ATA SLD

Slavic Languages Division (American Translators Association)

American Translators Association: The Voice of Interpreters and Translators

Division Roundup: June 2025

Natalia Postrigan, SLD Assistant Administrator

Registration for the ATA 66th Annual Conference in Boston, MA, is open now! Head to the conference website for updates on registration and the agenda for what promises to be an exceptional gathering of translation and interpretation professionals.

The conference kicks off on Wednesday, October 22nd with:

  • AST (Advanced Skills & Training) sessions
  • In-person certification exam
  • Welcome reception at 5:30 PM
  • Divisions & Special Interest Group (SIG) meet & greet, 7-8 PM

Over the following three days, attendees can enjoy multiple sessions alongside exciting networking opportunities including division events, a job fair, after-hours open mic café, book & resource fair, game night, and the annual ATA members meeting. The conference concludes on Saturday evening with a closing session (5:15-5:45 PM) followed by the legendary annual dance party.

SLD Annual Dinner: Our team is currently working on picking a restaurant. Stay tuned for updates! If you can recommend a great venue, please contact Natalia at divisionSLD@atanet.org.

Get Inspired: ATA65 Session Reviews

Need motivation to start planning for Boston? Read Conferences and Marketing on Stephen Rifkind’s blog for ideas on how to maximize the economic benefit of participating in a professional conference.

You can find reviews of sessions presented by SLD members in previous conferences on the SLD blog. For example, “On Interpreting for Russian-Speaking LGBTQ+ Individuals“ (presented by Olga Bogatova and reviewed by Julia LaVilla-Nossova).

Distinguished Speaker Announcement

We are thrilled to announce that our Distinguished Speaker will be Robert Chandler, a literary translator and poet with over 50 years of experience, including highly acclaimed translations of Vasily Grossman and Teffi.

Mr. Chandler began learning Russian at age 15 and spent a transformative year at 20 as a British Council Exchange scholar in Voronezh – the birthplace of Andrey Platonov and the city where Osip Mandelstam was exiled. It was there that he first discovered these writers and began his lifelong journey translating Russian poetry and prose. Currently based in London, he runs translation workshops and mentors emerging translators. We’re honored to welcome him from England and hope you’ll join us in Boston to celebrate his remarkable achievements.

Community Building Initiatives

Polish Certification Study Group

SLD member Katarzyna Kawalec is launching a peer practice group for the Polish<>English ATA certification exam. Inspired by Maria Guzenko and Eugenia Tietz-Sokolskaya’s primarily Russian-language study group of past years, Katarzyna is building a community for feedback exchange on practice texts and mutual support throughout the certification journey. If you’re planning to take the PL>EN or EN>PL exam, contact Katarzyna at kontakt@kawalec-tlumacz-przysiegly.pl.

Turkic Languages SIG

SLD members Shelley Fairweather-Vega and Jamila DelMistro are working on starting a Special Interest Group for Turkic languages within ATA. To learn more or volunteer as a moderator, contact Jamila (jamdmistro@gmail.com) or Shelley (translation@fairvega.com).

Continuing the conversation about AI in translation

The impact of AI on translation remains a hot topic. At ATA65 in Portland, Eugenia Tietz-Sokolskaya and John Riedl presented “I Can’t Place the Accent: Identifying the Characteristic Traits of Computer Translation,” which compared output from newer AI/LLM models to that of older machine translation and human translators. Read Christine Pawlowski’s review on the SLD blog, and access the presentation slides in our Slavic Languages Presentation Archive.

Coming Soon: Slovo podcast editor Halla Goins is preparing an interview with Eugenia and John. Catch up on previous Slovo episodes on Apple Podcasts, Google Play, and Spotify.

Share Your Voice

Want to contribute to our community discussions? Contact Halla about podcast opportunities or Eugenia about blog contributions and address any general questions and comments to SLD Administrator Steven McGrath and Assistant Administrator Natalia Postrigan by reaching out to divisionSLD@atanet.org.

SLD Announcements: Networking Zoom and ATA66 Deadline Extended

Networking Gathering on Zoom: March 9th

Please join SLD the upcoming quarterly gathering on Zoom. Come chat with Slavic Languages Division colleagues about what’s going on in life and in business. The past meetups have offered members a valuable chance to catch up with each other. We hope that this one will give attendees a sense of connection and motivation going forward.

