MINISTRY OF EDUCATION OF THE REPUBLIC OF MOLDOVA MOLDOVA STATE UNIVERSITY FACULTY OF FOREIGN LANGUAGES AND LITERATURES DEPARTMENT OF TRANSLATION,

INTERPRETATION AND APPLIED LINGUISTICS

REPORT

NATIONAL AND INTERNATIONAL TRANSLATION ORGANISATIONS

Submitted by : Umanschi Daina-Maia

Research Adviser : Marchitan Irina

Chiinu 201 3

CONTENTS

Introduction ....3 1. 2. 3. 4. Definitions: Translation, Translator and Interpreter 5 Employment Issues for Translators and Interpreters 7 International Organizations .8 National Organizations ..15

Conclusion17 B ibliography....18

INTRODUCTION

What does it take to be a translator or interpreter? What kind of person would even want to, let alone be able to, sit at a computer or in court day after day turning words and phrases in one language into words and phrases in another? Isn't this an awfully tedious and unrewarding profession? It can be. For many people it is. Some people who love it initially get tired of it, burn out on it, and move on to other endeavors. Others can only do it on the side, a few hours a day or a week or even a month: they are writers or teachers or editors by day, but for an hour every evening, or for an afternoon one or two Saturdays a month, they translate, sometimes for money, sometimes for fun, mostly (one hopes) for both. If a really big job comes along and the timing and money are right, they will spend a whole week translating, eight to ten hours a day; but at the end of that week they feel completely drained and are ready to go back to their regular work. Other people, possibly even the majority (though to my knowledge there are no statistics on this), translate full time and don't burn out. How do they do it? What skills do they possess that makes it possible for them to "become" doctors, lawyers, engineers, poets, business executives, even if only briefly and on the computer screen? Are they talented actors who feel comfortable shifting from role to role? How do they know so much about specialized vocabularies? Briefly translators and (especially) interpreters do all have something of the actor in them, the mimic, the impersonator, and they do develop remarkable recall skills that will enable them to remember a word (often in a foreign language) that they have heard only once. Translators and interpreters are voracious and omnivorous readers, people who are typically in the middle of four books at once, in several languages, fiction and nonfiction, technical and humanistic subjects, anything and everything. They are hungry for real-world experience as well, through travel, living abroad for extended periods, learning foreign languages and cultures, and above all paying attention to how people use language all around them: the plumber, the kids' teachers, the convenience store clerk, the doctor, the bartender, friends and colleagues from this or that region or social class, and so on. Translation is often called a profession of second choice: many translators were first professionals in other fields, sometimes several other fields in succession, and only turned to translation when they lost or quit those jobs or moved to a country where they were unable to practice them; as translators they often mediate between former colleagues in two or more different language communities. Any gathering of translators is certain to be a diverse group, not only because well over half of the people there will be from different countries, and almost all
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will have lived abroad, and all will shift effortlessly in conversation from language to language, but because by necessity translators and interpreters carry a wealth of different "selves" or "personalities" around inside them, ready to be reconstructed on the computer screen whenever a new text arrives, or out into the airwaves whenever a new speaker steps up to the podium. A crowd of translators always seems much bigger than the actual bodies present. But then there are non-translators who share many of these same characteristics: diplomats, language teachers, world travelers . . . What special skills make a welltraveled, wellread language lover a translator? Not surprisingly, perhaps, the primary characteristics of a good translator are similar to the expectations translation users have for the ideal translation: a good translator is reliable and fast, and will work for the going rate. From an internal point of view, however, the expectations for translation are rather different than they look from the utside. For the translator, reliability is important mainly as a source of professional pride, which also includes elements that are of little or no significance to translation users; speed is important mainly as a source of increased income, which can be enhanced through other channels as well; and it is extremely important, perhaps even most important of all, that the translator enjoy the work, a factor that is of little significance to outsiders.

