{"id":5016,"date":"2017-09-26T23:50:57","date_gmt":"2017-09-27T03:50:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ata-divisions.org\/ID\/?p=5016"},"modified":"2018-11-05T18:16:45","modified_gmt":"2018-11-05T22:16:45","slug":"fit-congress","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ata-divisions.org\/ID\/fit-congress\/","title":{"rendered":"FIT Congress"},"content":{"rendered":"

XXI International Federation of Translators (FIT) World Congress<\/h2>\n

August 3-5, 2017 \u2013 Brisbane, Australia<\/em><\/p>\n

By Marsel de Souza<\/strong><\/h5>\n

Edited on October 24, 2017 to reflect the removal of a bad link.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"[FITApproximately 800 delegates from all four corners of the world convened in Brisbane \u2013 a city where nearly one\u2011third of the population is from overseas \u2013 for this memorable congress themed \u201cDisruption and Diversification.\u201d<\/p>\n

The hottest topic related to Disruption<\/em> in Translation and Interpretation (T&I) on the technology side was (unsurprisingly) the ever-closer relationship between human intelligence and artificial intelligence. On the human side, immigration was the most disruptive trend discussed throughout the congress.<\/p>\n

Diversification<\/em> was reflected in the plethora of topics covered in dozens of sessions that catered to a wide range of interests. In addition to a significant number of sessions on the usual topics in T&I, there were talks on interpreting in danger zones, indigenous and endangered languages, religious interpreting and more. There were also sessions focusing on the Australasian market.<\/p>\n

During the welcome address, powerful statements were made by FIT President Henry Liu on technology and linguists, \u201cDigitization loses context. We are the ones who can see the bigger picture,\u201d and by Operating Committee Chair Tea Dietterich, \u201cIt\u2019s not about knowledge transfer anymore \u2013 it\u2019s about knowledge sharing.\u201d<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Aboriginal Interpreting at the Forefront in Australia<\/h3>\n

What struck me most about this FIT Congress was the number of engaging and passionate presentations. This was definitely the case for the first plenary session, a poignant talk by a group of Aboriginal interpreters from the Australian Aboriginal Interpreters Service, who decided to embrace the profession amid a number of challenges. These include attracting young talent to the profession and building interpreters\u2019 confidence after years of oppression. Interpreting between English and Aboriginal languages is critical in Australia, particularly in the Northern Territory, to ensure access to justice and other public services. The linguistic issue is crucial in this region of the country, where English is the seventh language in some areas, or is not spoken at all. On top of this, communities are quite small, meaning that chances are the interpreter will be related to the people he\/she serves. Overcoming these challenges is no simple task.<\/p>\n

“Prof. Napier used sign language during the entire session, with her own recorded interpreting heard on the loudspeakers.”<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote><\/div>\n

Another example of a captivating session was keynote speaker Professor Jemina Napier\u2019s talk on the Sign Language Interpreting (SLI) profession. This was an inspiring and enlightening presentation delivered in a very original manner by the speaker: Prof. Napier used sign language during the entire session, with her own recorded interpreting heard on the loudspeakers. She provided an information\u2011packed overview of the history and geography of SLI, and convincingly busted a number of myths. Here are some interesting figures and facts:<\/p>\n