UNESCO has just announced that its first update of the world translation bibliography of Index Translationum for the year 2008 is now online, featuring some 75,000 new entries from Belarus, Belgium, Brazil, Bulgaria, Croatia, Czech Republic, Estonia, Germany, Finland, France, Indonesia, Israel, Japan, Kazakhstan, Latvia, Romania, Slovenia, and Spain.

This edition of Index Translationum contains some 1,800,000 references (from 1979 to now) on all subjects. Offered are all manner of ways to sort the data—many of them surprising and, as often happens with data, difficult to interpret.

Citing an increased work load in his freelance translation business, Al Favela has announced that he is stepping down from his position as AATIA Director of Finance, effective immediately. The Board is grateful to Al for his years of service to the Association in this capacity.

Members interested in volunteering for the role of Director of Finance are asked to contact Secretary Julie Nordskog.

Portugal’s parliament has voted to phase in over six years changes to the Portuguese language in order to spell hundreds of words the Brazilian way, as reported in a BBC News story. 

The agreement standardizes numerous spellings and adds the letters k, w, and y to the alphabet. Silent consonants will be deleted to spell words more phonetically. For example, "optimo" (great) would become "otimo."

Seven Portuguese-speaking countries agreed on a unified form of Portuguese in 1991. More than 230 million people live in the eight countries that constitute the CPLP, the Community of Countries of the Portuguese Language (Comunidade dos Países de Língua Portuguesa): Brazil, Angola, Mozambique, East Timor, Cape Verde, Guinea-Bissau, São Tomé and Príncipe, and of course Portugal itself, which has approximately 10 million speakers.

Join AATIA’s Interpreters Special Interest Group for an update on healthcare interpreting this Saturday, June 14, from 2:00 to 4:00 p.m. at the International Center of Austin (201 East 2nd St). Find out about the recent NCIHC General Meeting and national certification efforts.

Street parking is available and parking meters are free.

Don’t miss this opportunity to learn how to improve the business side of your T&I business. Sign up for Business Basics for Freelancers. Both old hands and newcomers to the profession will benefit from this workshop, which will cover basic bookkeeping and record-keeping requirements, ensuring payment, tax and financial planning, and more.

Download a registration form and register today!

Students enrolled in the ACC Translation and Interpreting Program attend for half price! Contact Laura Vlasman for more information.

A new research report "The Price of Translation" reveals that pricing within the US$12 billion-plus global translation services industry has remained relatively stable in recent years.

For most languages, prices fluctuated by only 10% up or down over a four-year period, according to the report by Common Sense Advisory, Inc., an independent market research firm specializing in the language services industry. The findings came from a detailed online survey completed by nearly 300 language service providers (translation firms) about their pricing structures, processes, and customer bases.

The 112-page report includes average pricing data for the 10 languages with the greatest global economic impact (e.g., French and Chinese), as well as 23 "next-wave languages" used in rapidly developing markets or in countries important to the global supply chain (e.g., Arabic and languages of India).

Note: The full report is available to subscribers only.

Source: Multilingual News, May 28, 2008,

The website Safemanuals.com offers free downloads of thousands of manuals and users guides for domestic appliances, computer hardware, digital cameras, and more, including brands ranging from Acer to Zyxel. This is handy when you cannot find that paper copy of a manual you are sure you put somewhere, but it can also serve as a great resource for translators.

Take, for instance the multilingual manual for an Olivetti ECR 5300 cash register — nice for French, German, Spanish, Dutch, Portuguese, Danish or Swedish translators working on such a subject.

The files are in PDF format, and besides going through a pretty standard CAPTCHA routine, the download is easy. So far, the site has been translated into Spanish and French, with other languages coming "soon". The homepage claims that the site has over 800,000 documents, with more being uploaded.

AATIA members qualify for specially discounted $20 tickets (usually $35) to two concerts by Peruvian Jorge Caballero and the Axis String Quartet on Friday & Saturday, June 20 and 21, at 7:30PM.

The evening of South American music at the new Mexican American Cultural Center on Lady Bird Lake will include the premiere performance of a new quintet by Argentine Tango Maestro Jorge Morel, who will be present. The quintet was commissioned by the event’s sponsor, the Austin Classical Guitar Society.

Call ACGS at 512-300-2247 before the June 12 discount deadline and mention this offer when you order your tickets.