1. Definitions: Translation, Translator and Interpreter

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 Gilgamesh (ca. 2000 BCE) into Southwest Asian languages of the second millennium BCE. Translators always risk inappropriate spill-over of source-

language idiom and usage into the target-language translation. On the other hand, spill-overs have imported useful source-language calques and loanwords that have enriched the target languages. Indeed, translators have helped substantially to shape the languages into which they have translated. Due to the demands of business documentation consequent to the Industrial Revolution that began in the mid-18th century, some translation specialties have become formalized, with dedicated schools and professional associations. Because of the laboriousness of translation, since the 1940s engineers have sought to automate translation (machine translation) or to mechanically aid the human translator (computer-assisted translation). The rise of the Internet has

fostered a world-wide market for translation services and has facilitated language localization. Translation studies deal with the systematic study of the theory, the description and the application of translation. A competent translator shows the following attributes:

a very good knowledge of the language, written and spoken, from which he is translating (the source language);

an excellent command of the language into which he is translating (the target language);

familiarity with the subject matter of the text being translated; a profound understanding of the etymological and idiomatic correlates

between the two languages; and

a finely tuned sense of when to metaphrase ("translate literally") and when to paraphrase , so as to assure true rather than spurious equivalents between the source- and target-language texts. A competent translator is not only bilingual but bicultural. A language is not

merely

collection

of words and
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of

rules

of

grammar and syntax for

generating sentences,

but

also

vast

interconnecting

system

of connotations and cultural references whose mastery, writes linguist Mario Pei, "comes close to being a lifetime job." The complexity of the translator's task cannot be overstated; one author suggests that becoming an accomplished translator after having already acquired a good basic knowledge of both languages and cultures may require a minimum of ten years' experience. Viewed in this light, it is a serious misconception to assume that a person who has fair fluency in two languages will, by virtue of that fact alone, be consistently competent to translate between them. The translator's role in relation to a text has been compared to that of an artist, e.g., a musician or actor, who interprets a work of art. Translation, like other arts, inescapably involves choice, and choice implies interpretation. Englishlanguage novelist Joseph Conrad advised his niece and Polish translator Aniela Zagrska: [D]on't trouble to be too scrupulous... I may tell you (in French) that in my opinion "il vaut mieux interprter que traduire" ["it is better to interpret than to translate"].... Il s'agit donc de trouver les quivalents. Et l, ma chre, je vous prie laissez vous guider plutt par votre temprament que par une conscience svre.... [It is, then, a question of finding the equivalent expressions. And there, my dear, I beg you to let yourself be guided more by your temperament than by a strict conscience....] A translator may render only parts of the original text, provided he indicates that this is what he is doing. But a translator should not assume the role of censor and surreptitiously delete or bowdlerize passages merely to please a political or moral interest. Translation has served as a school of writing for many authors. Translators, including monks who spread Buddhist texts in East Asia, and the early modern European translators of the Bible, in the course of their work have shaped the very languages into which they have translated. They have acted as bridges for conveying knowledge between cultures; and along with ideas, they have imported from the source languages, into their own

languages, loanwords and calques of grammatical structures, idioms and vocabulary. Interpreting, or "interpretation," is the facilitation of oral or sign-language communication, either simultaneously or consecutively, between two, or among more, speakers who are not speaking, or signing, the same language.
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The term "interpreting," rather than "interpretation," is preferentially used for this activity by Anglophone translators, to avoid confusion with other meanings of the word "interpretation." Unlike English, many languages do not employ two separate words to denote the activities of written and live-communication (oral or sign-language)

translators. Even English does not always make the distinction, frequently using "translation" as a synonym for "interpreting." Interpreters have sometimes played crucial roles in history. A prime example is La Malinche, also known as Malintzin , Malinalli and Doa Marina , an early-16thcentury Nahua woman from the Mexican Gulf Coast. As a child she had been sold or given toMaya slave-traders from Xicalango, and thus had become bilingual. Subsequently given along with other women to the invading Spaniards, she became instrumental in the Spanish conquest of Mexico, acting as interpreter, adviser, intermediary and lover to Hernn Corts. Nearly three centuries later, in the United States, a comparable role as interpreter was played for the Lewis and Clark Expedition of 1804 6 by Sacagawea. As a child, the Lemhi Shoshone woman had been kidnapped by Hidatsa Indians and thus had become bilingual. Sacagawea facilitated the expedition's traverse of the North American continent to the Pacific Ocean. Four decades later, in 1846, the Pacific would become the western border of the United States.

