ATA SLD

Slavic Languages Division (American Translators Association)

American Translators Association: The Voice of Interpreters and Translators

Generative AI and What It Means for Translators and Interpreters. Part I.

By Viktoryia Baum

Over the past year and a half, the world has been thrown into the hype (or pain?) of artificial intelligence, with the advancement of many products, and the race between the companies to create their own, unique and individual intelligent chatbots capable of many ordinary human tasks. I have been hearing from many colleagues of different ages how this is becoming an existential threat to the profession as a whole, for both translators and interpreters alike. But the real question remains: is it?

I’m a firm believer that if there’s a will, there’s a way. Meaning that I don’t think any of these “robots” will eliminate the need for the profession and the professionals, or somehow bring about our total and ultimate demise. If anything, they can be trained to help us in any imaginative way or method possible. Such opinions of mine have been met with frustration and disbelief by many of my colleagues, yet welcomed and shared by another many.

Recently, Eugenia Tietz-Sokolskaya invited and encouraged me to consider writing for the SLD blog on any subject and anything at all (thank you, Eugenia!), and although I don’t do much writing in any capacity, I figured I might as well give it a try. I usually have a lot to say about things, so why not do it here? Hopefully, the readers will not have a plate of rotten tomatoes handy to smash against the monitor as they read these lines. Maybe, just by sharing some of my experiences I may help alleviate some technology fears, or help someone learn something new. I will probably anger some colleagues and make them reach for their plate of rotten tomatoes, but that’s where technology is in my favor—unlike 200 years ago, I don’t have to deliver this speech in front of you (thank you, industrial civilization!), and I can hide behind the screen.

Let’s start with some basics and try to break down the concept of generative AI, its purpose, and what it can do. Basically, generative AI refers to artificial intelligence systems capable of generating new data and producing content. It can create not just text, but also images or even audio and video files. Here are some examples of generative AI:

  • Language models (GPT-4) that can generate human-quality text on almost any subject based on a prompt
  • Image generators used to create novel images from text descriptions (DALL-E 2 and Stable Diffusion)
  • Music generators that can compose new songs, musical compositions, or other audio using training data (MuseNet)
  • Video generators that can make video clips by processing and synthesizing existing data (Sora)

The capability behind generative AI is machine learning models, especially large neural networks. They can analyze thousands of datasets and learn the patterns and representations within that data. Having learned and captured those patterns, the models are then capable of generating new content that is similar to the training data statistically, yet differs from it in a new way. One type of machine learning model is large language models (a phrase everyone in the industry has been hearing more and more); those are built on neural architecture, and they are referred to as large because they use huge datasets. There has been a boost and a rapid increase in research and development of large language models in big tech, with any major player buckling up and racing to develop their own models and tools. The now very infamous ChatGPT is a large language model, or LLM. In simple terms, this is a computer program that has received and analyzed enough data that it is now capable of generating its own responses. The quality of the responses always depends on the quality of the datasets the LLM has been fed. The more they know, the better they are at producing content.

I’ve been experimenting with AI chatbots for quite some time now. When I said they can be trained to help us in any imaginative way or method possible, that’s because I’ve tried and largely succeeded on some level, achieving the objective I set out for myself. A few months ago, for example, I chatted with one of the publicly available chatbots (not ChatGPT) about building up a glossary specifically for use in interpretation, and I’d like to share the outcome.

The background for this experiment was fairly simple. I wear both hats of being a translator and an interpreter. In my state, I am a certified per diem court interpreter, but I live in an area with not a lot of need for court interpreting in my language combination. If anything, it’s approximately 4-5 calls a year plus a few depositions. This means that enough time passes between court appearances that my skills and language databanks typically grow rusty and need a solid refreshment before assignments. Preparing for any court appearances can be daunting due to lack of information and/or materials. If all I know is that tomorrow I am heading over to family court, how should I prepare? What should I look for?

I started with a relatively easy prompt, asking my new AI friend (let’s call him Sam) to help me put together a Russian to English legal glossary to use for interpreting purposes. In a few seconds, the system produced a glossary with some common legal terms, roughly 20 to 25, including terms like lawsuit/claim, indictment, defendant, and court order. The chatbot then asked me if I wanted to know any other specifics to be added “for my translation purposes,” to which I happily said yes, also requesting a set of legal terms in Latin, giving an example prompt of “amicus curiae.” The result was a compilation of another 25-30 terms including bona fide, nolo contendere, ex parte, pro se, inter alia, etc.

