Year in Review--2011 Winter Issue

Notes from the 2011 Division Meeting

On Friday, October 28th, members of the Chinese Language Division (CLD) gathered in Boston during the 52nd Annual Conference of the American Translators Association.

CLD Administrator Bin Liu updated the group on the achievements of the CLD since the most recent annual meeting in Denver. He noted that interest in Chinese translation is increasing, as reflected in a greater number and increased quality of Chinese presentations at the ATA annual conference this year. He also reported that the Chinese translation industry is maturing in several ways. These changes include additional requirements for more rigorous language support as manifest in an expanding marketplace for Chinese translation and interpretation products and services.

Specific to the CLD, Bin Liu cited five notable achievements in the past year:

First, he thanked the CLD members for their efforts to prepare and deliver high-quality Chinese presentations throughout the Boston conference. He noted that this year’s series of presentations included both translation and interpretation topics of timely interest to the CLD and the broader ATA community.

Second, he stated that communications had improved, stemming largely from the creation of a CLD listserv and the revival of the CLD newsletter. He described the CLD listserv as an important forum for sharing information efficiently among division members. In addition, he noted that Spring and Summer editions of the multilingual CLD newsletter have been published and that the next steps in the communications initiative involve coordinating with an experienced web developer and multimedia expert to provide ready access to such resources.

Third, he cited greater engagement and potential enhanced cooperation with professional translator counterparts from China. He introduced Ma Yuanxi to report on relevant developments that occurred during the 19th World Congress of the International Federation of Translators (FIT) in San Francisco in August. Ma Yuanxi reported that several ATA leaders and CLD members attended the FIT conference and met with colleagues from the Translators Association of China (TAC), including Huang Changqi, assistant to the president of TAC (and who was also elected as a FIT council member), and Jiang Yonggang, TAC vice-chairman. At an informal dinner, it was agreed that ATA and TAC should pursue cross-membership arrangements and strive to cooperate in the execution and delivery of translation projects. In this regard, the TAC representatives offered to invite CLD members to attend TAC’s 10th anniversary celebration in Beijing in August 2012, to include participating in joint panel sessions. Bin Liu displayed a porcelain plate presented to the CLD on behalf of TAC as a tangible expression of gratitude and anticipation of future engagement.

Fourth, he reported that he attended the ATA division leader summit in April in Alexandria, Virginia. At this event, he received guidance from ATA on the creation of a new Governing Policy for Divisions, which he described as common division by-laws on leveraging online capabilities (such as listservs, Facebook, instant messaging, and Skype), organizing division leadership councils (in addition to formally-elected officers), and forming nomination committees. He then noted that the leading members of the CLD would need to help synchronize the efforts of the core leadership council staff.

Fifth, he cited progress in the effort to create an ATA Chinese-English certification test. He invited Di Wu as the Chair of the newly-formed Chinese-English Certification Examination Committee to describe the process. Di Wu described the immediate tasks as involving organizational and passage selection challenges. He noted that a passage committee task force is being formed to identify six Chinese passages (three for practice and three for the examination) for the certification process. Among the six passages will be two representative examples each from general fields of subjects - the science, technology and medical disciplines; and the business, financial and legal domains. He noted that when the candidate passages are identified, assessed, and approved by ATA, the Chinese-English Certification Examination can be fielded, perhaps to be in place within one year.

As is our custom, the CLD members enjoyed a lively group dinner following the division’s annual meeting. At a local Chinese restaurant, about 25 participants engaged in informal networking and discussions on a wide array of topics related to shared professional Chinese translation and interpretation challenges and opportunities.

Rusty Shughart

Chinese to English Translator

e-mail: rustyshughart@hotmail.com

美国译协华语分会与中国译协赴美代表团举行联谊活动

来源： 中国翻译协会

        2011年8月1日，中国译协代表团部分成员应邀与美国译协华语分会部分参会代表举行了联谊晚餐。此次活动受到美国译协的高度重视，美国译协现任会长Nicholas Hartmann，美国译协前会长、国际译联副主席优瑞（Jiri Stejskal，美国译协理事会成员、国际译联翻译技术委员会主席Alan Melby等亲自出席联谊活动，美国译协候任主席Dorothee Racette专门发来了贺信。她在信中指出：“没有中国参与的国际商业是不可想象的。各行各业几乎都与中国建立了深厚的联系，并进行了巨额的国际投资。如果没有合格的语言工作者帮助双方进行良好的交流，这一切都不可能发生。美国译协华语分会的活动日益活跃反映了汉语的重要性与日俱增。”她认为，在市场上对高质量中文翻译的需求前所未有高涨的情况下，举行此次联谊活动适逢其时。她表示美国译协愿直接或通过华语分会与中国译协开展更为深入的合作。