2. Employment Issues for Translators and Interpreters

Contrary to many other sectors, the fields of translation and interpreting are anticipated to grow quickly within the next few years. Of course, job prospects will vary by language and specialty, but there will be more of them across the board. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, employment of interpreters and translators is projected to increase 22 percent over the next 8 years. Much of this increase is due to strengthened ties between the United States and international organizations, expanded markets due to globalization, and the greater number of non-English-speaking immigrants in the United States. The demand will grow for translators of frequently translated languages, such as Spanish, Arabic, French, Italian, German, and Portuguese. Moreover, the demand for translators of Farsi, Chinese, Japanese and Korean is expected to grow rapidly. In terms of location, larger cities such as New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, or
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Minneapolis provide the most opportunity for translators and interpreters working in all sectors. Due to recent changes in legislation regarding finances and healthcare, it is expected that there will be an increase in demand for interpreters and translators specializing in healthcare, economics and law. In addition, due to the large number of companies that have expanded internationally, the job market for business and website translators will be especially good. As per usual, because of the relatively small number of translation or interpreting opportunities in literature and the arts, these fields will remain competitive.

3. International Organizations

International Federation of Translators (FIT)

The Fdration

Internationale

des

Traducteurs (English: International

Federation of Translators) is an international grouping of associations of translators, interpreters and terminologists. More than 100 professional associations are affiliated, representing over 80,000 translators in 55 countries. The goal of the Federation is to promote professionalism in the disciplines which it represents. It seeks constantly to improve conditions for the profession in all countries and to uphold translators' rights and freedom of expression. The objectives of the FIT are:

to link and bring together existing associations of translators, interpreters and terminologists;

to encourage and facilitate the formation of such associations in countries where they do not already exist;

to provide member associations with information about conditions of work, technological tools, initial and ongoing training, and all questions useful to the profession;

to develop and maintain, among all member associations, good relations that serve the interests of translators;

to uphold the moral and material rights of translators throughout the world;. to promote the recognition of the professions of translator, interpreter and terminologist, enhance the status of translators in society, and promote translation as a science and an art.
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The Federation, through its committees, undertakes to meet the various expectations of its members by addressing matters of training, conditions of work, the various aspects of the profession, and the categories of translators, interpreters and terminologists. To take part in the work of one of the twelve committees is an individual contribution to the profession as a whole. The FIT's supreme body is the statutory congress, which is held every three years. It brings together delegations from the member associations, and it elects the Council, which in turn elects its Executive Committee and directs the FIT until the next world congress. The governing bodies are supported by different committees, which report to the Council annually about their activities, and to the congress. The statutory congress is followed by an open congress, which is an outstanding platform for exchanges among all professionals in the translation sector. The FIT is a worldwide organization, composed of the

national translation organizations from over 60 countries. It represents over 100,000 translators worldwide. The journal BABEL and the bulletin Translatio are the Federation's quarterly publications, and are widely disseminated. Babel is a scholarly publication presenting articles from all round the world. Translatio is the Federation's information organ, telling members about its activities and those of its committees and member associations. The proceedings of each congress are also published, and serve as a further source of valuable information to those interested in the many facets of the translation profession. In addition, FIT participates, between its own world congresses, in the or ganization of seminars, colloquia and round table discussions on various aspects of the profession.

International Association of Professional Translators and Interpreters ( IAPTI)

The International Association of Professional Translators and Interpreters (IAPTI), an NPO, is a translators and interpreters association. Based in Buenos Aires, Argentina, it was established on 30 September, 2009,Saint Jerome's day. It was created by a group of professional language mediators as a vehicle for promoting ethical practices in translation and interpretation and providing a forum for discussing problems typical of the globalized world, such as crowdsourcing, outsourcing, bad rates and other abuse. In 2012, IAPTI was accepted by FIT as an observer member. Its honorary members are the following: Noam Chomsky, Mona Baker, Valentn Garca Yebra (in memoriam),
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Sergio Viaggio, Fernando Navarro, Suzanne Jill Levine, Ricardo Chiesa, Lucille Barnes.