For the third part of the conversation, I congratulated Sam on providing me with the definitions of Latin legal terms in the English language, then asking if he could take these same Latin terms and give me their Russian equivalents. He obliged. It is important to note here that the glossary was provided to me in the LATIN to RUSSIAN variant, although for some reason I expected Sam to use the English translations he pulled for the Latin and only then give me the Russian equivalents. I was wrong. Sam was smart, even if my prompt was quite poorly written.

Next, I asked for more terminology, the more advanced, the better. The resulting table included terms like defamation, pre-trial agreement, acquittal, and statute of limitations. I felt that it could have been a bit more advanced, but ok. The next query asked for terms used in family and traffic courts. Then I made another query, and another, and another. But I think I made my point already. Perhaps the best glossary (in my humble opinion) was produced when I asked for terminology specifically used in an arraignment hearing. This turned up terms like request for leniency, motion to suppress evidence, own recognizance release, and recusal motion.

The entire encounter and the prompts along with their results took me approximately 5-7 minutes. The end of the conversation was quite comical, since I asked for all of the terms to be exported to Excel and sent to me via email. Sam happily agreed, took down my email address, and nothing happened. When told that no email had come, he apologized profusely for letting me down and leading me to believe he had the capability of exporting and sending emails. He said that by design he actually did not have that capability, but in his inherent desire to please me, he misrepresented his abilities. The apologetics went on for a few more rounds, much to my amusement and comic relief. It was clear that I wasn’t speaking with a human, but I got amused as if I really were.

Overall, I found the quality of the glossaries produced by AI very high. I did not find any incorrect translations, nor did I find any inconsistencies (some terms were repeated with each of the prompts, and the output was the same). If you ask me personally, I believe that for a real assignment, this approach would have saved me hours of googling terminology and trying to think about all the possible terms I could encounter. Of course, if I were unfamiliar with any of the terms or translations produced, I would have double-checked everything and cross-referenced items using regular old-fashioned dictionaries. For example, if I were to go and interpret at a mining conference, or any other completely foreign subject, like rare and valuable gemstones, I would follow up on what the AI told me.

I forgot to mention that I went into this experiment with very low expectations. I can’t say that I wanted the AI to give me erroneous translations of the terms, to prove that humans and only humans are capable of creating a glossary, but I did think there would be errors. AI proved me wrong, at least for that exercise. I intend to keep practicing and conversing with it regarding my needs in the profession. If you are given the tool, why not use it? And if you are skeptical, I would invite you to try for yourself. Or you can reach for that plate of rotten tomatoes……just kidding. In short, you don’t have to love it or hate it, endorse it or promote it. It’s just a tool. If it can help you save time and do a better job, why not. If anything, you will definitely get some comic relief from experimenting.

If you have any comments or feedback regarding this blog post, I invite you to reach out directly to me via email at vbaum00@gmail.com. In the meantime, I’ll work on Part II of this series over the next weeks. Thanks for reading, and stay tuned!

Viktoryia Baum is an avid technology buff and skilled researcher who spends at least part of her spare time studying new and existing language tools. Having started as an aerospace interpreter many years ago, she discovered she was equally good at translation, so she does both, working with Eastern European languages and specializing in technical, legal, and medical translation and interpreting. She lives in upstate New York and can be contacted at vbaum00@gmail.com.

Upcoming Webinar – Russian Legal Translation

September 22 / 12:00 pm – 2:00 pm EDT

Learn the fundamental differences between contract law in Russia and the U.S. and how they affect the content of contracts in Russian.

In this two-hour webinar, we’ll take a look at the Russian law of obligations to see how it differs from contract and tort law in the U.S. We’ll also talk about three fundamental differences and see how they affect the content of contracts in Russian. Then we’ll consider the anatomy of a contract in Russian and English and compare standard clauses.

The webinar will be conducted in English and is primarily aimed at translators from Russian-into-English, but should also be of interest to translators from English-into-Russian.

About the Presenter

Thomas West founded Intermark Language Services in 1995 after practicing law for five years with a large Atlanta law firm. Tom received his B.A. degree in French and English from the University of Mississippi summa cum laude and his M.A. in German from Vanderbilt University, where he was a Harold Stirling Vanderbilt fellow. He earned his J.D. at the University of Virginia School of Law and was admitted to the State Bar of Georgia in 1990.

