We now work and live on the Internet.

This presentation aims to show how it is possible to work from anywhere in the world, either using a portable or a desktop computer and how to make the most of what the Internet has to offer – as well as the Web 2.0, a concept that is slowly inching its way in our lives. It will be based on my own personal experience of spending months abroad visiting family or attending courses and conferences and how the online tools allow me, or anyone else for that matter, be anywhere in the world without losing touch with their clients – just paying attention to time zones.

Tools that make this a reality will be presented, together with the latest releases in terms of software and hardware for translators on the go. As technology advances, we have to be able to adapt if we want to stay in contact with increasingly demanding requirements to be a translator.

Ana Iaria is presenting a session on the mobile office

Ana Luiza Iaria (MSc, MITI, CL (Translator), ATA member) is a former lawyer who practiced Law for many years in Brazil before starting out as a translator.

As well as a Law degree, she also holds a first degree in Languages and an MSc in Translation and Translation Technology; and teaches several subjects, including Publishing Skills, at the MSc in Translation at Imperial College London as a Visiting Lecturer.

Apart from presenting papers on legal translation at international conferences, she also presents workshops on tools and productivity for translators. Law is her main area of interest, but she is also a geek at heart.

At the ITI Conference 2011, Ana will be presenting a session entitled “My portable office“.

Madeleine Lenker is presenting a session about localisation

Madeleine studied at Cologne University of Applied Sciences in Germany and is an accredited English-German translator. She graduated with a Masters degree in Terminology and Language Engineering from the same university and has worked in the localisation and translation industry. Madeleine is currently studying for a Ph.D. at Localisation Research Centre (University of Limerick/Ireland).

She is presenting a session on localisation.

Localisation concerns the translation of digital content, software and their appropriate presentation to end users in different locales. Localisation is important because having software, a website or other content in several languages, and meeting several sets of cultural expectations is an important international marketing advantage. In the non-commercial sector, where information equality is deemed important, localisation also enables information access for less well off locales. These requirements have led to demands for increased localisation activities and acts as a prompt to study how the localisation process can be optimised. To do this, a standardised localisation process first needs to be made explicit. Hence, new approaches need to be found to cope with this increasing volume while maintaining and improving quality.

Sophisticated TEnTs (Translation Environment Tools) offer for example a complete translation workflow online. This kind of technology allows several people to work on the same project simultaneously. Data is also stored online and cannot get lost in a local computer crash. However, it should be noted that while these tools to create workflows exist, standard, state-of-the-art workflows do not seem to exist and consequently, companies are left to their own devices to recreate best practices in this regard.

Considering the cultural differences that can arise when the localisation effort is distributed globally (differences between headquarters and local offices and the different languages) this seemingly important factor could become even more critical, exacerbating the need for such a workflow. Steps such as those required to build trust and communication, in such contexts may be required.

Rosner (MultiLingual, 2009, pp.26–27) surveyed practitioners to find out which was more important: people, technology or processes within localisation. The results indicated that the people and processes are the most important factors. Interestingly, none of the respondents thought that technology was the most important factor. Thus, participants said if you have the right people and the right process in place, even bad technology will not stop you from achieving the goal. This is interesting given the investment in tools and technology in this area and the lack of standardisation with respect to a state-of-the-art localisation process/workflow that explicitly incorporates, and thus organises, people within that process.

It is important to combine people, technology and processes to answer nowadays and future localisation needs. The first step is to define the process (for instance what to localise, resources and budget). This leads to the project enactment/kick off. This, in turn, leads to a decision on how to proceed: either using an ERP tool (for accounting, invoicing, project management) or using a translation management system (TMS). If an ERP tool is used, it will provide a more holistic solution giving, for example, better monitoring of the depreciation and appreciation of company assets. If the ERP solution is chosen then a connection should be made to TEnTs to process and speed up the localisation further which will also lead to a faster time to market for the end product. The defined process ends with the delivery and the invoicing of the localised content. The overall process is monitored in case of faults, delays or cancellations.

Another element entitled ‘Personnel monitoring and feedback’ is added. Personnel are a key issue and their involvement should be present throughout the whole workflow. Feedback refers to both communicating the feedback and subsequent training.

Having a good process, the technology to execute it and the right people in place allows to cope with increasing volume while maintaining and improving quality.

Autumn is upon is, as conference preparations continue apace.

Autumn is in full swing here, and preparations for ITI Conference 2011 are continuing apace. This morning we have added the details of some more sessions, including a presentation of the findings of a survey of professional translators, 10 years on from the original study, and a freelancer’s experiences of spending a week or so in the media spotlight. See the Programme page for more information.