        美国译协华语分会是美国译协较大的分会之一，由700余名从事中文到其他语言的翻译组成，与中国译协一直保持友好关系。联谊活动前，正在国内出差的华语分会主席刘斌还专程赴中国译协，就与中国译协加强合作进行了沟通。他在致中国译协代表团的邀请函中说：“中国现在位于世界强国之列，从事中文翻译的译者由此承担起了一个新的使命：我们不仅需要将外国商业与外国文化介绍给中国，也需要将中国介绍给世界。……我们面临一个宝贵的机会：将中国的传统与价值观、中国的语言和文化以及中国的经验和理想通过翻译呈献给世界。作为语言媒介和文化使节，中美翻译工作者可以通过合作实现很多有价值的目标。美国译协华语分会希望与中国同行保持联系，加强沟通与交流，促进两个协会以及双方会员之间的务实合作。”

        联谊晚餐之后，中国译协代表团团长姜永刚、中国译协会长助理黄长奇还与华语分会领导成员马元曦、吴迪、杨荣等就具体合作领域与可行的合作方式进行了深入探讨，就建立信息交流机制、互相推荐会员、积极参与对方举办的活动等方面初步形成共识。

代表团部分成员与华语分会领导成员合影

联谊晚餐现场一

联谊晚餐现场二

Letter from then ATA President-Elect to participants of ATA CLD-TAC joint dinner at the FIT World Congress in August, 2011--

2011 FIT World Congress in San Francisco

Letter of Congratulations

Dear executive leaders of the Translators Association of China, dear honorary guests, and dear members of the ATA Chinese Language Division,

Welcome to San Francisco and many thanks for your kind invitation to attend your dinner. Though the honor of having you as our guests far surpasses any contributions I could make to the discussion of your language combination, I am pleased that the FIT World Congress organized by our association has provided an opportunity for you to gather and exchange information. Unfortunately, other obligations prevent me from attending your dinner in person, but I offer this simple letter of congratulations instead. 

The technological advances of our times are making our world smaller and bringing us closer together. As translators and interpreters, we play a particularly important role in this process. In my letter I would like to briefly address the following three topics:

The importance of international cooperation among translators

The economics of business with China

The advances of the Chinese Language Division within the ATA

Modern advancements in computer technology are accelerating the speed of communication, and what would have seemed impossible just a decade ago has now become reality. The business of translation has truly become global and we find ourselves at the forefront of modern business, in which international cooperation is increasingly vital. The cooperation of translators across borders and oceans is an encouraging sign of developments yet to come.

Modern business is unthinkable without China. Virtually every industry has established profound ties with China and enormous investments are being made on an international scale. None of this can happen without proper communication with the help of qualified linguists, who build the bridge that is necessary to make business transactions a success for both sides.

The Chinese Language Division of the American Translators Association is reflecting the growing importance of Chinese in the growth and breadth of its activities. Thanks to the leadership of this Division, we will offer our largest Chinese program ever at the upcoming Annual Conference of our Association in Boston and efforts to offer translator certification from Chinese to English are sure to lead to success in the near future.

In summary, your meeting here in San Francisco is very opportune, as the need for qualified translations in this field has never been greater. The economic outlook for our field is currently excellent, and the expectations and need for high-quality Chinese translations and interpreting are very high.

Once again, I extend to you my regrets for not being able to speak to you in person today. However, the members of our association and I welcome this opportunity to enter into even more profound professional dialogue with you in the future.

Sincerely,

Dorothee Racette 

President-elect, American Translators Association

Letter from ATA CLD Administrator to participants of ATA CLD-TAC joint dinner at the FIT World Congress in August, 2011--

Dear colleagues from China:

It's with great pleasure that I welcome you to San Francisco, to attend the first-ever FIT Congress in the U.S. It's a wonderful opportunity for the members of the Chinese Language Division of the ATA to meet and mingle with you and share our common experiences and expectations. Even though I can't be at the Conference in person, I still remember the historically significant panel presented by the Translators Association of China at ATA's 50^th Annual Conference in New York City. We all admire your active and valuable participation and contribution to ATA and FIT.

As China stands up tall among the nations of the world, translators working with the Chinese language assume a new mission: not only will they help introduce foreign trade and foreign cultures to China, but they will also need to introduce China to the world. We are at that juncture where material and cultural exchanges are truly bilateral and bidirectional. We are given a rare and precious opportunity to translate and interpret for the rest of the world Chinese traditions and values, Chinese language and culture, and Chinese best practices and ideals.

As linguistic middlemen and cultural ambassadors, translators from America and translators from China have a lot to collaborate on and many worthy goals to strive for. It is the wish of the Chinese Language Division of the ATA to remain engaged with colleagues from China, open up minds and thoughts, and work out basic strategies of collaboration between our members and our organizations. We hope to be the bridge that will lead somewhere. We hope to start that conversation now.

Thank you and cheers to you all!

Bin Liu

Administrator of the Chinese Language Division (2010-2012)

American Translators Association