International Association of Conference Interpreters (AIIC) The International Association of Conference Interpreters (AIIC Association internationale des interprtes de confrence) was founded in 1953. It represents over 3,000 members present in over 100 countries. The association has a strict admissions procedure based on a peer review system, intended to guarantee high-quality interpreting and professionalism.

Candidates must be sponsored by interpreters who have been AIIC members for at least five years. AIIC members are required t o abide by the associations code of ethics and its professional standards. AIIC liaises with a number of international organizations (e.g., the EU and the United Nations) and negotiates the working conditions for all of their non -staff interpreters, including non-members. The goals of the AIIC are to secure acceptable working conditions for interpreters, to ensure professional interpretation, and to raise public awareness of the interpreting profession. It is also involved in other areas of the profession, such as:

programs for young conference interpreters; continuing professional development; standardisation; new technologies in conference interpretation; court and legal interpretation; interpretation in conflict areas; "preservation of World Linguistic Heritage".

AIIC issues an online magazine named Communicate! .

International Association for Translation and Intercultural Studies (IATIS)

The International

Association

for

Translation

and

Intercultural

Studies (IATIS) is a world-wide forum designed to enable scholars from different regional and disciplinary backgrounds to debate issues relating to translation and other forms of intercultural communication.

Ongoing internationalization and networking, increasing population mobility,

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mass migration and rapidly developing communication tec hnologies all involve cross-cultural representation of one kind or another. Mediation is provided by translators and interpreters in some cases. In others, it takes a variety of less explicit forms and hence remains largely untheorized and under -researched.

Institutions and individual researchers across the world have been making questions of globalization and multiculturalism part of their scholarly agenda. Others continue to investigate more traditional issues of translation and cultural transmission. Translation studies is now an established discipline in many parts of the world. Intercultural studies is emerging as an area of study in its own right. To date, no single scholarly association represents the interests of academics and researchers in these rapidly growing fields across the world. Existing organizations tend to be restricted in their aims and scope, whether to the professional development of translators and interpreters, to certain geographical areas, or to the narrower field of translation. At the same time, issues of translation and intercultural communication feature only occasionally in the conferences and publications of scholarly associations in such fields as anthropology, comparative literature, or pragmatics. Hence the need for a world-wide, broadly based association encompassing both translation and intercultural studies.

Translators Without Borders Translators without Borders is a non-profit association set up to provide pro bono translation services for humanitarian non-profits. It was established in 2010 as a sister organization of Traducteurs Sans Frontires, founded in 1993 by Lexcelera (formerly Eurotexte). As of 2012 it had about 1600 vetted volunteer translators. Translators without Borders assists the transfer of knowledge from one language to another by instituting and managing a community of non -profits who need translations and professional, vetted, volunteer translators. The organization works for pro-bono non-governmental organizations and social enterprises that need information translated. Some of those groups are Doctors Without Borders, Medecins du Monde, UNICEF, Oxfam, Handicap International. Some examples of information translated by Translators without Borders includes translated reports, interviews, and briefings from conflict -torn areas around the world, such as Burundi, Sudan, and Afghanistan. The organization translates millions of words per year. According to their website, Translators without Borders
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has donated over 8 million translated words to charities (as of the beginning of 2013), which is equivalent to about $1,600,000 released for NGOs. Translators without Borders is based in Connecticut and its president is Lori Thicke. ProZ.com created an automated translation center for Translators without Borders in May 2011. This translation center is called the Translators without Borders Workspace. Approved non-profits post translation projects and TWB volunteer project managers send out alerts to the translators. Since translations are provided by a large group of volunteers, Translators without Borders is able to keep its costs down. This method has greatly increased the productivity of Translators without Borders. When projects were handled manually, TWB translated 29 projects, with 37,000 words of text, in seven language pairs, for nine different organizations. In January 2012, seven months after the Translators without Borders Workspace was completed, they translated 183 projects, with 280,000 words, in 25 language pairs, for 24 organizations. This remains the monthly average for Translators without Borders . People who volunteer to be translators via the application on the Translators without Borders website must be either professional translators with a minimum of experience qualification of 4 years of professional translation experience or with 2 years of professional translation experience and have a university degree in translation or a related subject. Their application is fast-tracked if they are ATA certified, a Lionbridge translator or a Proz.com Certified PRO. These fast-track applicants are given credentials to join the Translators without Borders Workspace. These volunteers are notified within thirty days of their app lications submission if they are qualified. Translators without Borders Projects The HealthPhone project Translators without Borders' most prominent project with health videos is with the Mother and Child Health and Education Trust in India. HealthPhone, which was founded and created by Nand Wadhwani, creates health videos that are preloaded to phones throughout India and beyond. The videos cover a variety of health issues, such as breastfeeding, malnutrition, post -natal and newborn care, and more.