Tomorrow is a red-letter day, as we will be visiting two alternative venues for the conference in Birmingham. You have probably already heard about the explosive news that greeted us two or three weeks ago, and we hope to confirm our new venue in the next week or so.

In the meantime, keep checking your RSS feed and follow the @ITIConference twitter feed

Isabel is presenting a session with Betti Moser on coping with typical problems faced by freelance translators

Isabel Hurtado de Mendoza (MITI, MA DPSI, BA Hons) is a freelance translator working from English into Spanish and specialising in art, tourism, media and marketing. She is the Newsletter Editor of the Scottish Network and has experience giving presentations in the fields of translation and language teaching.

Isabel is co-presenting with Betti Moser in a session entitled “No translator is an island“.

Betti Moser is co-presenting with Isabel Hurtado de Mendoza

Betti Moser has been a freelance translator since 2003, translating from German into English and specialising in marketing & advertising copy.

She was Co-Chair of the ITI London Regional Group from 2004 until the end of 2009 and currently coordinates the ITI Construction & Environment Network.

Betti is co-presenting with Isabel Hurtado de Mendoza in a session entitled “No translator is an island“.

We often hear that translation is a solitary profession, and that translators sometimes spend all their working hours alone in their office with no face-to-face interaction with their clients. However, this does not mean that a freelance translator is an island. Quite the opposite: whether we work for agencies, direct clients or a combination of the two, there are always a number of people we have to deal with, from project managers or client contacts to colleagues, proofreaders and accountants.

These human interactions that reach beyond the horizon of our own office can also cause problems at some point, and it can be difficult to know how to deal with these on our own. Sharing our approaches to responding to such situations with other colleagues will enable us to be better prepared for them.

In this workshop, we will present participants with some real-life scenarios that we will discuss, with the aim of giving delegates a better idea of how to conduct ourselves in tricky business situations.

Examples of scenarios to be discussed could include:

• Dealing with large projects that are shared with other translators
• Taking criticism gracefully
• Client insists on using terminology you know is wrong
• Recognising dubious job offers or scams
• Client cancels the job midway
• Situation changes after negotiating rates and deadlines
• Being asked to do test translations
• Realising that you underestimated how long a job would take
• Negotiating rates

The fast-moving world of professional translation has undergone many changes since 2000, not least against the backdrop of rampant globalisation, recession and the double-edged sword of technological advances. Pauline Uyterwijk has reported for the Bulletin on translators’ confidence in their workflow and income during the credit crunch, but we feel it is time to revisit some of the broader issues our survey respondents and interviewees identified 10 years ago and to illustrate in particular how translators sustain a successful career in straitened economic times.

Over the next six months, we therefore plan a further questionnaire survey and hope to re-interview as many of the original interviewees as we can to update the snapshot we took of the profession at the dawn of the 21st century. In particular, we want to explore how the recession has affected their business, what strategies they have adopted to survive the downturn, and how they have expanded their professional horizons in terms of parallel activities, subject specialisms, language range, client-base, software tools or market niche. The research will also consider the impact of such developments as Chartered Linguist status.

Our paper will present the broad findings of our research and, we hope, be of interest both to established practitioners looking to expand their professional horizons and to newcomers to the profession seeking guidance on carving out a successful and rewarding career.

You can participate in the survey at http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/JLXH8LQ.

Karen M. Tkaczyk is speaking about Technical Writing

Karen M. Tkaczyk, PhD, CT is originally from Scotland and now lives in Nevada, USA.

She works as a highly-specialised French and Spanish into English freelance technical translator. Karen holds an MChem in Chemistry with French (University of Manchester), a Diploma in French and a PhD in Organic Chemistry (University of Cambridge). She worked in the pharmaceutical industry in France and Ireland, then after relocating in 1999, in medical devices and cosmetics in the US. Since 2005 she has been technical translator and editor.

Karen is president of the Nevada Interpreters and Translators Association, and administrator of the American Translators Association’s Science and Technology Division. She frequently speaks on her fields of expertise at T&I PD events.

She is giving a workshop on technical writing.

Jonathan Downie is speaking about his experiences in the media spotlight

Jonathan Downie is an interpreter, translator and interpreting researcher based in Central Scotland. His business, Integrity Languages, supplies translation and interpreting to Christian organisations, translation and interpreting agencies and private clients. He is also a part-time PhD student at Heriot-Watt University studying the effect of interpreting modes on audience recall and response. He has served on the ITI Council since May 2010 as the member chosen by associates.