Grab something from the fridge and meet us on Zoom from 3-5 PM EDT on Sunday, March 9th. Latecomers are welcome. Attendance will be limited to 100 attendees, but this has not been a problem in the past.

To register, go to https://tinyurl.com/cdj9z3rt. With questions, please email SLD AssistantAdministrator Natalia Postrigan (postrigann09@gmail.com) before the event. We hope to see you there!

Proposal Deadline for ATA66 Extended to March 10th

Call for Speakers for ATA66 - Submission Deadline March 10

Speak at ATA66 – Proposals Due March 3

Call for Speakers for ATA66 - Submission Deadline March 3

Call for Speakers – Submit Your Proposal by March 3!

Speaking at the ATA Annual Conference is a challenging and rewarding opportunity. You will gain recognition as an industry leader by sharing your expertise.

Submit Your Proposal by March 3, 2025!

Book Your Hotel Now!

ATA66 will be held at The Westin Seaport – Boston. ATA66 rates at the Westin are available until September 29, 2025, or as space allows.

Hotel Reservations are now available!

Visa Information

You may need a visa to travel to the U.S. We encourage you to make the necessary arrangements as soon as possible. Please see the ATA66 website for additional information.

Review visa information now!

Need More Information?

If you have any questions, please contact:

Cat Kenol

Senior Professional Development and Events Coordinator

cat@atanet.org

More ATA66 Information

Notes from the Administrative Underground

Steven McGrath, SLD Administrator

At long last, I am reaching out to you in the first administrator’s column on the SLD Blog. I acknowledge that it would have been ideal to update you on events in the division sooner, especially since this has been an eventful year for the ATA and SLD, but, as is fitting at the year’s end, I can now report to you a summary of challenges overcome and successes for our membership.

The first success I’d like to mention is the SLD website and blog where you are reading this column, which is now our division’s primary organ. After some technical difficulties earlier in the year, website administrator and blog editor Eugenia Tietz-Sokolskaya has started to right the ship. Starting in May, she oversaw the first member-submitted articles on the blog, a series on translation quality by Mikhail Yashchuk and a guide to generative AI by Viktoryia Baum. The blog is now publishing the post-conference staples of session reviews and newcomer first impressions, as well as administrative updates, announcements, and job opportunities. Kudos to Eugenia and to all SLD Blog contributors!

In speaking of the conference, it was a pleasure seeing many of you at ATA65 in Portland. Special thanks to Eugenia, John Riedl, Olga Bogatova and Shelley Fairweather-Vega for presenting under the Slavic Languages topic category. Thank you as well to SLD members who presented under other topics – I tried to attend them all when the schedule would allow.

Preparations for ATA66 in Boston are already well underway, so I encourage you all to consider presenting sessions. The call for proposals typically goes out in January, so start brainstorming now! SLD’s leadership council has already decided on a nominee to be the Susan Greiss Lecturer in Boston: British literary translator Robert Chandler, who has made an incredible mark on the profession over the course of his distinguished career – including his highly praised translations of the works of Vasily Grossman, to name only one of many authors. He has been on the SLD’s short list of speakers for several years now, and both Paul Gallagher and Nora Favorov, respectively our incoming and emerita Greiss Lecture sherpas, endorsed him in a competitive process.

The past year was quite productive for SLD volunteers. Halla Bearden has been steadily recording interviews for the Slovo podcast, notably with Viktoryia Baum concerning, among other things, her experience with NASA, and also with the Language Technology Division administrative team Daniel Sebesta and Bridget Hylak. An interview with Polish>English literary translator Phillip Boehm has been ready for some time and the link should go out to SLD members shortly. SLD’s social media moderators – Mikhail Yashchuk for the LinkedIn group, Anna Livermore for the Facebook group, and Julia Thornton for the Google listserv – helped spread the word on various opportunities and requests made known to the division.

Moving the administrator’s column to the SLD Blog seems a bit like the start of a new era, and in some ways this reflects changes in the ATA and in the profession as a whole. The sustaining force for any organization in times of change is the energy of its members. Next year, the columns will become regular again, we will have our own Greiss Lecturer at the conference, and there will be new initiatives in new formats. In 2024, a year of transition marked by staff turnover and technological changes at ATA headquarters, we were fortunate to have an enthusiastic body of volunteers who helped us connect with each other and stay abreast of the industry. Thank you all! I look forward to working with you again in 2025!

SLD Blog Categories