It has already been over a week since our colleagues headed home from the ATA’s 56th Annual Conference in Miami full of new ideas and inspiration, wads of business cards, and hopefully some deeper business relationships. This was an election year for the JLD, and I feel privileged to write this post as your new Administrator and on behalf of Yoshihiro Mochizuki, who will be the new Assistant Administrator for the next two years.
We are grateful to Jim Patrick for his work on the Leadership Council of the JLD since 2011.
I would also like to thank:
Everyone who submitted a proposal for ATA56, and our 2015 Planning Committee.
All our speakers at ATA56.
Our members who volunteered to introduce speakers, write summaries, or provide comments on the conference: Sarah Lindholm, Drew Fernando, Miyako Okamoto, Patricia Pringle, Paul Koehler, Phil Soldini, Lindsay Anderson, Jim Patrick and new attendees Tyler Miller and Peter Standard. Again to Sarah Lindholm, as well as Connie Prener, Hiroki Fukuyama, and Hiro Tsuchiya for lending a hand wherever necessary – penning minutes, guiding people to dinner, taking care of our DDS, joining panels, giving out stars (you had to be there). To Izumi Suzuki, Hiro Tsuchiya, Paul Koehler, and Jim Patrick for volunteering for our new last minute session (J8).
Special Thanks to our colleagues at the Japan Association of Translators for providing us copies of the latest issue of their anthology, “Translators Perspectives”.
Special Thanks to Prof. Juliet Winters-Carpenter and Prof. Mariko Okada who traveled from Japan to present.
By many accounts, members old and new enjoyed the seven sessions presented at this year’s conference. We were delighted to have Prof. Juliet Winters-Carpenter as the Division Distinguished Speaker. She presented two standing-room-only sessions on racially sensitive passages, and finding your voice. In fact, there were a few JLD sessions that were attended by non-Japanese-language speakers, including deposition interpreting. We will be posting summaries of all the sessions on the JLD Times, so watch this space. And, if you haven’t submitted your reviews of the sessions, please do so! It serves as feedback for the speakers as well as your Planning Committee.
Of course, what would a great event be without a fiasco? For this year’s Annual Networking Dinner Jim Patrick and I opted for a more casual event — Tacos and Tequila — to give people the chance to move around. To be honest, we had trouble finding a venue to serve a sit-down dinner at the time and price we desired. The adventure began when there was some miscommunication on our part and the restaurant didn’t give us chairs! Kudos to Jim Patrick for springing into action on site. You’ll be relieved to know that by the time we toasted all 43 attendees including spouses, cute toddlers, and significant others were able to sit comfortably if they chose.
At our annual meeting we were given several ideas for sessions next year (more to come on the JLD Times Blog and the JLD Yahoo Group). Did you know? We have a Facebook page! Look out for pictures and polls there. We even had a suggestion for small local gatherings, and for an offsite event besides our popular Newcomers Lunch and Annual Dinner. If you see some ideas you are interested in, or haven’t seen something you think would be of benefit get in touch, leave a comment, or start a discussion.
Looking ahead, next year’s conference (ATA57) will be in November 2 – 5, in San Francisco at the Hyatt Regency Embarcardero. We estimate there will be twice the number of JLD attendees both to the conference and possibly to our Annual Dinner. Please look for ways to contribute. I am looking forward to serving the JLD as Administrator, and to hearing from and collaborating with you in 2016.
今後とも、何卒、よろしくお願い申し上げます。
Nadine A. Edwards
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