American Translators Association - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

The American Translators Association (ATA) was founded in 1959 and is now the largest professional association of translators

Translation

Translation is the communication of the meaning of a source-language text by means of an equivalent target-language text. Whereas interpreting undoubtedly antedates writing, translation began only after the appearance of written literature; there exist partial translations of the Sumerian Epic of...

and interpreters

Interpreting

Language interpretation is the facilitating of oral or sign-language communication, either simultaneously or consecutively, between users of different languages...

in the United States

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

with more than 10,000 members in 90 countries.

Membership is open to anyone with an interest in translation and interpreting as a profession or as a scholarly pursuit. Members include translators, interpreters, teachers, project managers, web and software developers, language services companies, hospitals, universities, and government agencies.

ATA offers certification examinations for its members in some language combinations, and is affiliated with the International Federation of Translators

International Federation of Translators

The International Federation of Translators is a worldwide organization, composed of the national translation organizations from over 60 countries...

(FIT). The association is headquartered in Alexandria

Alexandria, Virginia

Alexandria is an independent city in the Commonwealth of Virginia. As of 2009, the city had a total population of 139,966. Located along the Western bank of the Potomac River, Alexandria is approximately six miles south of downtown Washington, D.C.Like the rest of northern Virginia, as well as...

, Virginia

Virginia

The Commonwealth of Virginia , is a U.S. state on the Atlantic Coast of the Southern United States. Virginia is nicknamed the "Old Dominion" and sometimes the "Mother of Presidents" after the eight U.S. presidents born there...

.

Unlike a trade union, the ATA represents both "labor" and "management" -- that is, both the translators who produce written translations and the translation agencies who purchase them. The ATA likewise does not provide benefits, such as collective bargaining or health insurance, to its freelance members.

Professional development

ATA's primary goals are to foster and support the professional development of translators and interpreters and to promote the translation and interpreting professions. The Association offers a variety of programs and services in support of these goals, including a series of one-day seminars and workshops throughout the year and an ATA Annual Conference every fall — both of which feature education and training concerning diverse specialties and languages.

Certification

The ATA currently offers certification exams in the following language

Language

Language may refer either to the specifically human capacity for acquiring and using complex systems of communication, or to a specific instance of such a system of complex communication...

pairs:

Into English from Arabic

Arabic language

Arabic is a name applied to the descendants of the Classical Arabic language of the 6th century AD, used most prominently in the Quran, the Islamic Holy Book...

, Croatian

Croatian language

Croatian is the collective name for the standard language and dialects spoken by Croats, principally in Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, the Serbian province of Vojvodina and other neighbouring countries...

, Danish

Danish language

Danish is a North Germanic language spoken by around six million people, principally in the country of Denmark. It is also spoken by 50,000 Germans of Danish ethnicity in the northern parts of Schleswig-Holstein, Germany, where it holds the status of minority language...

, Dutch

Dutch language

Dutch is a West Germanic language and the native language of the majority of the population of the Netherlands, Belgium, and Suriname, the three member states of the Dutch Language Union. Most speakers live in the European Union, where it is a first language for about 23 million and a second...

, French

French language

French is a Romance language spoken as a first language in France, the Romandy region in Switzerland, Wallonia and Brussels in Belgium, Monaco, the regions of Quebec and Acadia in Canada, and by various communities elsewhere. Second-language speakers of French are distributed throughout many parts...

, German

German language

German is a West Germanic language, related to and classified alongside English and Dutch. With an estimated 90 – 98 million native speakers, German is one of the world's major languages and is the most widely-spoken first language in the European Union....

, Hungarian

Hungarian language

Hungarian is a Uralic language, part of the Ugric group. With some 14 million speakers, it is one of the most widely spoken non-Indo-European languages in Europe....

, Italian

Italian language

Italian is a Romance language spoken mainly in Europe: Italy, Switzerland, San Marino, Vatican City, by minorities in Malta, Monaco, Croatia, Slovenia, France, Libya, Eritrea, and Somalia, and by immigrant communities in the Americas and Australia...

, Japanese

Japanese language

is a language spoken by over 130 million people in Japan and in Japanese emigrant communities. It is a member of the Japonic language family, which has a number of proposed relationships with other languages, none of which has gained wide acceptance among historical linguists .Japanese is an...

, Polish

Polish language

Polish is a language of the Lechitic subgroup of West Slavic languages, used throughout Poland and by Polish minorities in other countries...

, Portuguese

Portuguese language

Portuguese is a Romance language that arose in the medieval Kingdom of Galicia, nowadays Galicia and Northern Portugal. The southern part of the Kingdom of Galicia became independent as the County of Portugal in 1095...

, Russian

Russian language

Russian is a Slavic language used primarily in Russia, Belarus, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan. It is an unofficial but widely spoken language in Ukraine, Moldova, Latvia, Turkmenistan and Estonia and, to a lesser extent, the other countries that were once constituent republics...

, and Spanish

Spanish language

Spanish , also known as Castilian , is a Romance language in the Ibero-Romance group that evolved from several languages and dialects in central-northern Iberia around the 9th century and gradually spread with the expansion of the Kingdom of Castile into central and southern Iberia during the...

.

