On swearing and why and how people do it (e.g. why can and do we use negative terms to express positive emotions, but not the other way around (bar sarcasm)
Reinier Johannes Charles “Rik” Smits (born 1953 in The Hague) is a Dutch linguist, author, translator and editor with a wide range of interests.
As a linguist he specialized in generative syntax, taking a PhD in General Linguistics in 1989. From then on, he mainly pursued a writing career, informing the general public on linguistic matters theoretical and practical. Apart from linguistics, he published hundreds of articles and interviews on subjects like the brain, ICT and its ramifications, modern media, intellectual property, freedom of speech, copyright and other fundamental rights, history, ethics and politics.
Eyal Holtzman studied Graphic & Typographic Design in The Hague at the Royal Academy of Art and then completed the Master course Type Design & Typography. Since 1996 he has been active as an independent artist, designer and lecturer.
In the book Dutch Type Jan Middendorp describes Eyal’s designs as being “among the most original alphabets produced in the Netherlands”, (…) “which were not based on any model or fashion but were pure invention, tapping into an idiom that no other type designer working in the Netherlands has ever used”.
Translators are meaning creators and cultural mediators, deeply affected by subjectivity,
personal stands, and context; however, the issue of ethics is still focused on fidelity and respect to norms of tradition, and established practices.
In recent years, the question of gender identity and sexuality has gained visibility in many parts of the world, raising awareness on the relation between power, language, and recognition. In the quest for inclusion, people have begun developing different linguistic, cultural and political strategies to identify and name themselves.
This work aims at re-thinking translation ethics and practice in this new non-binary world.
Maitén Vargas has been a freelance translator, interpreter, and proofreader since 2011. Through her work at different international NGOs and agencies, she has specialized in gender issues, sexual and reproductive rights and health, migration and education, among other fields. As assistant trainer of Translation of Social Sciences, part of her theoretical and practical work focused on the importance of including texts on gender identity and expression to empower students and create social change.
She is member of the Colegio de Traductores Públicos de la Ciudad de Buenos Aires and a feminist activist.
Erika Cosenza (she/her) has been a freelance translator & interpreter, and a proofreader & editor for 20 years. A member of three professional associations, she has started her career as a translator for an NGO advancing women’s rights. Since then, gender issues, feminism, and individual rights have always been present both in her work and in her personal life. Besides, she has been teaching a literary translation for more than five years.
A feminist and secular activist, Erika also manages to find time for working out, swimming, running, and fighting for a better world.
15:20-16:00
Emoticons, emojis, smileys and stickers, oh my! What is an interpreter to do? – Dr. Holly Silvestri
There are 3.2 billion people who have regular internet access in the world, and studies show that 92 percent-plus of those 3.2 billion people regularly send emojis. As a result, these graphicons are also showing up more and more frequently in court as part of evidence in all parts of the world. In fact, these symbols are increasingly appearing in British criminal, family, and employment hearings, tracking their rise in the U.S. But the multiple meanings of emoji are not always readily grasped. So, how is an interpreter supposed to deal with these graphicons? This presentation will provide both spoken and signed language legal and medical interpreters with the reasons why these graphicons are so difficult to interpret and provide some best practices recommended by a research group of working professional interpreters in the USA.
In addition to having significant experience in the field of secondary and university education, Dr. Silvestri has run her own LSP agency as well as freelancing for other agencies and government entities. Currently she works as Senior Coordinator for Translation, Training, and Curriculum at the National Center for Interpretation at the University of Arizona. She has also taught in their undergraduate Spanish Translation and Interpretation program. Her working languages are Spanish, French and English. She is a founding member of AAITE.org (American Association of Interpreters and Translators in Education).
The importance of discovery in US civil procedure – Graciela Isaia y Ruiz, PhD
This lecture will focus on how discovery is key to the whole case. As translators, we need to know the particulars of this procedural stage to make wise and accurate translation choices. This lecture will be merely based on the legal theory underlying this stage of a judicial case.