At the conference he will be talking about his experiences in the media spotlight, in a session entitled Maw, ah’m oan the telly!

Despite their vital work in industry, commerce, politics and the legal system, the work of translators and interpreters is rarely the focus of media attention and when it is, it is often for all the wrong reasons. February 2010 saw an exception to this general rule. Following a widely publicised recruitment process, Today Translations appointed their first Glaswegian interpreter and decided to celebrate the occasion by calling in an experienced journalist and PR expert to try to attract a little bit of media attention.

Noone could have predicted just how many media outlets would become intrigued enough to push for their little piece of the action. From a saunter around a bingo hall in the East End of Glasgow, the story would lead to a spot on prime time television on ITV and even an interview with Canada’s leading radio station.

This presentation will take the audience through the sheer craziness of that week. While live TV and plush studios might seem a world away from the everyday realities of our working lives, I intend to show that the lessons learned in that week are applicable to life after the fifteen minutes of fame are over.

Our prospective clients have the same key question as journalists: “what is so different about you?” Before anyone will actually hire us, they want to know why we are any different to the thousands of other professionals who work in our languages and in our fields of expertise.

Those who have easy answers to this question then need to deal with the issue of how to present themselves. With the pressure to write SEO perfect websites, blog like a genius and tweet like a celebrity, translators and interpreters can often find themselves confused about what clients actually want to see.

Even once this problem is resolved, the story is not finished as many professionals can find themselves dealing with the issue of criticism. Not everyone was pleased that Glaswegian seemed to need interpreters and even more seemed annoyed that this was deemed newsworthy. For people seeing a measure of success in any field, dealing with critics will always be a key skill to learn.

This presentation will therefore offer light relief and thought-provoking questions that will be helpful for both new translators and those who are more experienced in the profession. Both groups will be encouraged to seek out their own unique selling point, present it in a way that is natural to them and deal positively with criticism from both clients and other professionals.

One of the odder, and biggest hiccups we’ve ever encountered hit us today. Our venue hosts, Conference Aston, contacted us to let us know that unfortunately they are unable to let us have access to the Lakeside Centre on Sunday, 8 May 2011, since on that day, demolition experts will be busy blowing up two nearby student accommodation tower blocks as part of a phase of development that will be completed in 2013.

While we’re naturally sad that our chosen venue will not be able to accommodate us, we’re working with Conference Aston this week to find a solution. Rest assured that the conference is still very much on track, and we hope to be able to give you a progress update soon. Keep up with our RSS feed and our Twitter feed to be among the first to hear the news!

We’d like to thank Conference Aston for all the help they have given us and have promised to continue giving us so that we can resolve this little challenge as quickly as we can. Whatever happens next, you can be certain that the ITI Conference will go with a bang! And at least we will know what that bang is, when it goes off on the Sunday morning!

I first attended the ITI Conference in 1989, not long after joining ITI, and I’ve been to a good number of conferences since then.

One of the really rewarding things about the conference is that it opens a window into current trends. It’s noticeable that the crop of speakers at any given conference will have something in common – not that they speak on the same topic, but that their current preoccupations overlap.

Perhaps several of them allude to translating “in the cloud”; or there are a number of passing mentions of what difference the new European translation standard has made in practice; or there are repeated references to new translation companies that I hadn’t previously heard of, but which have become big players while I was busy doing something else (translating, perhaps?). Usually, these themes aren’t the subject of the presentations made, but are mentioned in passing.

This means that you pick up on trends in our industry without even realising it. Admittedly, this makes it hard to quantify what you’ve learned, or to put a value on it. But then, if you aren’t aware of a new trend, you can’t quantify how useful it would have been to know about it, either.

Over the years I have made a lot of friends among my colleagues, and having the opportunity to talk over these ideas and ask them for their opinions is not only valuable and stimulating, but also tremendous fun!

Percy Balemans is talking about transcreation

Percy graduated in 1989 from the Opleiding Tolk-Vertaler (School of Translation and Interpreting) in Maastricht, the Netherlands.

After having worked with a translation agency as an in-house translator for a couple of years, she switched to the IT business, where she worked as a technical writer and copywriter, information designer, web editor and trainer.

Translation, however, has always been her real passion and in 2007 she set up her own business as a full-time freelance translator, specialising in advertising and marketing material (transcreation), human rights, journalism, travel and tourism, art and fashion.

She is a member of the Netherlands Society of Interpreters and Translators (NGTV) and an Associate of the Institute of Translation & Interpreting (ITI).