From English into Chinese

Chinese language

The Chinese language is a language or language family consisting of varieties which are mutually intelligible to varying degrees. Originally the indigenous languages spoken by the Han Chinese in China, it forms one of the branches of Sino-Tibetan family of languages...

, Croatian

Croatian language

, Dutch

Dutch language

, Finnish

Finnish language

Finnish is the language spoken by the majority of the population in Finland Primarily for use by restaurant menus and by ethnic Finns outside Finland. It is one of the two official languages of Finland and an official minority language in Sweden. In Sweden, both standard Finnish and Meänkieli, a...

, French

French language

, German

German language

, Hungarian

Hungarian language

Hungarian is a Uralic language, part of the Ugric group. With some 14 million speakers, it is one of the most widely spoken non-Indo-European languages in Europe....

, Italian

Italian language

, Japanese

Japanese language

, Macedonian

Macedonian language

Macedonian is a South Slavic language spoken as a first language by approximately 2–3 million people principally in the region of Macedonia but also in the Macedonian diaspora...

, Polish

Polish language

Polish is a language of the Lechitic subgroup of West Slavic languages, used throughout Poland and by Polish minorities in other countries...

, Portuguese

Portuguese language

, Russian

Russian language

, Spanish

Spanish language

, and Ukrainian

Ukrainian language

Ukrainian is a language of the East Slavic subgroup of the Slavic languages. It is the official state language of Ukraine. Written Ukrainian uses a variant of the Cyrillic alphabet....

As of 2004, the organization requires members to complete a certain number of "continuing education" points from among offerings approved by the association in order to retain certification after passing a certification examination.

Governance

ATA is governed by its Bylaws, and has a President, a President-Elect, a Secretary, a Treasurer, and a Board of Directors, which has nine members. In addition, there is an Executive Director in charge of operations.

Current officers

Nicholas Hartmann, President
Dorothee Racette, President-Elect
Virginia Perez-Santalla, Secretary
Gabe Bokor, Treasurer

Past presidents

1960–1963 Alexander Gode
Alexander Gode
Alexander Gottfried Friedrich Gode-von Aesch or simply Alexander Gode was a German-American linguist, translator and the driving force behind the creation of the auxiliary language Interlingua.-Biography:Born to a German father and a Swiss mother, Gode studied at the University of Vienna and the...
1963–1965 Kurt Gingold
1965–1967 Henry Fischbach
1967–1969 Boris Anzlowar
1969–1970 Daniel Peter Moynihan (Resigned in June 1970)
1970–1971 William I. Bertsche (Completed Moynihan's term)
1971–1973 Thomas Wilds
1973–1975 William I. Bertsche
1975–1977 Roy Tinsley
1977–1979 Josephine Thornton
1979–1981 Thomas R. Bauman
1981–1983 Benjamin Teague

1983–1985 Virginia Eva Berry
1985–1987 Patricia E. Newman
1987–1989 Karl Kummer
1989–1991 Deanna L. Hammond
1991–1993 Leslie Wilson
1993–1995 Edith F. Losa
1995–1997 Peter W. Krawutschke
1997–1999 Muriel M. Jérôme-O'Keeffe
1999–2001 Ann G. Macfarlane
2001–2003 Thomas L. West III
2003–2005 Scott Brennan
2005–2007 Marian S. Greenfield
2007–2009 Jiri Stejskal

Publications

The ATA Chronicle

The Chronicle is a monthly publication available only in hard-copy format that combines articles on various translation-related issues with regular features.

Translation: Getting it Right
Beacons
ATA Scholarly Monograph Series — Published annually by John Benjamins
John Benjamins
John Benjamins Publishing Company is an independent academic publisher in social sciences and humanities with its head office in Amsterdam. Its North American office is in Philadelphia, United StatesIt is especially noted for its publications in linguistics...

.

Structure

ATA divisions provide members with common interests a way to network and receive career updates. The divisions offer newsletters, online forums, seminars, conference presentations, and networking sessions. ATA offers 16 special interest groups or divisions http://www.atanet.org/divisions/index.php, based on language or subject-area specialty. Any member of the ATA can belong to any division(s).

ATA chapters

ATA chapters and affiliates provide regional information, marketing, networking, and support services to local translators and interpreters.

Affiliated groups

Austin Area Translators and Interpreters Association (AATIA)
Houston Interpreters and Translators Association (HITA)
Iowa Interpreters and Translators Association (IITA)
Nevada Interpreters and Translators Association (NITA)
New Mexico Translators and Interpreters Association (NMTIA)
Tennessee Association of Professional Interpreters and Translators (TAPIT)
Utah Translators and Interpreters Association (UTIA)

Honors, awards and scholarships

The American Translators Association presents a number of awards and scholarships to members of the translation and interpreting professions. These include:

ALTA National Translation Award - for translations of books published in Canada or the US
Alexander Gode Medal — for outstanding service to the profession
Ungar German Translation Award — for literary translation from German to English
Lewis Galantière Award — for literary translation from a language other than German to English
Student Translation Award — for a literary, scientific or technical translation by a graduate or undergraduate student, or a group of students
Harvie Jordan Scholarship Fund — for the ATA Spanish Language Division
S. Edmund Berger Prize — for Excellence in Scientific and Technical Translation
JTG Scholarship — for a student studying scientific and technical translation or interpreting

The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.