Graciela IsaÃa y Ruiz is an ATA Certified Translator, also certified in Argentina. She holds a PhD in Modern Languages and a Higher Education Professor degree. She has been a Chair Professor at the Argentine Catholic University (UCA) since 1994, where she teaches Legal Translation and Comparative Law at the graduate and postgraduate levels. She is the Editor-in-Chief of the academic journal “Bridging Cultures†(http://erevistas.uca.edu.ar/index.php/BRID) and the Head of the Postgraduate Program in Business Translation (UCA). She runs “Excelsusâ€, a translation agency in Argentina, and has been a free-lance translator since 1993. She has been an ATA volunteer since 2000.
As interpreters, we need to have many different words stored in our mental database. I have words from different areas, such as healthcare, politics, and slang, and from different Spanish speaking countries. But, how do we learn new words in a fast and fun way? During this 40-minute, language neutral class, I will share how can we use Instagram as a source of new terminology and examples of the accounts I follow and enjoy.
Gloria loves sharing her passion for translation, interpreting, and medicine and has done so in conferences in the US and abroad. Also, she is Core Faculty of the NCI at the University of Arizona. She is the recipient of 2018 CHIA\’s Instructor of the Year Award.
GAME OF COURTS: Progress of litigation in American Jurisprudence – Andy Benzo
We will learn how a case gets to the US supreme court. Let’s study a case and find out when a case can go to appeal. Is every case decided in appeal a precedent? When does a case go to the Supreme Court of the State, and when to the Supreme court of the US? How do we address the Appeal Court and how does the Supreme court?
Andy Benzo has a Law Degree and a Translation Degree from her native Argentina. She has been working as a freelance Legal Translator for more than 30 years. She is ATA-certified. Andy is a founder of ATISDA (Association of Translators and Interpreters in the San Diego Area), serving as its President for 7 years. For many years, she was an instructor in the Translation and Interpretation Certificate Program at UCSD Extension, where she taught several courses, including Legal and Business Translation, Simultaneous and Consecutive Interpretation. Continuing her studies in the US, she obtained a Paralegal Degree from California State, San Marcos. She is the current Assistant Administrator of the Spanish Division of the ATA. Andy has given many presentations at ATA conferences and internationally.
16:50 – 17:30 Breakout Rooms
Including -16:55 Let’s Meditate Together with Anna Lewoc guided meditation – 15 minutes (Use the Track I link)
17:30 – 18:30 Human and Machine Translation: From Rivalry to Symbiosis – Yuri Balashov
Historically, the relationship between human and machine translation (MT) has been uneasy and complicated. But an increasing number of stakeholders are now coming to view it as synergistic. While the advent of neural MT has resulted in dramatic improvements in quality, it has not driven professional translators out of business. It is, however, rapidly changing the way they do their everyday work. In this talk I summarize these changes and review some tools and methods allowing translators to get the most out of MT output and customize it to particular domains, such as oil & gas or pharmaceuticals, using translation memories and term bases.
Additional info
I am an ATA-certified EN>RU translator and a university professor interested in the growing symbiosis of human and machine translation (https://yuribalashov.com/NewProject/HMT.htm). The tools and methods I intend to survey in my presentation may include customizable online MT engines such as DeepL and Modern MT, the “Lilt model,” as well as OPUS-CAT — a collection of machine translation software based on a Windows implementation of Marian NMT (a stable production-ready neural machine translation framework used in many industrial and research applications). One can install it locally, fine-tune to a particular domain, and integrate into CAT tools.
18:30- 19:00 Breakout Rooms
19:00 – 20:30 Keynote – What’s the future of T&I? – Judy Jenner
Do translators and interpreters live in a scary new world? What will 2022 and the rest of the decade hold for our profession? How did the global pandemic affect our profession? Is RSI here to stay? Will machine translation replace us? While everyone has an opinion, no one has a crystal ball. However, one thing is certain: there will be changes, and the best we can do is to learn about what is coming, keep current on new developments, and think about how to adapt and evolve. The speaker will present an overview of what she thinks is coming and how linguists can ensure their success in this decade, the next one, and beyond — pandemic or not.