Tom is ATA-certified for translation from French-, Spanish-, German- and Dutch-into-English. He also studied Russian as both an undergraduate and graduate student. He has presented seminars on legal translation throughout Europe, the Americas, and in South Africa. From 2001 to 2003, Tom served as ATA president.

Register Now!

Registration closes September 22, 10:00 am ET

Translation by Interpreters and Interpreting by Translators

There is an ongoing debate in the language industry whether translation and interpreting services can be rendered by the same person. Needless to say, while these two services are related, the primary responsibilities and skills that a person needs to provide translation or interpreting services differ.

Meanwhile, many people who are not too familiar with linguistic services think that translation and interpreting are the same trade. Linguistically, this is well illustrated in Russian-speaking countries, where “переводчик” means both translator and interpreter. From the customer perspective, “переводчик” deals with different languages, either working on the written text or providing an oral rendition. In this aspect, the two trades are the same.

The International Standard ISO 17100 “Translation services — Requirements for translation services” does not restrict whether a translator can also handle interpreting assignments. It only mentions that a professional translator shall have competencies, including linguistic and textual, in both the source and target languages.[i]

Someone who professionally translates from one language into another accepts an ethical and professional duty to represent their qualifications, capabilities and responsibilities honestly and always work within them. Being truthful in advertising applies to professional translators and interpreters: our resumes, websites, brochures, business cards, manner, and non-verbal emotional tone all must accurately reflect who we are and what we can actually do, both practically and professionally.[ii]

Following that logic, a translator must decline, say, a request to help their client with over-the-phone interpreting of a conversation with a draft contract’s other party. Likewise, an interpreter has to decline a proposal to translate pitch decks used at a conference where this interpreter is engaged, despite being immersed in the event’s context and thus knowing these particular pitch decks’ content well.

To a certain extent, I agree with that. As a freelance translator, I have to decline an assignment that I cannot properly perform when it is beyond my qualifications. And what about those assignments that are within the scope of my abilities, even though I was never professionally trained and qualified in that area? Is it still a good idea to miss out on a lucrative interpreting or translation assignment then?

At this point, I have to quote Corinne McKay, an ATA-certified French-to-English translator and former ATA president: “When you work full-time for an employer, you have one job title. When you work for yourself, you’re not only the translator but also the department head for sales and marketing, technical support, customer relations, accounting and facilities maintenance. Unless you’re willing and able to pay someone to do these tasks for you, you’ll be doing them yourself, in addition to your regular job.”[iii]

To run a successful business, freelancers therefore do not have to miss a business opportunity if they feel up to the task. And if we look at it that way, why not try out both translating and interpreting even if you are not yet qualified in the twin trades?

In this regard, I believe that besides developing a specialization in a particular field, it is essential to find a niche in which offering a specific service really makes a freelance translator or interpreter stand out.

In his recent article “Does the jack of all trades still get the short end of the stick?”, the current editor of The NAJIT Observer, Jules Lapprand, stated, “Translators and interpreters have a superficial knowledge of almost any topic, and unless they have extensive experience in another profession, deep knowledge of only one: language. This reality was difficult for me to accept initially.” This quote resonated with me as I think translators and interpreters need not be afraid of gaining the “jack of all trades (and master of none)” moniker if they are trying out a new area of specialization. As a matter of fact, we have to be interested in new topics, master new areas, and find niches to stand out in. Otherwise, our overall marketing and messaging will more likely speak to no one. Courtroom interpreting with its “structured legalese and its own language that does not change as quickly as the latest fads do in other areas”[iv] is an excellent example of interpreter’s specialization. In other words, offering legal translation and court interpreting services at any time can be a niche.

Since we have a profound knowledge of language, we should be using that to its full extent, not limiting ourselves to one of the twin trades of translation or interpretation.

Today, however, it is rare for a freelancer to be both a translator and an interpreter.

In a truly inspiring Troublesome Terps podcast episode #63,[v] high-profile conference interpreters Louise Jarvis, Monika Ott and Sybelle van Hal-Bok, three members of three very different networks admitted that they often do translations as well when the existing clients ask for it. It should be noted, however, that translation is only a small part of their businesses; they still focus primarily on conference interpreting.

