ITA LAUNCHES MENTORING INITIATIVE

What is the purpose of this mentoring project?

• To facilitate the successful entry of promising young/new translators into the market by encouraging a proper work ethic and application of appropriate professional tools and work methods.
• To upgrade the professionalism of both newer and veteran members of the ITA

Who is it for?

• Less experienced translators who feel they can benefit from some guidance in the early stages of their career.
• Experienced translators who are interested in working in a new content field (legal, technical, medical etc.)
• ITA members only

How does it work?

A prospective mentee will make contact with a mentor and see if they have time to mentor them. While some mentors might be willing to help and advise on a purely voluntary basis, the standard format will be as follows:

• Mentors will subcontract some of their work to the mentee who will be paid a nominal sum for the work.
• Mentors will review the translated and/or edited text and make comments so that this becomes a useful learning experience for the mentee.
• The mentor and the mentee will agree, in advance and in writing, on the terms for their cooperation, including payment conditions (the ITA's recommendation is 30-40% of the work's fee).

Mentor guidelines

• Mentors will not take on more mentees than they can effectively help.
• In order to help mentees learn to work independently and responsibly in their chosen field, mentors will review the translated and/or edited text using Microsoft Word Track Changes and provide commentary on features such as:
• what was good about the work
• specific vocabulary errors, Hebrew-isms / English-isms etc. style, inelegant syntax, etc.
• the importance of researching parallel texts and establishing a library of these
• recommendations on the creation of glossaries.
• tips of various kinds (Internet searches, error avoidance, etc.)
• recommendations of useful books that should be in the mentee's library
• work ethics, work methods and best business practices, etc.
• Mentors will conduct their reviews and commentaries in good faith and will not take any advantage of the process.
• Mentors may inform mentees at any time that they wish to stop mentoring.
• Mentors are not obligated to supply work to the mentees if they do not have any suitable work available, but may offer to review work the mentee has contracted independently and may charge a nominal fee (see above the ITA's recommendation)

Mentee guidelines  

• Mentees will undertake to make their best efforts on the work received from the mentors and to complete it in timely fashion agreed upon in advance.
• Mentees are entirely free (and encouraged) to look for as much independent work as they can find.
• A mentee wishing to move to a different/additional mentor/field is free to do so.
• Mentees will refrain under all circumstances from making direct contact with any client of the mentor without the mentor's knowledge and permission. Infringement of this guideline may lead to exclusion from the ITA and from the right to obtain recognition or certification in the future.

If you want to be a mentor, please fill out this form.

For the mentors list, click here.