Visit her website for more information: www.pb-translations.com

Over the next few weeks this website will run an irregular series of short articles by ITI members, explaining their relationships with the ITI conference.

These people, who have very kindly donated their words free of charge, represent a broad cross-section of the ITI membership.

Read what they have to say and decide for yourself whether booking a place at the ITI conference next May might not be the best business decision you make this year!

Our series kicks off with an article by Matt Young, a Japanese to English translator who talks about the very tangible benefit he has seen from attending the last ITI conference, held in 2009 in London.

Don’t forget to sign up to our RSS feed (http://www.iti-conference.org.uk/conference-2011/feed/) to receive immediate notification when the next article is published on the site.

You can also join in the conversation yourself, by commenting on this and any other article on this website.

So if you’ve had a similar experience to Matt, or any of the writers of our subsequent articles, please do write to let us know!

The Comment box can be found at the bottom of each article.

We hope you enjoy reading what these ITI members have to say about the conference, and we look forward to reading about your own experiences too.

Matt Young MITI explains why he’s glad he attended the ITI conference in 2009.

My decision to attend the 2009 ITI Conference was rather last minute. It meant a weekend away from my wife and (then) new-born son, London is a bit of a trek from my home in Shropshire, and the conference fee of around £300 seemed somewhat expensive.

However, my concerns were short-lived: the quality of the speakers was almost universally excellent, the surroundings (The Institute of Mechanical Engineers) were both comfortable and inspiring, and I was able to meet a number of translators that I had hitherto only known as Twitter names.

Perhaps the most significant benefit from my trip to the conference, however, was an encounter with a previously unknown (to me) translation company who were there to pick up their award for “Best Translation Company”, as voted for by translators.

I figured that if enough of my peers had given them the thumbs up to receive this award, they must be a company worth getting to know. I had a brief chat with their representative who picked up the award and just a few weeks after the conference, I had my first enquiry from them.

Our association has since blossomed and I now count them among my favourite clients.

I have recouped my conference fee may times over thanks to the work they have put my way, and this has fundamentally changed the way I think about attending such events.

Just remember that it takes just one small translation job from one new client to make a return on your investment.

Workshop led by Percy Balemans

We have all heard of advertising campaigns gone wrong because they were not adapted for the target audience: slogans which, when translated, turned out to mean something completely different and seriously damaged the product’s or brand’s reputation. To avoid these mistakes, advertising copy should be transcreated rather than translated, to make sure it is specifically written for the target audience.

This workshop provides some background on how transcreation works and offers participants a chance to give it a try themselves.

Content

Introduction:

• What is transcreation?
• What types of texts are transcreated?
• What are the typical target audiences?
• Which skills does a good transcreator need to have?
• Which clients offer transcreation jobs?
• Which source material does the transcreator need?
• What are the typical deliverables?
• How do you go about creating a transcreation?
• Examples of transcreation jobs

Exercise:

During the exercise, participants will work in groups to translate a slogan into their target language. Slogans will be available in the following source languages: English, Dutch, German and French.

Learning objectives

How does transcreation differ from “regular” translation: how does it work, which skills are required and what do you have to keep in mind when accepting a transcreation job.

Workshop schedule

Introduction: approx. 15 minutes

Exercise: approx. 15 minutes

Discuss exercise results: approx. 15 minutes

Speaker

This workshop will be led by Percy Balemans, a Dutch translator who says she “chose to become a translator because I enjoy being creative with language and juggling with words in order to convey the same message in a different language and against a different cultural background.”

Percy’s biography is located here, but in the you can also find out all about her on her own website, www.pb-translations.com

Welcome to the website of the ITI Conference 2011. The Conference, which has the broad title “Expanding Horizons”, will take place on 7 & 8 May 2011 at NEC Gallery, at the National Exhibition Centre close to Birmingham, United Kingdom.

The Conference will give delegates the opportunity to experience a broad mix of practical sessions and workshops on many different aspects of translation and interpreting, and on professional development and running your own business as a freelancer.

Over the next few weeks and months, we will be adding more and more material to the site as we start to firm up our programme. Details on the papers that have been accepted for inclusion in the programme can be found on the Programme page. There are also links to speaker biographies.

Why not use the RSS feed option at the bottom of the page to subscribe to the ITI Conference 2011 website – this will notify you of changes and additions to the website as they occur, so you can be sure you always have the latest Conference news at your fingertips.

Thank you for your visit to our website today. Please do have a look around and find out more about the conference.