In this context, I would suggest that not only are different skills required to render translation or interpreting services, but our psychological make-up is also important. The existing stereotype is that translators are usually introverts with a tendency toward being quiet and reserved. Interpreters, however, are more often extroverted in nature. In addition, we are all human. Like everyone else, translators and interpreters tend to fear failure in an area where they feel less confident. For this reason, when it comes to deciding between staying in your comfort zone or handling a twin trade assignment, language professionals would rather remain in their comfort zone (i.e., decline a twin trade assignment), no matter how lucrative it is.

When the language service is provided by a company, it is usually never asked whether translation and interpreting can both be offered, but when it comes to a freelancer working with end clients, it can oftentimes be that the end client likewise expects the contracted translator to interpret.

For example, I was recently interpreting for a client, a law firm partner, who had a phone conversation with the Legal 500 Rankings researcher to find out how to send a law firm submission. As soon as the client found out that he had to fill out the multi-page submission templates, he asked me to translate the templates into his language. Did I decline that offer? Of course not! This is just one scenario where an interpreter can and, I think, should also perform as a translator. Let’s take a closer look at other scenarios.

In my legal translation practice, I have often been asked to render interpreting services when the end client needs to expeditiously negotiate contract details or urgently talk to a counterparty who does not have access to the Internet and therefore is unable to quickly respond to an e-mail. Notably, the client rightly assumes that I am already immersed in the upcoming deal’s details as I have been drafting or translating the contract for some time now. In that scenario, I provide interpreting services.

Vice versa, clients may forward me audio messages asking me to let them know the messages’ content in writing in a meeting, which is why they can’t talk. With such requests, I translate, even though the source content is in audio form.

Another classic example of assignments at the juncture of the two twin trades is on-the-spot translation, which occurs when I am asked to orally render a written legal paper’s content. This is quite specific to business meetings and court sessions where the client has not had a chance to quickly find a translator and instead asks the interpreter for a sight translation. In that scenario, I translate. There is all the more reason for this as the Russian law does not yet provide for sworn interpreter status, so the Russian courts do not require a separate certification for court interpreting. In short, by primarily focusing on legal translation, I do not need to sub-contract court interpreting assignments. This strategy has proven beneficial by allowing me to retain existing clients and catch new business opportunities.

To summarize, provided that both the client and freelancer are happy, I think freelancers offering both translation and interpreting services, even those who were never professionally trained and qualified in the twin trades, are still legitimate.

Notes

[i] ISO 17100:2015(E), paragraph 3.3.

[ii] American Translators Association Code of Ethics and Professional Practice, 3rd tenet: https://www.atanet.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/code_of_ethics_commentary.pdf

[iii] Introduction to the book “How to Succeed as a Freelance Translator” by Corinne McKay. First Edition. 2006

[iv] “Does the jack of all trades still get the short end of the stick?” by Jules Lapprand. July 30, 2021

https://najit.org/does-the-jack-of-all-trades-still-get-the-short-end-of-the-stick/?unapproved=106974&moderation-hash=310e754a47eb598a50c8c69fb18c6b8e#comment-106974

[v] Troublesome Terps, a roundtable-style podcast covering topics from the interpreting space and the wider world of languages; episode # 63 of July 21, 2021: https://www.listennotes.com/podcasts/troublesome-terps/63-interpreters-assemble-8TwuQZeFCaR/

Author bio

Dmitry Beschetny is an English>Russian translator and interpreter specializing in legal translation and court interpreting, based in Moscow. He holds a master’s degree in law and a master’s degree in humanities and social sciences, also having an academic qualification in translation studies.

Dmitry has extensive experience in criminal investigation and public prosecution. He has also worked as an in-house lawyer, and a legal counsel with law firms before turning his previous career into his area of specialization in the T&I industry. He has been translating and interpreting for academia, law firms and private clients. Dmitry can be reached at db@legalxlator.com. 

 

 

We would love to feature other guest authors who are translators and interpreters working with Slavic languages in future SLD Blog posts! If you have recommendations or would like to share expertise, please email the SLD Blog co-editors: Veronika Demichelis and Marisa Irwin.

2021 Spring SlavFile: Focus on Legal

SlavFile Header

The latest issue of SlavFile is out! This spring issue of our Division Newsletter is dedicated to Slavic<>English legal translation and interpretation, and you will enjoy the incredible resources shared in this issue:

Victor Prokofiev: Выкуп’s courtroom challenges

Eugenia Tietz-Sokolskaya: Notes from the Administrative Underground

Elizabeth Adams: An Interview with Victor Prokofiev / Her Go-To R>E Legal Translation Resources

Tom Fennell:  Russian-English Legal Glossary

Lydia Razran Stone: SlavFile Lite: Not by Word Count Alone

Olga Shostachuk: The Challenges of Immigration Court Interpreting

Michael Kapitonoff: The “How To’s” and “What Should I’s” of Legal T/I

CONFERENCE PRESENTATION REVIEWS:

Elizabeth Adams: Eugenia Tietz-Sokolskaya on Contract Language

Steven McGrath: Evelyn Garland on Translating Patents

A round of applause for the SlavFile editorial team and all the contributors!

