{"id":2919,"date":"2019-07-23T19:18:34","date_gmt":"2019-07-23T19:18:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ata-divisions.org\/FLD\/?p=2919"},"modified":"2026-04-12T04:20:10","modified_gmt":"2026-04-12T04:20:10","slug":"overseas-translation-conferences","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ata-divisions.org\/FLD\/2019\/07\/23\/overseas-translation-conferences\/","title":{"rendered":"Why Overseas Translation Conferences Are Non-Negotiable"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>By Amanda N. Williams<\/p>\n

While most of America was grilling out, drinking beer and enjoying the fireworks on the 4th<\/sup> of July, I was sitting in a conference room learning about hedging foreign exchange (FX) risk, the transition from LIBOR and EURIBOR to alternative interest rates, BASEL\u00a03 capital requirements and interest rate benchmarks, and participating in workshops on how to edit for the European Central Bank and write clear corporate communications, among other things. I plan on spending my 4th<\/sup> of July holiday the same way every year.<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
Spiez, Switzerland. Photo credit: Amanda N. Williams<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Why on earth would I do this to myself?<\/strong><\/p>\n

I\u2019m sure we\u2019ve all heard one version of this or another, but over the past ten years, our market landscape has started to change. New technologies are being introduced every day, translation companies are consolidating into mega-companies, some translators are experiencing pricing pressures\u2014the market is fracturing, and we\u2019re all trying to find our rightful place and still make a good living in this new world. For me, finding my place involves constant work to improve my subject matter expertise, target language writing skills and source language skills<\/strong>. I want my work to stand out. That\u2019s why I make it a priority to attend conferences overseas every year.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
Portfolio table, ASTTI conference 2019. Photo credit: Martin Hemmings<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

But can\u2019t you do all those things in the US? Not nearly to the same extent. I\u2019ve found that conferences in Europe tend to be much more specialized and in-depth. They\u2019re often in your source language country (although that wasn\u2019t the case for this Swiss conference I just attended), and I\u2019ve noticed that at European conferences, translators are more open to showing their work<\/strong> (in portfolios and in workshops), so you get to see some really outstanding translations. It really opens your eyes to a whole new world of possibilities and pushes you to take your own work to the next level.<\/p>\n

ASTTI Financial Translation Summer School<\/strong><\/p>\n

Nestled in the Bernese Highlands of Switzerland on the shores of Lake Thun, Spiez is a picture-perfect Swiss city that looks like it came straight out of The Sound of Music<\/em>. You couldn\u2019t pick a better location for a highly specialized translation conference. On July\u00a03,\u00a02019, over 80\u00a0financial translators from 10\u00a0countries as far away as the United States and Australia came together to attend this three-day deep dive into finance and financial translation, organized by the Association suisse des traducteurs, terminologues et interpr\u00e8tes (ASTTI).<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
ASTTI session in progress. Photo credit: Rosie Wells.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

We spent our days attending incredibly technical sessions and rigorous three-hour hands-on workshops and our evenings cruising the pale blue waters of Lake Thun or relaxing with a pint at the quirky and quaint Piratenbar, hidden on a back street near the lake. Downtime is practically required after concentrating so hard all day, and the conference organizers managed to strike a perfect balance for attendees. Here are some of my favorite highlights.<\/p>\n

Translations are like fingerprints \u2013 no two are alike<\/strong><\/p>\n

This year, ASTTI hosted its very first translation slams\u2014French to English, English to German, English to French and English to Italian. The French to English slam pitted Martin Hemmings, MITI (our distinguished speaker at ATA60 in Palm Springs, by the way) against Sylvia Smith. It was one of the most fascinating slams I\u2019ve ever seen.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
French to English translation slam: Martin Hemmings vs. Sylvia Smith. ASTTI conference 2019. Photo credit: Michael Dever<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The ASTTI organizing committee did a fantastic job selecting these slam participants. They are both talented translators with impressive portfolios in their own right, and their respective styles couldn\u2019t be more different. Sylvia works for a Swiss bank and has a very technical background, while Martin mainly works for big NGOs, government agencies, and corporations looking for target audience-focused translations. Both translations were well-written, but completely different. Sylvia took a careful banker\u2019s approach, adding in explanations where she thought necessary, while Martin assumed the target audience had the appropriate background knowledge to understand the text and focused on style and concision. Sylvia\u2019s translation ended up being longer than the French while Martin\u2019s was 20% shorter.<\/p>\n

That slam was the clearest example I\u2019ve ever seen of how two exemplary translations of the same text can be so utterly different.<\/p>\n

And for those who have not yet met Martin or seen his work, you don\u2019t want to miss his two workshops at ATA60 in Palm Springs. Trust me on this. I squealed with joy when I learned he was coming to present at the ATA conference.<\/p>\n

Getting into the nitty gritty<\/strong><\/p>\n

As I mentioned above, this conference was highly technical. Full hours were devoted to specific topics in finance. I love this because the more we know about a subject, the better we\u2019re equipped to translate about it. I dealt with accounting in my former career, but the world of accounting and finance is so vast there\u2019s always some aspect of the field you can learn more about. And things change all the time, so it\u2019s important to get refreshers and updates on a regular basis.<\/p>\n