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Through translators, videos are subtitled so that people throughout India (and in Africa) who do not speak or read the source language can learn from the videos. So far videos have been subtitled into about 10 Indic languages, Swahili and Spanish. The ACCEPT project In January 2012, Translators without Borders (partnered with the University of Geneva, Acrolinx, the University of Edinburgh and Symantec) launched the international research project ACCEPT. ACCEPT is an acronym meaning Automated Community Content Editing Portal. This projects goal is to enable machine translation for the emerging community con tent standard. Lexcelera is also participating in this project. The project will run for thirty-six months. Training center in Kenya Millions of Kenyans speak Swahili, the lingua franca of Eastern Africa. This project focuses on healthcare information translated into Swahili. In April 2012, Translators without Borders opened their first Healthcare Translation Center in Nairobi. The center is hosted on the campus of the East Africa Bible Translation and Literacy (BTL) organization. In January 2013, the Healthcare Translation Center moved into the main building on campus. The purpose of the Healthcare Translation Center is to intensi vely train local Kenyans to become professional translators. These translators assist in the process of getting healthcare information out in Swahili. These translators are recruited to the training center due to backgrounds in language or in health. As of the beginning of 2013, the team consists of thirteen fully trained translators/editors. Translators without Borders is evaluating their training model to determine if it can be used in more places. Wikipedia Medicine 80x80 Translation Project In 2011, Translators without Borders began a collaborative effort to translate key medical articles on English Wikipedia into other languages. The WikiProject Medicine Translation Task Force first improves the 80 medical articles deemed most essential to WP:GA or WP:FA status. When the articles are improved, they are translated into simplified English by Content Rules (the simplified English is provided on the Wikipedia simplified English site) and a goal of more than 80 languages. Eventually, the articles will be tran slated into all of the 285 languages that Wikipedia exists in. This process is expected to take several years.

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All content is available through mobile networks and some content without data charges through the Wikipedia mobile partners Telnor, Orange and STC in Africa, South East Asia and the Middle East. Many of the articles are available in spoken Wikipedia. Some of these articles are also pending publication in open access general medical journals.

European Society for Translation Studies (EST)

The European Society for Translation Studies (EST) is an international nonprofit organization that promotes research on translation, interpreting,

and localization. The Society was registered on the Bundespolizeidirektion in Vienna as May the 28, "Europische 1993 Gesellschaft with fr

Translationswissenschaft (European Society for Translation Studies - EST)". As an association under Societys official Austrian law, its constitution so the is in German but name the

language is English,

English

prevails.

The abbreviation "EST" should be pronounced as separate letters. Its aims as stated in its Constitution are: to foster research in translation and interpreting, to promote further education forteachers of translation and interpreting, and to offer advice on the training of translators and interpreters. On September 12, 1992, the participants at the

International conference "Translation Studies - An Interdiscipline" in Vienna agreed to establish the Society, which was officially registered on May 28, 1993. The Society has held congresses every three years,

in Prague (1995), Granada (1998), Copenhagen (2001), Lisbon (2004),Ljubljana (20 07), and Leuven (2010). The seventh congress is scheduled to take place

in Germersheim, Germany, in 2013. The Society works through a system of boards and committees, each charged with a specific task: the Executive Board, the Advisory Board, the

Young Scholar Prize Committee, the Event Grant Committee, the Book Purchase Grant Committee, the Doctoral Studies Committee, the Research Committee, and the Translation Committee. Presidents:

Mary Snell-Hornby (1992 1998) Yves Gambier (1998 2004)

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Daniel Gile (2004 2010) Anthony Pym (2010 2013) In 2011 the Society set up the Research Committee to produce reports on key

issues in Translation Studies research. Short versions of the reports are posted to Wikipedia. In 2011 the Society also set up the Translation Committee to commission translations of Translation Studies research. The Society gives several annual awards: for young scholars to attend summer schools in Translation Studies, for academic departments to purchase Translation Studies publications, and for the organization of Translation Studies events. Every three years it also gives a prize to the best young scholar in Translation Studies.