If you have feedback or ideas for the future issues, contact SlavFile Managing Editor Nora Favorov 

Human Rights Translation: An Interview with Lucy Gunderson

SLD member Lucy Gunderson has had an active role in ATA and SLD for many years. SLD members know her as a past Administrator of the Slavic Languages Division (2011-2015), an extraordinary colleague, and an expert in human rights translation. This important subject seems fascinating to many, but it is challenging to find information about what it takes to work in this field.

We asked Lucy to share her story and advice with SLD members. She also presented an ATA webinar on this topic in September 2020, which is now available on-demand.

  • Can you please share your story of getting started as a translator?

I remember learning the instrumental case at the end of first-year Russian. We had to answer the question “Кем Вы будете?” (What are you going to be when you grow up?). My vocabulary was quite limited at the time, but I went carefully through the choices. Doctor – No. Lawyer – No. Engineer – No. Переводчик – Hmm. “Я буду переводчиком!” So I guess I’ve always felt an obligation to remain faithful to that solemn oath I took in first-year Russian.

I held “regular” jobs (English teacher in Russia, document manager/translator at a banking company doing business in Russia, editor at a newswire service) before going full-time freelance, but I always did some translation as part of my job or on the side. I understood fairly quickly that I wasn’t suited to a corporate environment (or, to put it better, that the corporate environment wasn’t suited to me!), so when an attractive translation opportunity presented itself, I started working part-time at the editorial job. That part-time job was eventually moved to another city, so I took the leap and started working towards full-time translation.

  • Why did you start specializing in human rights and how did you build up your expertise in this area?

I never consciously made the decision to specialize in human rights, but I can see how I ended up here when I look back.  I spent my junior year in Voronezh, Russia. I arrived two weeks after the August putsch in 1991 and stayed until June 1992, which means that I witnessed the dissolution of the Soviet Union and the formation of newly independent states. I returned to Russia in 1993 and experienced the October 1993 coup and, later, the currency fluctuations of the mid- to late 1990s. This experience living in Russia was what initially sparked my current interests in human rights, international relations, and law.

My first referral for a human rights translation came from an SLD colleague (Nora Favorov). The file she asked me to handle was about electoral fraud in Belarus. I was initially worried about my ability to translate this file, but then I realized that 1) I actually knew where Belarus was, 2) I actually knew who Lukashenka was, and 3) I had read an awful lot about electoral fraud when I lived in Russia, so I was probably better prepared than I thought to translate this. The client was apparently happy with my translation because they kept coming back to me for more and also referred me to other human rights groups.

I am constantly building up my expertise by pushing at my boundaries. It’s important for us to specialize and know our limits, but it’s also important to understand when we can stretch those limits just a bit.

  • What type of clients do you usually work with and why do they need their documents/content translated?

My main human rights clients are NGOs, although I have also worked with one agency that specializes in human rights. The kinds of documents they need translated are reports for UN Committees, government agencies, the human rights community, and the general public; columns and articles for online media; and sometimes even primary sources.

  • Can you share an example of the most rewarding project you have ever worked on and why it felt this way?

My most rewarding project has been ongoing for several years and is the #AllJobs4AllWomen campaign. The goal of this campaign is to get former Soviet countries to repeal the List of Arduous, Harmful, and Dangerous Jobs Prohibited for Women. My work on this project has involved translating reports for the Committee on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) and columns for the general public about this list. Now, several former Soviet countries have repealed their lists and others have shortened theirs or agreed to review them specifically because of the pressure mounted by this campaign. So I feel very good about being the main English-language voice for this campaign.

Another project involved mining on indigenous lands. The affected indigenous group won a court battle against the mining company and had their lands returned to them. Even though the court proceedings took place in Russia, my client in this case had repeatedly raised this issue at the international level using my English translations. I believe this had some impact on the outcome, so that makes me proud.

  • What project was the most challenging and why?

The most challenging projects are the ones that touch my emotions the most.

