Are you overwhelmed with multiple projects? Do you want more control in your day? Come to Adriana Bardin-Prestwood's presentation on techniques of Project Management and get organized!

Adriana's presentation will take place at the AATIA Membership Meeting this Saturday from 1:00 to 4:00 at the International Center of Austin (see address and directions in column at right).

The Spanish Special Interest Group will also meet this Saturday from 10:00 to 12:00 at the same location. Marta Blumenthal and Joan Tuttle-Vargas, from the Language Services unit at the Texas Department of Aging and Disability Services, will talk about proofreading your Spanish translations.

Both meetings are open to the public. Free parking is available at the Convention Center parking garage, which is on the east side of the building that houses our offices.  Enter from Brazos Street, inform the attendant that you are attending an AATIA event, and sign a garage parking record sheet.  There is no charge.

The Language Portal of Canada showcases Canadian language expertise. It offers:

• free access to language tools online;
• articles, writing tips, word games, and exercises;
• a collection of links to language-related works and sites;
• Canadian writing tools and content produced by governments, universities, and others;
• information in English, French, and some Aboriginal languages;

The Interpreter’s Special Interest Group will meet on Saturday April 10 from 10 AM to 12 noon at the AATIA headquarters in the International Center of Austin on 2nd street between Brazos and San Jacinto. Joseph Brettell, a Licensed Court Interpreter, will continue his presentation on training materials available to aspiring court interpreters, and the realities and practice of court interpretation. This session will focus on practicing with real texts which are commonly seen in the courts. All interpreters or other interested parties are welcome. See you then!

(In photo: Nadine Pokrosky, who translated from Russian into French for the UN, in a March 1948 photo.)

By Nikola Krastev

UNITED NATIONS  — When Libyan leader Muammar Qaddafi delivered his notorious 96-minute speech before the UN General Assembly last autumn, no one may have been more aware of each passing minute than his personal translator, Fouad Zlitni, whom he had brought along for the occasion.
Nearly three-quarters of the way into Qaddafi’s address, Zlitni collapsed, undone by the effort of translating the Libyan leader’s rambling, at times angry speech from Arabic into English for nearly 75 minutes straight. Read the full article here.

Kudos to AATIA member Anna Boyet who recently got word that she'd passed the American Translators Association (ATA)  certification exam. Boyet, who translates from English to Polish, took the exam last summer during the exam sitting hosted by AATIA. Before that, she attended an AATIA information session on ATA certification. Here's what she had to say about the session: 

...it helped me a lot. I had already attended one [session] before, during one of the ATA conferences, but the one in Austin was much more detailed and it helped me prepare. Most of all it helped me understand the difference in expectations between the reviewers of the certification exam and my regular every-day clients.

Of course we can't guarantee that everybody who attends an information session will pass the exam, but we can say that these sessions provide valuable information and helpful tips for anyone thinking of attempting it. Our next information session will be on March 20th. The registration deadline is this coming Monday, March 15th.

So, if you've been thinking of signing up, don't delay. Register online now!

Earn 9 CE Points at an ATA Professional Development Event
Presented by the American Translators Association
and the Austin Area Translators and Interpreters Association
  

Crowne Plaza Riverwalk
San Antonio, Texas
March 27-28, 2010

• AATIA Member Mike Magee will present a session on Patent Translations.
• Karen Tkaczyk will present From Soap to Drugs and Back, via QA and SOPs.
• Aaron Ruby will present Research Techniques and Primary Resources for Technical Translators

All presentations are non-language-specific.
Early registration ends March 19.

To learn more, see http://www.atanet.org/pd/scitech

Join SpanSIG for its first meeting of the year. The topic will be film translation from Spanish to English and we will have the opportunity to offer our professional critique.

As always, we invite you to spend a couple of hours with your SpanSIG colleagues and enjoy a light breakfast.

At the conclusion of the meeting, we will raffle a couple of books that you might find interesting.

We’ll see you from 10:00 to 12:00 at the International Center of Austin. See sidebar at right for directions and parking instructions.

The expertise of Conference Interpreters is very much needed in today's global economy. Come and listen to two of our distinguished members — Maurine McLean and Tony Beckwith — share their experiences as well as tips on how to polish up your interpreting skills.

Join us at our ICA location on 2nd Street between Brazos and San Jacinto on Saturday, March 13th from 1 to 4 p.m. Find directions and parking information in the sidebar on this page.