4. National Organizations

Association of Professional Translators of Moldova (ATP)

The Association of Professional Translators of Moldova (ATP) is a nongovernmental and non-profit organization. It was founded in January 1998. The key role of ATP is to promote the highest quality interpretation and translation services in the Republic of Moldova. ATP members are bound by its Statute, Regulation and Code of Ethics. They are highly-qualified and well-reputed individuals by virtue of their education at renowned higher education institutions and their extensive practice of lingual/ translation services. Members are constantly encouraged to upgrade their skills and to share their knowledge and expertise with individuals and organizations involved in lingual and translation services. The objectives of the Association are: To promote professional standards of performance and integrity. To achieve wider recognition for the profession of interprete r and translator. To support training and accreditation, certification of translators/ interpreters

through competent and reliable methodologies. To advance the highest quality services. To encourage better communication among ac tive interpreters and translators. To achieve these objectives, ATP holds regular meetings; develops glossaries, guidelines, and other relevant materials; organizes workshops and seminars to train its members and other translators/ interpreters; provides consultancy and referral
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services to interested individuals and organizations; and conducts other activities aimed at promoting the general welfare of the Association and its members. ATP Moldova delivers high-quality translation and interpretation services to almost all international organizations in Moldova, such as the World Bank, IMF, UNDP, UNICEF, UNHCR, ILO, IOM, EBRD, OSCE, USAID, JICA, DFID, SIDA, EU organizations and projects, as well as to various international and national public and private companies. ATP members provide professional translation/interpretation services from English, French, German, Spanish, Italian and other languages into Romani an and Russian and vice-versa. They are specialized in a number of areas, such as: economics, law, constructions etc. If you are interested to work with us, we could send you more detailed information (CVs, reference letters, sample translations etc.) and certify translations made by the ATP members, upon your request. In the end, we express the assurances of our highest consideration and the invitation to a fruitful cooperation with the Association of Professional Translators of Moldova. IT, education, health care, social protection, mass -media,

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CONCLUSION It is a matter of little or no concern to translation users, but of great importance to translators, what translator associations or unions we belong to, what translator conferences we go to, what courses we take in the field, how we network with other translators in our region and language pair(s). These "involvements" sometimes help translators translate better, which is important for users and thus for the pride we take in reliability. More crucially, however, they help us feel better about being translators; they enhance our professional self -esteem, which will often sustain us emotionally through boring and repetitive and low -paid jobs. Reading about translation, talking about translation with other translators, discussing problems and solutions related to linguistic transfer, user demands, nonpayment, and the like, taking classes on translation, attending translator conferences, keeping up with technological developments in the field, buying and learning to use new software and hardware all this gives us the strong sense that we are are not isolated underpaid flunkies but professionals surrounded by other professionals who share our concerns. Involvement in the translation profession may even give us the intellectual tools and professional courage to stand up to unreasonable demands, to educate clients and employers rather than submit meekly and seethe inwardly. Involvement in the profession helps us realize that translation users need us as much as we need them: they have the money we need; we have the skills they need. And we will sell those skills to them, not abjectly, submissively, wholly on their terms, but from a position of professional conf idence and strength.

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BIBLIOGRAPHY http://aiic.net/page/689 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_Association_of_Professional_Trans lators_and_Interpreters http://fit-ift.org.dedi303.nur4.hosth.net/index.php?frontend_action=display_compound_text_content&item_id=9 80 http://translatorswithoutborders.org/About -Us http://www.est-translationstudies.org/about/about.html http://www.iatis.org/index.php/about http://www.jobmonkey.com/translating/ http://www.translators.md/aboeng.htm

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