One was the translation of a blacklist, published by the Luhansk People’s Republic, of Ukrainian police officers (along with their photographs) who were allegedly actively working against the Luhansk People’s Republic. This list called for the capture or murder of these officers. Even though I understood that the purpose of my translation was to reveal atrocities, it was still difficult to process.

Another difficult project was the translation of a letter from a political prisoner to his wife.

If you work in this area, it really helps to have someone to talk these jobs through with. I have found that my clients have struggled with the psychological effects of this kind of work and are more than ready to talk about them, so that has helped me get through these difficult jobs.

  • What are your favorite resources for research and continued professional development on human rights, translation, and related topics?

For human rights, my favorite resources are Human Rights Quarterly (published by Johns Hopkins University press), Universal Human Rights in Theory and Practice, by Jack Donnelly, and Human Rights: A Very Short Introduction, by Andrew Clapman. The first keeps me updated on current human rights issues and helps me understand major trends in this area, and the last two are great for reference information when I have trouble understanding a certain concept. And of course, the Amnesty International (AI) and Human Rights Watch (HRW) websites are extremely useful resources for understanding contemporary challenges, learning new terminology, and improving my writing in this field.

For translation/writing resources, I also recommend the AI and HRW websites because their publications on Russia are almost always available in the original English and a Russian translation, which helps with terminology and writing. I would also recommend any book on plain language, since human rights documents can be heavy on the legal language. I love Dreyer’s English for grammar.

  • What advice would you give to colleagues who would like to start specializing in human rights translation?

Network, network, network! I’m lucky to be based in New York City, so I have been able to attend several talks at universities here where I made some contacts, and I’ve even represented ATA at the UN twice. The pandemic hasn’t been good for much, but it has presented the perfect opportunity for people who don’t live near universities to attend lectures online that they wouldn’t have been able to attend otherwise. I think it’s perfectly acceptable to email a speaker that you hear online and establish contact with them. Both Columbia University’s Harriman Institute and New York University’s Jordan Center have had great online offerings since the pandemic started. You can sign up for their mailing lists on their websites.

It’s also important to network with colleagues working in the same area or language pair. It can be tricky to approach a translator working in the same language pair, but it is always possible to offer editing services to them. It’s even better to approach linguists working in a different language pair because then that translator has no fear of competition or losing a client to the other translator. Finally, I’ve had some success attracting attention from my ideal clients on social media, but this is really a long-term effort the requires dedication, a lot of trial and error, and openness to failure!

Lucy Gunderson, CT is an ATA-certified Russian>English translator specializing in human rights, academic, legal, and literary translation. She has a master’s degree in Russian from the University at Albany and a certificate in translation studies from the University of Chicago, where she also served as a tutor in the Russian>English translation program.

Lucy has been translating for non-governmental organizations for the past ten years and follows the human rights situation in Eurasia closely. She has presented on human rights translation for ATA and the New York Circle of Translators.

She is a past chair of ATA’s Divisions Committee (2015-2019) and a former administrator of the Association’s Slavic Languages Division (2011-2015).

Website – https://russophiletranslations.com

LinkedIn – Lucy Gunderson, CT | LinkedIn

Webinar – Challenges in Human Rights Translation: How to Research Terminology and Make Your Writing Shine (atanet.org)

Twitter – @LucyGund

SLD Podcast: Episode 22 with Paula Arturo

The latest episode of the SLD podcast, Slovo, is now available! In this episode, host Maria Guzenko speaks with Paula Arturo, a lawyer-linguist and Associate Professor of Law. Paula talks about the challenges of legal translation and shares tips for translators who would like to specialize in it. In the second half of the interview, Maria and Paula discuss how language professionals can negotiate a fair contract with their clients.

Listen here, or anywhere you get your podcasts – Slovo is available on Apple Podcasts, Google Play, and Spotify. Don’t forget to subscribe so you never miss an episode!

ATA Law Seminar in Jersey City

Happy New Year! If one of your professional New Year’s resolutions was to do more continuing education in the coming year and you are a legal translator or interpreter, the ATA has just the opportunity for you. It will be hosting a full-day law seminar in Jersey City on February 16, with morning and afternoon sessions divided between translation and interpreting. ATA-certified attendees can earn 7 CEPs!

The schedule, session descriptions, and hotel and registration information can be found here: https://www.atanet.org/events/law_jerseycity.php.

SLD Blog Categories